Of Robber Barons, Romney, and Campaign 2012

"A corporation has no rights except those given it by law. It can exercise no power except that conferred upon it by the people through legislation, and the people should be as free to withhold as to give, public interest and not private advantage being the end in view."

-William Jennings Bryan in his address to the Ohio 1912 Constitutional Convention

May 10, 2012 was the 126th anniversary of the Corporations Are People sleight-of-hand which has forced its tricky thumb upon the scales of justice ever since. Click for a few astro-notes concerning the day, May 10, 1886, and a brief explanation of how things went askew against all common sense.

Interesting that the illustrious Bryan made his remarks on the true nature of corporations in 1912, 26 years after the Big Ruse was purposefully put in place through the enthusiastic collusion of railroad titans of the day, aka, Robber Barons, and for good reason.

The Ohio Constitutional Convention of 1912 was all about progressives wanting to rid Ohio's government of corruption and to quite an extent they succeeded though women's right to vote and equality for all races were progressions too far. These days, we have regressives calling themselves 'Republicans' wanting to roll back those rights which is doubly backwards since the first instance--the whackadoodle notion that "corporations are people, my friend" is what should be rolled back instead.

In case you haven't signed yet, here's a link to Senator Bernie Sanders' effort to Overturn Citizens United, the SCOTUS decision of January 2010 which brazenly gives the Corporate Leviathan even more "legal" power to devour We the People for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But unlike in 1886, no court clerk's 'error' was needed to shaft us on the sly.

And below you see the natal horoscope of the Robber Barons with my usual scribbles added. This chart is also known as the Generation of Materialism natal chart (Ed Meece), and here's how I complained about the Pluto/Chiron oppressors in February 2008. Of late, JP Morgan Chase's CEO Jamie Dimon has proven his lack of societal merit, I'd say--he kind of made himself into a poster child for the ravages of corporate inbreeding when it's allowed to flourish under its own hubris way past when corporate charters should expire as originally intended.

New Moon April 28, 1881 10:24:47 am UT London, England; Hour Mercury; final dispositor: Venus; chart-ruler Sun applies to a trine with Uranus in 2nd house of Money, a conjunction with deceptive Neptune (5A32 = 1886!), and a conjunction with evaluating Venus, also in her sign of monied Taurus; US natal Saturn in Libra is at the Foundation of the horoscope--and making it all 'legal'.

Please click image to enlarge and you'll see that this New Moon of the Robber Barons clocks in at 8Tau14--'9Tau' = "A Christmas Tree Decorated"; it's primarily a 10th house chart which well describes those for whom worldly power and wealth are more important than anything or anyone. The New Moon occurred around a Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, the societal planets with Jupiter represnting expansion, growth, and investment, and Saturn its opposite: contraction, restriction, and control. In conjunction and maturely directed, their energies can bring much wordly success.

And naturally, I don't have to mention the abundance of Taurean energy here since greed, possessiveness, and intolerance are The Bull's shadow traits (just ask The Bull on Wall Street.) Even Pluto and Chiron, the Plutocracy duo, are near one another in Taurus and in our time, met in Great Conjunction on December 30, 1999 at '12Sag' = "A Flag Turned Into an Eagle That Crows" (MEJ) conjunct US natal Ascendant. And after the attacks of 9/11/01, the American eagle crowed and can't seem to stop.

And now, what's become a golden oldie from the stump of the Romney Campaign of 2012--you love it, you know you do!

Corporations Are People: natal chart May 10, 1886

It is with great hope that I pass on a link to Thom Hartmann's The Deciding Moment: The Theft of Human Rights in case the 'corporations as people' question is as important to you as it is to me in how America has and will proceed.

It was on the afternoon of May 10, 1886 that a sleight-of-hand insertion was added into the record by court reporter, J. C. Bancroft Davis, implying that the 'personhood of corporations' question - in this particular case, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company, an industry for which Mr. Davis and other participants had worked and shilled as attorneys - was a part of the Supreme Court's decision handed down that day on taxation of railroad properties in Santa Clara County, California.

The 'corporations are people' issue was not part of the decision at all, but from there the plot thickens.

Hiding behind the curtain was Justice Field, a 'grand stander' type, a zealot, who had big presidential aspirations and dreamed that his favorite employers, the railroad titans, would soon fork over the dough necessary to fund his White House bid. Yes, The Mystery of 1886 makes for an interesting saga, so prop up your dogs and check out Mr. Hartmann's excellent article of 12 pp, if you haven't.

Plus, Wikipedia has an entry on the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company case if you're interested; it mentions that, although Mr. Davis' obiter dictum statement (Latin for 'said by the way') has become part of American corporate law, it is 'an unprecedented extension of constitutional rights to corporations.'

Since an obiter dictum has no legal precedential value, why do we continue pretending it does? is my question.

Also, here's the Wiki bio of Bancroft Davis for your consideration. He served in many capacities, and 'court reporter' was then on par with the Justices, and was not the lower position of mere stenographer that it is today.

You see, in writing the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 (wa-a-ay behind the curtain on Capitol Hill), Senator Roscoe Conkling had inserted the word 'person' where the correct legal phrase 'natural person' should have been to describe just who would receive the protections of the amendment, his word a bomb which even now keeps exploding on behalf of corporate titans and their offshore account balances.

I bother because of the extreme importance to the US and to the world of Davis' insertion: for example, between 1908 and 1914, SCOTUS struck down minimum wage, child labor, and workman's compensation laws and utility regulations while citing 'corporate personhood' - in all, 288 suits decided against American workers and consumers.

Mr. Hartmann's article has more details.


May 10, 1886: the 'Corporations Are People' birth chart

Only knowing "afternoon" narrows it down for chart calculation, but doesn't tell us the exact time of the Supreme Court decision on taxing railroad properties with its comments placed therein by Bancroft Davis - possibly in collusion with Justice Field who had presidential ambitions, and using the previous 'unexploded bomb' substituted by former Senator Roscoe Conkling and former Representative John A. Bingham (both railroad lawyers) on the Senate Committee that wrote the Fourteenth Amendment which all this relates to - I shall use a chart set for '2:53 pm pst' in 'San Jose' California, the seat of Santa Clara County.

One may even say that this chart isn't the natal chart of Corporations Are People since the day/hour were merely part of an ongoing legal process. Yet the horoscope maps a moment in time describing the day and proceedings in question so here are a few chart details to consider for 2:53 pm pst, San Jose, CA with World Points at the angles of the chart...

ASC 00Lib01, Jupiter 26Vir17 Rx, Uranus 3Lib59 Rx, so we have a midpoint picture...

Jupiter/Uranus = ASC: an ability to shape one's environment according to one's own ideas; success; fortunate twists in the way things transpire; knowing the best will happen.

Jupiter/Uranus = lucky breaks or breakthroughs. (But it doesn't mean they have to be above-board.)

'2:53 pm' on that day was during a Saturn Hour, good for court proceedings and for consolidation of plans. And Saturn that afternoon 5Can25 was conjunct US natal Jupiter...Saturn to Jupiter is a transit indicating a period of time when economic prospects dry up or are restricted in some way. (Guess the industrial titans fixed that.) One becomes more serious about such issues, so progress is possible as better organization and focus assure future progress and a solid foundation may be laid.

Considering how lucrative this sleight-of-hand by 1880s Republicans has been for American corporatism and the industrial Robber Barons and their spawn--both biological and ideological, I'd say that that was some foundation.

In closing, the Sun Taurus-Moon Leo blend of May 10, 1886 may be of interest as given by master astrologer, Noel Tyl, and paraphrased here:

Two Fixed signs highlight a passionate stubbornness; the energy to build and maintain personal security and comfort feeds into the need to be loved, respected, and honored. There is a strong will which dominates its surroundings to get its way. The temperament is dramatic as dynamic organization is brought to bear on ideas, plans, and relationships.