“Corporate Personhood” and Energy Policy

I try not to comment on political issues that have no direct bearing on clean energy, or sustainability more generally.  Having said that, I have indeed taken up the mantle of MoveToAmend.org, in its fight to overturn corporations’ recently granted rights to spend as much as they wish to influence our elections.  The tragic US Supreme Court decision granting this right, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, is, in my mind, the single most important, and, in this case, disastrous opinion  to come from the High Court in more than 150 years (Dred Scott, 1857).

The relevance of this today  is Mitt Romney’s bold admission at the Iowa State Fair that, in his estimation, “corporations are people,” a statement that lies at the very heart of the controversy.

At least Romney had the decency to tell us where he stood.  As the MoveToAmend people put it, “He’s taking a lot of flak for it, but we want to thank Mitt for being honest about his true loyalties in a time when so many politicians are trying to hide the truth. Americans deserve to know where candidates stand on the illegitimate doctrine of Corporate Personhood.”