U.S. Columnist Wants Ban On Preemption Laws Written By Corporations

Corporations have successfully argued before the Supreme Court for various constitutional rights, including First Amendment rights of free speech, Fourth Amendment rights of privacy, Fifth Amendment protections against takings, and 14th Amendment rights as “persons” to “equal protection under the law,” among other “rights of personhood,” Thom Hartmann wrote in The Hartmann Report.

It’s time for these corporate "persons" to face the same consequences as human criminals when they become egregious and recidivist offenders.

Hartmann argues it’s time for these corporate "persons" to face the same consequences as human criminals when they become egregious and recidivist offenders.

He suggests removing such corporations from society permanently, allowing new, smaller, and more innovative companies to fill their space, potentially leading to a business renaissance. He calls for states to enforce the corporate death penalty to drive meaningful, long-lasting economic growth.

Hartmann criticizes the legal doctrine of preemption, where superior government bodies impose rules on smaller governments.

This doctrine can strip democracy from communities, similar to British preemption of colonial American laws, which contributed to the Revolutionary War. Federal preemption is why marijuana remains federally illegal despite state legalization. Hartmann believes this undermines local autonomy and calls for changes to this doctrine.