It is no wonder that Judge [Suzanne] Chanti rendered a judgment against OCOR (Our Community Our Rights) on our initiative “Rights of Local Community Self-Government.” The guys in the $1,500 suits were there arguing the case for industry.

The same type of corporate lawyer was there representing the railroads back in the 1860s when the 14th Amendment was made law. Then the railroad’s cadre of lawyers argued that the amendment’s second reference to the term “persons” applied to corporations!

Fast-forward to 2010, where they successfully argued before the Supreme Court for “Citizens United,” declaring, once and for all, that corporations are people. There is perfectly fertilized ground for corporate hegemony. The system constructed over time is not broken. For the guys in the $1,500 suits and their clients, it is a finely tuned and fully functioning machine.

Regardless, the great ideals of democracy and the consent of the governed are worth fighting for and must be founded.

Richard Gross

Deadwood