That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of Life, Liberty

[rman]

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

- DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE -

"In 1776 we declared independence not only from British rule, but also from the corporations of England that controlled trade and extracted wealth from the US (and other) colonies. Thus, in the early days of our country, we only allowed corporations to be chartered (licensed to operate) to serve explicitly as a tool to gather investment and disperse financial liability in order to provide public goods, such as construction of roads, bridges or canals.
After fighting a revolution for freedom from colonialism, our country's founders retained a healthy fear of the similar threats posed by corporate power and wisely limited corporations exclusively to a business role. These state laws, many of which remain on the books today, imposed conditions such as these:"

- A charter was granted for a limited time.
- Corporations were explicitly chartered for the purpose of serving the public interest - profit for shareholders was the means to that end.
- Corporations could engage only in activities necessary to fulfill their chartered purpose.
- Corporations could be terminated if they exceeded their authority or if they caused public harm.

<more>

Reclaim Democracy, Corporate History Primer
http://reclaimdemocracy.org/pdf/primers/hidden_corporate_history.pdf (pdf)

"(Modern) corporations are illegitimate institutions, they have no right to exist.
And their control is very fragile, they know it. It’s in principal easy to dismantle them, they understand that.
A large part of the corporate effort to appear benevolent is to make sure that - you can read it in court decisions - "an aroused population will not take away their rights"."
- Noam Chomsky

How has your Life, Liberty and Happiness been lately?

[MisterP]

1. recall that the Boston Tea Party, in the (17)60's, was due to a tax

break to a corporation: this is woefully underrepresented in science fiction--the exploitation and draining of a colony by the Carlyle-like combine put in charge of it, like what * wants to the Asteroid Belt.

[moodforaday]

6. This is, actually, not good news

Because people only seem to be willing to revolt when their economic well-being is threatened: not when their civil rights go down the drain, not when their government is oppressing someone else, and not when their government is lying to them and sending them to war. Only when their pockets are hit.

Don't take it as a flame, please. Here in Poland the Solidarity strikes were also about the economy, first and foremost. We had a huge economic crisis, inflation and prices through the roof, food rationing, what have you. Sure, there were civil rights demands as well, but they were tacked onto all the economic demands by a bunch of intellectuals who advised Lech Walesa. Without the economic shambles, I don't think Solidarity would have happened the way it did.

[wli]

2. recalling representatives

I've heard there are methods of recalling representatives. I'm not sure how easy it would be to actually carry out a recall. I don't believe they apply to the executive or judicial branches, though.

[bryant69]

3. They don't

I also don't think there are recall possibilities to Congress either- although state legislatures may have them.

But if we had the power to use such recal methods, we'd probably just vote them out, wouldn't we?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[wli]

4. modulo Diebold, yes

There are, of course, further obstacles.

[carnie_sf]

5. Armed insurrection

is the ticket

[K-W]

7. End modern feudalism. EOM

[JohnnyBoots]

9. ...Don't shop at Wall-Mart.

[JohnnyBoots]

8. We need bill boards saying

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

- DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE .