Gibson writes: "We are no longer citizens participating in a democracy. We are shareholders attending a meeting of a large, corrupt corporation. Call it Americorp."
Occupy protesters during a demonstration at the UC Davis campus in November. (photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
We, the Shareholders (Not the People)
19 April 12
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Reader Supported News | Perspective
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e are no longer citizens participating in a democracy. We are shareholders attending a meeting of a large, corrupt corporation. Call it Americorp.
As shareholders, we sit face-forward, quietly, while the CEO, or president, makes his presentation, glossing over balance sheets and quarterly earnings, assuring us that the company is moving in the right track. The board of directors, or Congress, sometimes keeps the CEO in check and overrules him, but, for the most part, their agenda is the same as the president's agenda - preserving the status quo.
The shareholders at the meeting get ballots, although each ballot item has the opinion of the CEO and board under it. They're told by the board to vote a certain way, based on the opinion of the executives. The shareholders have a voice at the end of the meeting, but, for the most part, the CEO and board will do whatever they want. If the shareholders should speak out of turn or protest inside of the shareholder meeting, the CEO will wait politely while dissidents are swiftly escorted out by police.
The founders never intended for the people to be obedient subjects or quiet shareholders. We were meant to be citizens. And as US citizens we have rights granted to us by the US Constitution, which are irreplaceable, unbendable and unchanging. The same George Washington who was inaugurated at Federal Hall in New York would be furious at Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Commissioner Ray Kelly and the NYPD officers who arrested nonviolent protesters expressing their constitutional rights to free speech and free assembly on the steps of 26 Wall Street, the memorial of where Washington was inaugurated and where the Bill of Rights was first introduced.
Sleeping on sidewalks as a form of protest was deemed constitutionally-protected speech in a 2000 district court ruling, Metropolitan Council, Inc vs. Safir. But just this week the NYPD arrested citizens exercising that speech and beat those who resisted. Simultaneously, corporations, or "legal persons," spend unlimited amounts of undisclosed money on political campaigns, and have that deluge of cash protected as free speech under the Constitution. In Americorp, corporations are citizens with the right to constitutionally-protected speech. And citizens are shareholders, arrested and taken to jail for daring to speak against their corporate overlords.
Citizens are told every day by the media, owned by the same corporations that own our politicians, that we are divided. Their goal is to segment us into walled-off demographics and pit us against each other - liberal vs. conservative, public sector vs. private sector, Tea Party vs. Occupy. If they can isolate us even further with individual labeling they will: college-educated female, Black male under 35, union worker, single parent, etc.
We're told by the politicians we elect to represent us, whose campaigns are financed by the same corporations that own the media, that the government we pay taxes to every year is not to be trusted. That only we know what's best for us, not the government. Such tactics are meant to turn engaged citizens into isolated, apathetic subjects. Democracy becomes a spectator sport, viewed through the lens of the corporate media. Citizens are persuaded to be apathetic, focusing only on their immediate needs and maintaining their income. This allows the board and the CEO of Americorp to continue their plundering free of scrutiny.
Instead of having a wide range of choices of whom we want to represent us we're only given two. They are presented as having differing philosophies and use different language to create the illusion of diversity, but their campaigns are financed by the same corporate backers that actively use their bottomless funds to practice "free speech." The only role of Americorp shareholders is to vote on which rich guy they'd like to continue the status quo for the next few years.
In a true democracy our officials are elected by and held accountable to us, the citizen - the highest office in the land. By focusing on the issues that unite instead of divide, and organizing with other citizens who meet on common ground, we can reject the status quo and its servants. Instead of seeing ourselves as Republicans or Democrats, we will see ourselves as the 99 percent, united by the crushing inequality, poverty and debt that are by-products of the 1 percent and their policies.
Americorp's executives are dependent on the disinterest and apathy of the shareholders for their continued prosperity. So, on May 1st, stop being shareholders in Americorp and reclaim your citizenship as Americans. On May 1st, stand as one, and exercise the rights we've always had loudly and proudly. Our rulers should remember that their rule is only valid if we consent to it.
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Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative, direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.org.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
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btw, who actually is the architect of this grand betrayal, mr. reich?
before the election it was vote for obama or the country will go to hell; now will it be "accept the grand betrayal or the country will go to hell" can anyone use reason instead of fear-based sophistry any more?
