Text of Belden Fields teach in "The Myth of Corporate Personhood"
THE DISEMPOWERING FOG CREATED BY 14 IDEOLOGICAL MYTHS
Prepared for Occupy the Quad at the University of Illinois, Urbana 1/19/12
by Belden Fields
1. The myth that the corporation is a person with the rights of individuals.
2. The myth that Supreme Court represents a higher interpretation of law that transcends partisan politics.
3. The myth that money is speech; therefore, money spent freely in elections is protected by the First Amendment right to speech.
4. The myth that the interests of large corporations is in the interest of workers because they create jobs and raise standards of living.
5. The myth that “right to work” laws really protect workers’ rights.
6. The myth that government is the only source of bureaucracy that disempowers people.
7. The myth that economics is above moral concerns and the market will always, by definition, result in the greatest good for society.
8. The myth that the United States is a democracy.
9. The myth that the only legitimate human economic human right is the right to private property.
10. The collateral myth that that social security, health care benefits, and pensions are unearned and unaffordable “entitlements."
11. The myth that privatization is always more “efficient” than public goods and services.
12. The myth that the “official” unemployment rate in the United States is accurate and comparable to the unemployment rates in other countries.
13. The myth that the U.S. offers the highest rates of upward mobility in the world.
14. The myth that there is no alternative to the capitalist system that manifests the above characteristics and treats the worker as a commodity.
