SECOND REGULAR SESSION
House Concurrent Resolution No. 38
96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES McCREERY (Sponsor), ELLINGER, KELLY (24), McNEIL, SCHUPP, NEWMAN, WALTON GRAY, MORGAN, WEBBER, CARLSON, ATKINS, KIRKTON AND OXFORD (Co-sponsors).
WHEREAS, government of, by, and for the people has long been a fundamental American value and We The People's fundamental and inalienable right to self govern, and thereby secure rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed in the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence; and
WHEREAS, free and fair elections are essential to democracy and effective self governance; and
WHEREAS, persons are rightfully recognized as human beings whose essential needs include clean air, clean water, and safe and secure food; and
WHEREAS, corporations are entirely human-made legal fictions created by express permission of We The People and our government; and
WHEREAS, in addition to these advantages, the great wealth of large corporations allows them to wield coercive force of law to overpower human beings and communities, thus denying We The People's exercise of our constitutional rights; and
WHEREAS, corporations are not mentioned in the United States Constitution and We The People have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have We The People decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of We The People of the United States; and
WHEREAS, interpretation of the United States Constitution by appointed United States Supreme Court justices to include corporations in the term "persons" has denied We The People's exercise of self governance by endowing corporations with constitutional protections intended for We The People; and
WHEREAS, the judicial bestowal of civil and political rights upon corporations usurps basic human and constitutional rights guaranteed to human persons, and also empowers corporations to sue municipal and state governments for adopting laws that violate "corporate rights" even when those laws serve to protect and defend the rights of human persons and communities; and
WHEREAS, corporations are not and have never been human beings, and therefore are rightfully subservient to human beings and governments as our legal creations; and
WHEREAS, large corporations' profits and survival are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings; and
WHEREAS, the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, which rolled back the legal limits on corporate spending in the electoral process, creates an unequal playing field and allows unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, candidate selection, policy decisions, and sway votes, and forces elected officials to divert their attention from We The People's business or even vote against the interest of their human constituents in order to raise competitive campaign funds for their own re-election; and
WHEREAS, large corporations own most of America's mass media and use that media as a megaphone to express loudly their political agenda and to convince Americans that their primary role is that of consumers, rather than sovereign citizens with rights and responsibilities within our democracy, and thus forces citizens to toil to discern the truth behind the headlines and election campaigning; and
WHEREAS, tens of thousands of people and municipalities across the nation are joining together to call for an amendment to the United States Constitution to abolish corporate personhood:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the members of the House of Representatives of the Ninety-sixth General Assembly, Second Regular Session, the Senate concurring therein, hereby strongly urge the United States Congress to propose an amendment to the United States Constitution, in accordance with Article V of the Constitution, which would put to a vote of We The People a constitutional amendment which clearly states that corporations are not human beings and do not have the same rights as the citizens of the United States; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Chief Clerk of the Missouri House of Representatives be instructed to prepare properly inscribed copies of this resolution for the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, and each member of the Missouri Congressional delegation.
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