I vote for the cliff. And I certainly don't want people like reich "saving" us from it.
why do you blame robert reich as well, he has been dead on in everything he has said, and his suggestions are backed up with facts, history and a lot of famous economists, like Joe Stiglitz for example.
i don't think you really get it. if you want to understand how objective reich is read "the future of success" by him that talks about how all these factors have acted together to get us to this point, a situation he understands better than most and can articulate very well.
We can and should push back against misinformation in the form of political ads to counter the deception. I just saw a dark, ominous anti-Obama ad, and this was after the election! Once every 4 years is not enough to keep the truth out there.
Wow,you really hit on all the points that make people keep returning the "R"s to office. There are a lot of people that paid very little attention to politics most of their lives. That was until they either lost their job or home, or some of their friends lost their jobs and/or homes back starting in late 2008.
So they decided to pay attention, since politics now made a difference in their life, up close and personal. Unfortunately, since they started paying attention late in the game it was very easy for them to accept that it's all Obama's fault. The TV News makes it all easy to understand and that Fox network is the most popular. So they got duped. And since they never paid hard attention in the past, there is very little for them to reference back to.
Most of the Republicans I know are good people. Many fall into the category I just described, and if it wasn't for the systemic dismantling of our economic infrastructure over the past 30+ years they would continue to not pay much attention. Others, are embarrassed by the insanity in the Republican Party; but that's their party and in many but not all cases they continue to vote for the R's.
At the end of thew day, I have found that they tend to hear things differently and the walls in many cases are too thick to break down overnight. We have to keep plugging away, and be ready to learn their language so we can translate Liberal ideas into something they will understand.
Check it out, if you like it, spread the word. Remind your Congress persons about it.
cpc.grijalva.house.gov/budget-for-all/
BTW, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed a state referendum endorsing this plan.
Does money make a difference in governance....Y ou betcha, always has, always will, in any and every country. It's human nature....So I guess is whining.
If no compromise let the tax cuts for everyone expire. Then let Obama have a bill for a tax cut for those only making under $250,000. If the Republicans don't vote for it, then the people will hold them accountable.
But we don't delay this decision after Jan. No way.
The goofs in Washington DC, keep talking about it costing too much money to pay out people intitlements. It seems to me these are earned benefits and the goofs who collect $80,000.00 for kicking the can, think they deserve a continued paycheck, even though We The People have Fired Them are the ones who are depleating the money.
Can't there be a movement of Citizens to cut this as well as congressional members paying taxes on their health insurance which we pay for as well?
Shar
Don't believe what hear on the tv box, their first agenda is to get you go out and but that car or deodorant that they are always telling you about. Stay tuned for more details after this message!
Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC has given it a new name - the 'Fiscal Curb' which describes it much better. As he pointed out, nothing is going to happen immediately if ALL the tax cuts expire - just a bunch of Repuglicans standing there with goo on their faces because they didn't follow orders and scare enough people into supporting another rich-man's tax giveaway.
If you have not seen it yet, check out the Moveon.org and CREDO campaigns to send emails and phone calls to the President, and the members of the House who want to pull this B.S. on us. Let them know that just because the election is over and a horrible fate is averted, we are not going to let up on them. That's the only response that will keep them honest.
And let's all work on getting the s***heads out of office!!
Obama did NOT get re-elected to cave to the Republican agenda. Let the cliff come, as it should, as it was expected to. Think of creative solutions for funding human services affected by the "cliff" - perhaps take what's left over of campaign contributions to the Obama campaign and split it up among affected programs to make up some of the cuts and encourage others, like Bernie Sanders and Pat Leahy and other Dems with big campaign pots to do so also, along with George Soros and Bill Gates, etc. etc. etc. But NO DEAL with the intransigent Republicans. They LOST!!! We can better cope with the cliff than having a spineless president.
Tha Amarican people are the ones who have no backbone, why don't we call, write or go as a crowd to the members who are not doing their job. Thats what needs to be done. Obama is not the father of grown men. Shar
Maybe begin with following Senator Warren's lead... :)
and view it at your chance to 'Refresh' yourselves with the American People.
You might be surprised at to just what kind of strong and much larger following you gather to yourselves/your 'base'...
Steve
Bmiluski, thank you for the Library of Congress citation, however, as Milton Friedman said,"I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you".