This country's founding fathers wrote that, "All men are created equal." What they really meant was more like, "All land-owning white males of English descent are created equal."

Our democracy has evolved slowly, and sometimes painfully, to the point where, legally at least, men and women citizens of all races and levels of wealth are allowed to participate in this grand experiment called democracy.

Over the years, however, another class of citizen -the supercitizen- has arisen. These supercitizens aren't biological or mortal beings like us. They are corporations, legal artifacts which exist only to make a profit.

In the 1700s, the close relationship between the English government and giant global trading corporations was one of the major issues which caused the American Revolution. The King granted special monopoly rights to the Dutch East India Company, a chartered corporation, to distribute tea from England's bulging warehouses. The effects of this concentration of political and economic power on average merchants precipitated the Boston Tea Party. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Because of this experience, our founding fathers were careful to prohibit the U. S. government from chartering corporations. The states were given the sole authority to grant corporate charters. In return for a charter, the corporation agreed to obey all laws, to serve the common good, and to cause no harm. Charters were supposed to be revoked if corporations broke laws, didn't serve the common good or did harm.

As state-chartered corporations became larger and more powerful, with the help of the courts, they amassed special privileges, benefits and wealth. Corporations have become more like humans. They acquired the right to sue and be sued, the right to privacy, and the right to contribute to the political system. Currently there is a large corporate push for what's called "tort reform" which would give these supercitizens preferential status in the courts.

Corporations have other advantages that make them "super." Unlike people, they have the potential to be immortal. Some of the most successful ones are over a hundred years old.

While citizens owe allegiance to their country, to their communities, and to their families, supercitizens owe allegiance only to greater financial returns. They are free to roam the country and the world, looking for the best deals on labor, raw materials, taxes and government subsidies, with no feeling of allegiance to anything but the bottom line.

As corporations' power increased, their share of government's cost decreased. In the 1950s, corporations paid almost 40 percent of the taxes in this country. By 1980, they paid only 26 percent of all Federal taxes. Then, the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 reduced the corporate share to just eight percent. Although corporations work hard to reduce their taxes, they generously fund campaigns in order to influence government. Almost two-thirds of the money that puts people into Federal office comes from corporate contributions. It's not too surprising that corporate taxes have gone down.

The share of our taxes that is used to buy from corporations, to subsidize them, and to clean up after their messes, has gone up. Most of the corporations' raw materials are subsidized by the rest of us. There's quite a list: timber and pulp wood, agricultural products, including grains, fossil and electrical energy, water, the transportation system, research and regulation. Soon, with the change from human to corporate welfare, we may even subsidize labor by paying half of the salary of the low-paid workers upon whom fast-food restaurants and giant retailers depend.

The expenses of supercitizens - jet planes, elaborate headquarters, executive retreats, public relations firms, and much more - are all tax deductible. In contrast, the expenses of regular citizens- a car to get to work, rent, education and almost everything else, are paid for with "after-tax" dollars. An individual has to earn $1.40 to have one dollar to spend. A corporation spends a dollar and takes 30 off its taxes.

What can we do about this? Campaign finance reform is critically important. Offending corporations should have their charters revoked. We should pay closer attention. Our best long-term strategies may be to rely less on corporations and do more for ourselves.

This is Bill Duesing, Living on the Earth

This page and its contents are copyright © 1997 by WSHU-FM, Fairfield, CT, and by Bill Duesing.