Submitted by Virginia Packer for The Bedford Lyceum
Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Thank You Do and What You Can Do About It, with author Jeffrey Clements will be presented at The Bedford Lyceum on Sunday, April 6, from 9:30-10:50 a.m. The Lyceum meets most Sundays in Room 202 at First Parish on the Common. The program is free of charge and the public is invited. The building is totally accessible.
The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision marked a culminating victory for the bizarre doctrine that corporations are people with free speech and other rights. Now, Americans cannot stop corporations from spending billions of dollars to dominate elections and keep our elected representatives on a tight leash. Jeffrey Clements reveals the far-reaching effects of this strange and destructive idea, which flies in the face of not only all common sense but most of American legal history as well. Most importantly, he offers solutions—including a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United—and tools to help readers join a grassroots drive to implement them. Ending corporate control of our Constitution and government is not about a triumph of one political ideology over another—it’s about restoring the republican principles of American democracy.
In a quote supporting the book Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream, and confounders of Business for Democracy, write the following:
“Ben Cohen is a person. Jerry Greenfield is a person. Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, Inc.? Not a person. Why can’t the Supreme Court keep this straight? Jeff Clements tells the story of how some of the biggest corporations in the world took over our Constitution, our democracy, and our economy that used to work for everyone. Best of all, he shows how we can get them back.”
We are fortunate that Jeff will join us to discuss his important and thought provoking book. He is co-founder and President of Free Speech for People, a national, non-partisan campaign to overturn Citizens United v. FEC, to challenge unbalanced corporate power, and to help ensure the success of republican democracy in America. As a lawyer he has represented and advocated for people, businesses and the public interest since 1988.
American journalist and public commentator, Bill Moyers, wrote the forward for Clements’ book. Please check out the work of Free Speech for People at www.Freespeechforpeople.org.
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