The Rise Of The Machines

from Henry Rollin's Vanity Fair blog "STRAIGHT TALK ESPRESSO":

Cold and raining in Leeds, England. The recent decision by the Supreme Court to give personhood to corporations did not surprise me. Perhaps it is my cynicism or just plain repetition, but it always seems that the worst decision gets made in my country. More soldiers into Afghanistan, bank bailouts, and now corporations being able to unleash torrents of funds into the political field. A corporation, an entity that only rates its success by profit, can now potentially shape elections and drown out the voice of the people.

By humanizing corporations, you in turn dehumanize real people. To give a pulse to a thing like Halliburton is science fiction. That a corporation now has human rights, constitutional protections as well as corporate protections, makes them superhuman and accountable to no one.

Perhaps America has always been headed to a vision of democracy as nothing more than an inconvenience for corporate goals. Giving life to corporations is a real spike in the heart of American freedom, democracy, the Constitution, and progress. This decision will turn politicians into fear-filled servants of corporate masters. Those who stand up for the people can simply be bought off, eliminated by an overwhelming smear campaign, or made all but voiceless because they will be outspent.

There might even come a time when only a fraction of potential voters will bother to cast a ballot, thinking that their government is just another logo.

the original article and comments appear here.