Democracy Theme Park

JAM

  • The Pink Oleo Saga: Why So Many Good State Laws Are “Unconstitutional” (and What We Should Do About It) (2008)

    What’s pink, French, and unconstitutional? Hint: The story of this early “frankenfood” provides an advance script for the current global “free trade” frenzy. Over a century ago, its introduction was an occasion for greasing the skids toward establishing a U.S. “free trade” zone, one that is as devastating to local democracy as the WTO and…

  • Try This At Home (2004)

    1: The Ambassador The ambassador’s entourage—two edgy men with ear wires down their backs, and a few hangers-on—formed an irregular security perimeter. Handlers steered her around to avoid ambassadorial stumbles over uneven footing in the cramped space. It was Colómbian Independence Day, so I suppose I should have expected to bump into the U.S. ambassador…

  • Let Stockholders Make Call on Favre (2008)

    The Green Bay Packers control Brett Favre’s fate, but the people control the Green Bay Packers. The thousands of Wisconsinites who own stock in the team should hold a town meeting at Lambeau Field at the upcoming July 24 annual meeting of Green Bay Packers Inc., and make some decisions the old-fashioned way. Every July,…

  • (Citizens United) Court’s Campaign Money Ruling Is a Red Herring (2010)

    Before running off trying to counter the recent Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), we ought to sort out what this decision does and does not do. The Citizens United decision does make our democracy theme park a little worse, the way having an atomic bomb dropped on your own…

  • Strip Corporations of their Cloaking Devices (1996)

    Who spends the most time in federal courts complaining that their “due process” and “equal protection under the law” rights have been violated? Pushy women? Uppity Blacks? Gray Panthers? Illegal Mexicans? The Sandhill Crane Militia? HIV-positive Navy gunners? You really don’t know, do you? None of the above. Plaintiffs in such cases are most often…

  • Stone Soup, Democracy Salad, Just Desserts (1997)

    Centuries ago, Sir John Culpepper said of the “corporations” of his day, Like the frogs of Egypt, they have gotten possession of our dwellings and we have scarcely a room free from them; they sip in our cup; they dip in our dish; they sit by our fire… What gives “democracy” such a bad name?…

  • Speaking Truth To Power About Campaign Reform (1998)

    This article was written around the time Maine and a few other states were considering “campaign finance reform” laws. The historical perspective, even in the aftermath of the Citizens United case, shows us how little has changed. Many of these issues have been discussed by Maine labor activist Peter Kellman, author of Building Unions: Past,…

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Jane Anne Morris