Puppet Masters

Montana legislator introduces bill to give corporations right to vote

David Edwards
Raw Story
Sat, 23 Feb 2013 19:58 UTC

A Montana Republican state legislator has introduced a bill that would give corporations the right to vote in municipal elections. According to Think Progress, Rep. Steve Lavin (R-Kalispell) has introduced Montana House Bill No. 486, which would grant to "a firm, partnership, company or corporation" that owns property within a district the right to vote as a citizen of that district.

Echoing former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's 2011 assertion that "corporations are people, too, my friend," the law, if enacted, would empower a representative of each company in the district to cast a vote in the company's interest. The representative would be required to present proof of the company's registration with the secretary of state and that they are that organization's designee.

This legislation would go beyond even the allowances made for corporations and companies to funnel unlimited dark money into elections as per the "Citizens United" decision. Think Progress reported that the bill was tabled by the state legislature almost immediately, so it is unlikely to be voted into law.

House Bill 486 imposes some limits on corporate power in that the companies would not be able to vote in "school elections," but would be confined to voting on municipal matters.

Reader Comments

SpiritBear · 2013-02-23T20:31:55Z

They already influence elections

With their money, why would they need the right to vote?

Rocker · 2013-02-23T22:26:23Z

Alexander Fraser Tyler 1770

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
The average of the world's great civilizations before they decline has been 200 years. These nations have progressed in this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to Complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage.

So where are we America? Wake up now!

gdpetti · 2013-02-24T11:29:58Z

There is 'largesse' for the insiders, and there is 'largess' for the general public. The first is based in greed and the second is based in control. If you keep the sheep weak and docile, they are easy to control. Rome didn't have all that free bread and circuses for nothing. It was and is, like our food stamps and sports, the modern equilavent of keeping the people like sheep, docile and easy to manipulate.

Social Security is like many of these public programs in that the insiders promise to protect the sheeple and then force them to comply by federal mandate and call it a retirement program, which, like all govt bureaucratic programs, simply grows like a weed until pruned... and continuously, as pulling out the roots is near impossible as so many of the insiders profit off of those programs, such as the Food Stamp program that has allowed corporations to take over the entire food industry with this 'largesse' and all the time claiming to be helping the people, when in fact they were only helping themselves. Later, all these programs develop competition among the insiders for control and only then are they subject to 'cuts'.

As for permanent forms of govt, it seems there really isn't any in name but in practice, it is as it always has been, a battle for control of the 'pot' which is the battle for power, control and domination, not just over the sheeple, but the competition, for what good is a battle without a 'worthy' opponent? Not much of a test, is it? That in my opinion, is what is missing these days, lack of a worthy opponent, for how can one claim to be #1, without #2, 3, 4 etc? If there isn't any opposition, only easy victory can be achieved which amounts to nothing. Not an earned victory, just a vacuum that needs to be filled.

These politicians and corporations are just filling the vacuum with unearned victories, which makes them weak when the real battle begins and the real opponent stands up against them. It must be a constant threat and fill them with fear, so they put up as many puppet politicians and policies as they can to 'reap what they've sown', at least while they can and the harvester, driven by that opponent arrives. Until then, it seems the wind remains silent, thus the stench reeks ever more.

BINGER · 2013-02-23T23:57:51Z

Another looney....

Introduces looney legislation. Isn't this a great looney country? Wouldn't you like to satisfy your curiosity by sitting down and chatting with one of these idiots just to find out which wood pile he/she crawled out from under?