The Hightower Report

Declare Citizen Independence!

A year from now, Americans will be caught in an unprecedented blizzard of campaign ads.

Most of this blizzard will not come from the candidates but from ads secretly funded by huge corporations. This is because a five-man cabal on the Supreme Court issued an edict that perverts nature itself. In a case titled Citizens United, the five decreed that – shazam! – lifeless corporate elites are henceforth "persons" with more electioneering rights than us real-life persons. In a black-robed coup against our democracy, the Supremes ruled that a corporation's money is "speech" and that CEOs may dump unlimited sums of it into their own ad campaigns to elect or defeat any candidates they choose.

Of course, it's a grotesque, Kafka-esque lie to say that Wal-Mart, Goldman Sachs, ExxonMobil, and the rest are people with political rights equal to – much less superior to – human beings. As the viral slogan now circulating goes: "A corporation is not a person until Texas executes one!"

The good news is that real citizens of our country are united against Citizens United. In a January Hart Research poll, 87% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and even 68% of Republicans favor passing a constitutional amendment to overrule the Court's bizarre decision and make clear that only people are people.

Sadly, though not surprisingly, our national elected officials – including Republicans, Democrats and tea partiers – are too hooked on corporate money to stand up for us ... for America's democracy. So, do we just have to surrender to the corporados? Of course not – we're Americans!

Rebel! The new We the People Campaign is rallying grassroots folks to sign a Declaration of Independence From Corporate Power. To sign the declaration and join the action, go to www.wethepeoplecampaign.org.

For more information on Jim Hightower's work – and to subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, "The Hightower Lowdown" – visit www.jimhightower.com. You can hear his radio commentaries on KOOP Radio 91.7FM, weekdays at 10:58am and 12:58pm.