Corporations are people, but is a corporation a person?

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Mitchell’s laws:
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor, which ultimately leads to civil disorder.
●Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
●To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments.
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The penalty for ignorance is slavery.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive.
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The Supreme Court often has decided corporations are people, or rather, groups of people, and have the same rights as people. But is any individual corporation a person, with the same rights as a person?

As part of the Republican’s apparently never-ending effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act (a program supported by the right-wing Heritage Foundation and instituted by Republican Mitt Romney — See: Heritage), a new case soon will come before the Supreme Court:

Washington Times
Supreme Court to decide Obamacare birth control mandate
By Tom Howell Jr.

The Supreme Court set up another showdown over President Obama’s health care law on Tuesday by taking on a pair of cases that challenges an administrative rule requiring many for-profit companies to insure birth control.

Hobby Lobby stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties are among dozens of large firms with religious devout owners who say the “contraception mandate” tied to the Affordable Care Act infringes on their right to religious freedom.

“This legal challenge has always remained about one thing and one thing only: the right of our family businesses to live out our sincere and deeply held religious convictions as guaranteed by the law and the Constitution,” said David Green, founder and CEO of Hobby Lobby. “Business owners should not have to choose between violating their faith and violating the law.”

Some questions are:

1. Should a family business be treated as a person or as a corporation? If, as a person, should a family-owned corporation continue to receive all those legal, tax and liability benefits of corporations, while also receiving the benefits of individual citizenship?

2. Does a family-owned corporation have the same religious, voting and personal rights as an American citizen? Can such a corporation assert a personal right to religious freedoms that contradict federal and local law?

3. Even if a corporation is not a person, does it still have the same religious rights as a person? Can one violate a corporation’s religious rights? What about all the other rights in the Bill of Rights? Do they apply to a corporation?

Should a corporation be represented in the House of Representatives? Does a corporation not only have religious rights, but freedom of speech rights? (The right-wing Supreme Court says “yes” to the later).

Does a corporation have a right to remain silent in criminal cases? Can a corporation be arrested and jailed?

In short, is the owner of a family-owned corporation identical with the corporation itself?

What if your religion mandates that pregnant women cannot work, or claims that women are witches. Should your family-owned business be allowed to fire any women who become pregnant or for being witches?

What if your religion allows or even requires the use of peyote and other mind-altering drugs. Should your employees be allowed to buy, sell and use peyote and other mind-altering drugs? Can your business supply employees with peyote and other mind-altering drugs?

What if your fundamentalist, faith-healing religion rejects all medical treatment in favor of prayer? Can the ACA force your family business to pay for health insurance that pays for medical treatment?

Should a corporation be able to apply for citizenship and have the right to vote? Does a corporation, as a person, have religious freedom rights, separate from — or identical to — individual religious freedom rights?

The Supreme Court, most recently with its Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and many earlier decisions revolving around the 14th Amendment, repeatedly has addressed related questions, and now again it must address them.

With each previous answer, it has made exception upon exception, more often favoring moneyed interests.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to be an activist Supreme Court, catering to the right.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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Nine Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Send every American citizen an annual check for $5,000 or give every state $5,000 per capita (Click here)
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
8. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here)

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10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY