adopted by BREDL Board of Directors on July 12, 2003

A Resolution Abolishing Corporate Personhood

Whereas,

The members of BREDL hope to nurture and expand democracy in our community and our nation.
Democracy means governance by the people. Only citizens who are natural persons should be able to participate in the democratic process.

Interference in the democratic process by corporations usurps the rights of citizens to govern.

Corporations are artificial entities separate and apart from natural persons. Corporations are not naturally endowed with consciousness or the rights of natural persons. Corporations are creations of law and are only permitted to do what is authorized under law.

Corporations claim to be persons, possessing the rights of personhood, including free speech and other constitutional freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Corporations presuming such rights of personhood have influenced and interfered with democratic processes by lobbying and pressuring our legislative bodies, making campaign contributions which dominate election campaigns, and using the media to substitute corporate values for community and family values.

Corporations are polluters and destroyers of the environment, endangering the future of all plants, animals, and natural persons.

Corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution. The people have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have we decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of the people of the United States.

The true founding document of the United States of America, the Declaration of Independence, states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness."

Therefore be it hereby resolved that:

Corporations shall not be considered persons protected by the authority of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States within BREDL.

Be it further resolved that:

BREDL shall nurture public discussion on the proper role of corporations in public life by sponsoring meetings on the subject and by encouraging other organizations, cities and the State of North Carolina to adopt similar measures.