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Wrinkle in Ancient Corporate Code Reveals Democracy Remedy (Not for the faint of heart)

Blog Post, Corporations, The Constitution & Democracy, Green Future, Supreme Court / By

Crumbling pages in the rare books room of the Wisconsin State Law Library may hold the key to breaking the corporate stranglehold on the democratic promise so long dormant in the heartland. I’ve read those pages in that cool, dim room. But you can find the same info in the well-thumbed regular stacks that are …

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Why There Aren’t Any Jokes About Regulatory Agencies

Are Regulatory Agencies a Good Thing?, Blog Post, Community Rights, Over-the-Wall Strategies / By

OK, here’s a joke about a regulatory agency, as told by the corporate manager of a big polluting factory. He says…So, I’m in my office one day and the Man from EPA comes in and slams down a huge stack of papers, saying — You’ve got 22,221 violations, and you better do something about them …

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Making a Federal Case Out of It

Blog Post, Corporations, The Constitution & Democracy, Green Future, Supreme Court / By

“Don’t make a federal case out of it.” I used the phrase countless times without understanding its origin. But it turns out it’s full right up to the post-hoc-ergo-propter-hoc with historical significance: lessons about corporations, democracy and local control–what you might call community rights. Take the train-hits-cow cases. Railroads began a rapid expansion in the …

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A Corporate Anthropologist Walks Into a Blog…

Blog Post, Green Future, Over-the-Wall Strategies / By

There are two kinds of corporate anthropologists. First, the kind that works for corporations and gets paid. I’m the other kind. The first kind works for and with corporations to increase worker productivity, advise what color greeting card to send a Chinese executive, or figure out how to sell personal hygiene products to Mayan grandmothers. …

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Is Citizens United Focus a Good Use of Our Time? (2014)

Blog Post, Campaign Reform (AKA Campaign Finance Reform), Corporations, The Constitution & Democracy, Supreme Court / By

Such a comforting thought—that overturning a single court case can resolve some of society’s biggest problems. With Citizens United, the idea seems to be that huge strides could be made by reversing it, thereby “getting the money out of” elections. It’s our current version of the “silver bullet” myth of old. Kind of like thinking …

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Ward Morehouse (1929-2012): A Remembrance

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When I first met Ward Morehouse in May 1995 at a weekend “Rethinking the Corporation” retreat in Wisconsin’s “driftless” region—he considered Wisconsin his “old stompin’ ground”–he asked to see my just-published first book. Returning the book the next morning, he made a few trenchant remarks that left no doubt that he had read the whole thing.

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