Electricity and democracy by Richard L. Grossman Opinion, SF Bay Guardian, March 21, 2001 The people of California chartered Pacific Gas and Electric Corporation, Edison International Corporation, and their subsidiaries to provide for the state's energy needs. Not to define energy policy. Not to write the law. Not to buy public officials, publishers, editors, and civic leaders. Not to pipe billions of ratepayer and taxpayer dollars out of state. Not to roam the world, buying up other corporations, poisoning other people's communities, and vacuuming up other people's money. Not to prevent efficient, renewable, and public energy systems from replacing wasteful, complex, and deadly corporate systems. And not to run the state into the ground. The U.S. Constitution does not mention corporations. California's Constitution says: "All political power is inherent in the people" (article 2, section 1). Yet corporations dominate politics by controlling ideas, values, laws, and people's money. How does this happen? Among other things, the U.S. Supreme Court insulated these corporate managers from public authority. For example, in 1886 the court gave corporations the 14th Amendment's "equal protection" (Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Corporation). There was no public discussion, no legislative discussion. Chief Justice Waite simply said: "The court does not wish to hear argument on the question whether the ... 14th Amendment to the Constitution ... applies to these corporations. We are all of opinion that it does." Over the next century corporations won most of the Bill of Rights. In 1986 they won the last chunk of our First Amendment, revoking our right to defend ourselves against corporate lies wrapped around utility bills (Pacific Gas and Electric Company v. Public Utilities Commission). Despite public discussion and California's legislative decisions to the contrary, Justice Powell simply said: "For corporations as for individuals, the choice to speak includes within it the choice of what not to say. And we have held that speech does not lose its protection because of the corporate identity of the speaker." Armed with these and other judicial gifts, energy corporations have crushed people's initiatives and referenda instructing public officials to map out solar and public energy transitions. Banking corporations, seed corporations, computer corporations, automobile corporations, oil corporations: they all do what California's utility corporations have legally been doing. Agribusiness corporations write food-policy law. Insurance corporations write health care law. Automobile corporations write transportation policy law. Together they write global corporate rights law and call it free trade. A few hundred giant corporations govern. They define the nation's needs, values, choices, and spending by superintending the people's debates, elections, lawmaking, jurisprudence, and education. The short-term deal to keep the lights on is about legislators and the governor enabling PG&E and Edison International corporations to dig deeper into people's pockets. If longer-term deals are left to these corporations --and to financial giants like Goldman-Sachs Corporation and Citigroup Corporation-- they will take our socks while melting down the Sierras. So for starters, Californians must amend the state's corporation laws to ban corporations from: *exercising rights reserved for human beings, including freedom of speech and assembly, due process, equal protection under the law; *buying allegiance and silence by giving money to schools, museums, Little League teams, scouting organizations, and other community groups; *investing money in political candidates, political parties, political action committees, initiative or referendum campaigns, or influencing any public discussions or legislation; *advertising anywhere about ideas, values, and public policy; *denying freedom of speech and assembly to employees; *owning other corporations. Of course, corporate operatives will claim that the U.S. Constitution renders such lawmaking beyond the authority of the people. Their lawyers will tell federal judges to deny the people's will. Experts everywhere will proclaim that people have no right to touch corporate law. But we will not solve the electricity or any other crisis without addressing our lack-of-democracy crisis. [Richard Grossman is codirector of the Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy (POCLAD), http://www.poclad.org. A former California resident, he now lives in New Hampshire.]
