Outrageous
Scoundrelly Genius who is the cause of a lot of OUR anguish RE: things just not right:
Roscoe Conkling
The Primary Source for my
OUTRAGEOUS facts stems from the scholarship of:
- Adam Winkler -
A professor at UCLA School of Law, where he specializes in American constitutional law. His scholarship has been cited by the Supreme Court of the United States and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, New Republic, Atlantic, Slate, and Scotusblog.
All other fact's primary sources are noted by their link to where they reside.
Adam Winkler
How Corporations Became People
Roscoe Conkling
IMHO, (kinda), this Conkling dude is the reason Capitalism & Corporations are sadly misinterpreted as thee cause of everything wrong in the USA; due to the ignorance of many of my dearest friends and some of the random folks I meet in public, and speak with.
Bumper Sticker
If you think Education is expensive, try ignorance.
I would like to suggest that this bumper sticker is thee flag of insightful truth to our flawed, fixed Government today. The system isn't broken it is fixed, and Roscoe plus his "birds of a feather" descendants, intentionally, made it that way, and as long as good people do nothing it shall be the case for tomorrow too... Until we change how we elect'em NOTHING CAN CHANGE.
Basis & Nomenclature
both of the above must act according to the Laws written within these systems:
Republic: "A state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives..."[1]
Democratic Republic: "A form of government operating on principles adopted from a republic and a democracy."
All five ideas above are stellar human achievements of thought.
Keeping in mind that Evil persists when good people do nothing. Evil does exist, without anyone's help.
Now the stage is set for our "buddy" Roscoe.
Roscoe helped write what is currently our latest edition of the Constitution and Amendments.
Personally, it took me a long time to hear what I was being told. USA is a Republic. USA is Democratic. What I wasn't hearing, but likely it was said to me: the USA is a Democratic Republic NOT a Democracy in its purist definition. It's a highbred, borne of the need for "... a more perfect Union."
Because the 13 states that won the War of Independence realized they were f%@)*& ! (their first attempt at governing themselves just wasn't working); so the Miracle in Philadelphia produced our current Democratic Republic, with the hope that this compromise between Mob Rule (pure democracy) and Tyrant Rule (sole power by the governing person/group) would be an improvement.
The Federalist Papers now a book. Audio, digital and hardcopy book which contains the exact story of why it happened; it's really just a bunch of Letters to the Editor, 85 of them to be exact, which were written to "sell" the idea to adopt this new style of government as laid out in the Constitution of the United States. The same one as today, but with more Amendments.
I found the Audio Book fun to listen to while driving over long distances as I got to "read" the exact language they used, but as it was spoken by an actor, it was a way cool way to imagine how it must have been in the 1700's. 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten, me thinks.
Perhaps the above statements are not necessary for you to follow along with Roscoe's story. I needed the refresher course on how my Government actually works. For me to understand that there can be no change, unless we elect these people DIFFERENTLY. You may have a different idea. I did. Yet now I can provide an honest debate to prove my point. I would love to have someone provide a faster way to accomplish the change I want, faster. But back to Roscoe.
Roscoe lied about a diary he kept while helping write the 14th Amendment. He, alone, provided the idea behind the word "person" that is used in the Amendment.
He lied.
His story was never in the journal he held in hand in the Court.
He argued in front of the Supreme Court of the United States, in a law suit, while representing his clients at the Court, that it was the intent of the writers of the Amendment (him being one of them), the the word Person was used DELIBERATELY CHOOSEN so it would include Corporations being also granted the protection that the People in which the Amendment was trying to establish equal protection for after the Civil War.
The 14th Amendment and Roscoe Conkling's fake diary in The Supreme Court provide great evidence of EVIL persisting.
In the 21st Century, Roscoe would not have such an easy time with trying to argue his case, and winning it.
...because it's so easy for good people to, nearly effortlessly, witness what is taking place for each case at the SCOTUS. (it's online)
...no longer does a person have to own a newspaper, radio station or television station to get their voice heard. (we have the web now, and Net Neutrality is being understood by more of us too)
...what Aaron Swartz was involved in before he hung himself, was the idea that if we don't change how we elect them, Roscoes shall continue to have an easier time to prevail when good people do nothing. Evil.... loves the darkness, the web ain't a dark "place".
...any person has at least some means to be counted, when legislation is being developed, without much money being required. The web also allows good people to band together without much expense. Imagine your neighbor being able to be voted for; especially if, the cbu was willing to be in the race and hold office temporarily, like a time or two. Reluctant servant type candidate. Might be a better shot for folks when the dominating big money, lobbyists, and People (corporations) are the other team, but your neighbor could actually run a effective campaign too.
We the "People" created Gerrymandering. We can alter that too.
We the "People" created the opportunity to lobby our officials, that is important, healthy AND is Constitutional, evenly so for Professional Lobbyists. They all should be encourage to do a lot of it, and often. But money can not be allowed to be given or received in that process. It has been established that money is Speech, and cannot be restricted. Yet like Speech, it can be bounded by some norms we all think are prudent and not infringing upon on essential 1st Amendment Right. We can alter that too.
We the "People" make Corporations possible. We can alter their behavior too.
We the "People" and some of us are evil, some not so much, and we all do use the Capitalist Economy to meet our needs by producing a product, service, whatever, because of our need and desire to be a part society, to be paid, or to pay another for what they can do for us. To suggest our problems are borne out of a Capitalist System because it is essentially evil, strikes me as a bit disingenuous. If we are using the same definitions, and I listed thee Samuel Johnson one above, I would offer the idea that Capitalism is bad, is at best childish, and state that Capitalism is a noun.
Any Constitutional Lawyers out there? If the precedent for Corporation being "People" essentially is rooted in false evidence and testimony, can we get a retrial?