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	<title>buckdata - news and views for an unquiet age &#187; U.S. Constitution</title>
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		<title>The Frankenstein Effect</title>
		<link>http://buckdata.com/hp_wordpress/archives/184</link>
		<comments>http://buckdata.com/hp_wordpress/archives/184#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 19:26:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>S. Buck</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[American Grotesque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[campaign finance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Citizens United]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Frankenstein]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lobbying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary Shelley]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PR]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public policy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[robo-calls]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme Court]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[U.S. Constitution]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[voting rights]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[Once again, a scant majority in the country&#8217;s highest court has handed down a decision on a subject the justices know too little about. They have decided what a person is. It turns out a legal filing&#8211; not a jolt of electricity in some Central Europe lab&#8211; can shock a stitched-together bundle of documents, capital, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Once again, a scant majority in the country&#8217;s highest court has handed down a decision on a  subject the justices know too little about. They have decided what a person is. It turns out  a legal filing&#8211; not a jolt of electricity in some Central Europe lab&#8211; can shock a  stitched-together bundle of documents, capital, and lawyers into life, making a corporation  into a person.  </p>
<p>This is worse than a mistake. It&#8217;s <em>hubris</em>.</p>
<p>Even Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley&#8217;s 1818 horror classic regrets constructing <em>his</em> monster:  &#8220;Would you also create for yourself and the world a demoniacal enemy? Peace. Peace. Learn my  miseries and do not seek to increase your own.&#8221;</p>
<p>Think of a person that neither poops nor dies, does not need doctors or schools or diapers or houses, catches no H1N1 viruses, and does not wake these gowned officials up at night  with teething or with adolescent woes: A person with a proper attitude toward money and  authority. A person that&#8217;s all theory, no needy flesh, no messy bones.</p>
<p>Already a public relations firm, Murray Hill Incorporated, has announced its candidacy for  Congress, according to the <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/corporation-says--it-wil-run-for-congress/">New York Times</a>. On a campaign video</a>, the company promises  to bring &#8220;enlightened self-interest and corporate accounting to government.&#8221; The company says it will enter a primary election for a Maryland Congressional seat, according to its  <a href="http://murrayhillincforcongress.com/">website</a>. A statement on the website indicates the corporation  plans to use &#8220;automated robo-calls, &#8216;Astroturf&#8217; lobbying and computer-generated avatars to  get out the vote.&#8221;  </p>
<p>I imagine the move is tongue-in-cheek, but consider the possibilities: Maybe the Supreme  Court will go further and grant corporations the ballot, perhaps limiting the rest of us to  three-fifths of a vote apiece. Or perhaps do a 50-to-one reverse split and grant us even  less.  </p>
<p>All this makes me ponder: My dog Porschy is born in the U.S. She has rights, too. (She wants the  right to bare teeth.) I am looking into incorporating her in Delaware. Votes for dogs!</p>
<p>P.S. See the Supreme Court&#8217;s <a href="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf">decision</a>.</p>
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