Clements - Corporations are not people reclaiming democracy from big money and global corporations

You must read this book. Clements tells how the logic of corporate personhood has allowed corporations to trump the rights of people. In vivid stories he recounts the real consequences of that tortured logic.

Fran Korten, Publisher, YES! Magazine

Clements is our 21st-century Paul Revere, spreading the word that we must rise against the economic royalists. The billionaires are on the march, but Clements is faster and smarter, and his is the noble cause of democracy unbound.

John Nichols, coauthor of Dollarocracy; Correspondent, The Nation; and cofounder, Free Press

As a conservative, I support property rights and freer markets but have to question the notion that corporations deserve the same constitutional protections as we the people.

Michael D. Ostrolenk, cofounder and National Director, Liberty Coalition

Reclaiming our democracy from corporate domination is the great struggle of our time. The good news, as Corporations Are Not People shows, is that a growing movement is mobilizing to take back our democracy.

Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen

Ben Cohen is a person. Jerry Greenfield is a person. Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream, Inc.? Not a person. Clements tells how corporations 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.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders, Ben & Jerrys Homemade Ice Cream, and cofounders, Business for Democracy

Question for the Supreme Court: If a corporation is a person, wheres its navel? Corporations Are Not People is more than a bookits a democracy manual. Lets put it to work.

Jim Hightower, bestselling author; national radio commentator; and Editor, Hightower Lowdown

If you care about our democracy and want to know what we the people can do to reclaim it, read this book. You will be inspired to stand up to demand our country back.

John Bonifaz, cofounder and President, Free Speech for People

A clarion call to action in defense of democracyArguably the most important book on corporations ever written. Essential reading for every citizen.

David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World

Clements makes a powerful case against the doctrine that corporations enjoy the same free speech protections as individual Americans and lays out in chilling detail the dangerous implications for our democracy.

Caroline Fredrickson, President, American Constitution Society

A must-read for every real person who is fed up with the reign of corporate supercitizens in American politics. Clements insightfully explains why and how we the people must kill the runaway Frankenstein monster created by the Supreme Court.

James Nelson, Montana Supreme Court Justice (Retired)

Excessive corporate influence is one of the greatest threats to our democracy. This book will help citizens make real progress in freeing our political system from manipulation.

Congresswoman Donna F. Edwards

Clementss definitive work on the capture of Americas political process by corporate power is clearly written and persuasive.

Robert A. G. Monks, author of Citizens DisUnited; business leader and shareholder activist; and former Chair, Maine Republican Committee

Corporations Are Not People will inform you, outrage you, and inspire you to return corporations to their proper position as tools of public policy rather than masters of it.

Barry Eisler, author of The Last Assassin

There is no better primer to describe how we arrived where we are today and our opportunity to change the direction of our nation.

Peg Lautenschlager, former Attorney General of Wisconsin

This book gives you valuable tools.

David Cobb, cofounder, Move to Amend

A brilliant contribution to the literature on the crime of corporate personhoodand what we can do about it.

Thom Hartmann, bestselling author of Unequal Protection and host of the Thom Hartmann Program

Second Edition

RECLAIMING DEMOCRACY
FROM BIG MONEY AND GLOBAL
CORPORATIONS

JEFFREY D. CLEMENTS

Corporations Are Not People

Copyright 2014 by Jeffrey D. Clements

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
235 Montgomery Street, Suite 650
San Francisco, California 94104-2916
Tel: (415) 288-0260, Fax: (415) 362-2512
www.bkconnection.com

Ordering information for print editions

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Second Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-62656-210-3
PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-211-0
IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-62656-212-7

2014-1

Interior design and project management: Dovetail Publishing Services

Cover design: Mark van Bronkhorst

For Bob Clements

And for all of the people working to renew American democracy,
for whom this book is dedicated, and to the cause of which
100 percent of author royalties are committed.

Three years ago, with the original edition of Corporations Are Not People, I thought that the title might require some explanation. I am not sure that is still true.

When politicians from Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren to Arizona Republican John McCain join in unison to declare, Corporations are not people! and when a major presidential candidate has been ridiculed and rebutted for his pronouncement that corporations are people, my friend, it may be that the phrase now has some resonance.

In these past three years, the country has shared in the catastrophe that is