On Aug. 22, your readers were exposed to the Dictionary Act of 1871 (“Corporations have rights,” Our Readers’ Views). Those bothering to look up this important, though obscure, act and read through the definitions for “person” and “whoever” will find it applies to corporations only when the context is unclear. It did not grant corporations human status as alleged in that letter. The current court has completely made up a fiction of ambiguity to create current corporate persons.
This act was written in 1871, not by the Founders because they had all died. This period is when the American corporation was created. Prior to the Civil War, corporations were either mutual benefit organizations like colleges and fire departments, or small production sites at a single location. The transcontinental railroads changed this with the largest public subsidies in our history and laws inadequate for the ensuing corruption. Less than 20 years after these massive for-profit creatures were created, Congress passed the first anti-trust laws.
The wealthy have always been able to buy people to spew any nonsense they wish to spread. Sowing confusion is now a science. Only being aware of these attacks on reason and facts can protect us.
