Unequal protection : the rise of corporate dominance and the theft of human rights
Thom Hartmann tells a startling story that will forever change your understanding of American history. The Fourteenth Amendment--created to grant basic rights to freed slaves--has been used by lawyers representing corporate interests to extend additional rights to businesses far more frequently than to freed slaves. In 1886, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations were "persons" entitled to the same rights granted to people. Since this ruling, America has lost the legal structures that allowed people to control corporate behavior. As a result, the largest transnational corporations fill a role today that has historically been filled by kings. They control most of the world's wealth and exert power over the lives of most of the world's citizens. They've become the rudder that steers the ship of much human experience, and they're steering it by their prime value--growth and profit at any expense--a value that has become destructive for life on Earth.--From publisher description
Print Book, English, ©2002
Rodale ; St. Martin's Press [distributor], [Emmaus, Penn.], [New York, N.Y.], ©2002