Declaration of Corporate Independence

The Preamble:

When in the course of corporate events

Dissolving bands with people must end.

Capital is what matters most

And with any means business defends.

We hold these markets to be self-evident

That not all profits are equal;

They're endowed by laissez-faire

To meet their quarterly sequels.

We hold NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO

As well as other forms of "free" trade,

To bring "free" markets for corporations,

Despite labor concessions made.

We reserve the right to squeeze out life

As we have liberty and happiness at home,

The quaint idea that people have rights,

Is bought or sold or loaned.

The amble:

From its day of artificial birth,

In the year 1886,

A corporation assumed human rights,

Its place had been fixed.

And then in 1978,

It learned to speak with big money;

In Belotti versus First National Bank,

Campaign bucks flowed like honey.

The rulings over the years sustained

For corporations and their vast wealth;

FOX reporters defied BGH omissions,

But a judge ruled against public health.

The Supremes have now ruled in favor

Of tort reform for punitive damages.

Exxon lessoned its punitive load

Like sociopathic savages.

And now the hammer has come down

Of unbridled wealth and greed;

The ruling of Citizens United

Saw the FEC's weak knees.

Corporate capital’s now in control;

The founding fathers roll in their graves.

Democracy's coffin’s now shut tight

Under the corporate road that’s paved.