In Nebraska,
Part of Nebraska.
Maybe.
From the Lincoln Nebraska Journal-Star:
Senator proposes sovereignty as a way to economic development
Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus on Thursday introduced an imaginative, out-of-the box legislative proposal designed to attempt to spur major economic development in western Nebraska.
Schumacher's resolution (LR269CA) proposes a constitutional amendment that would allow the Legislature to delegate complete or partial sovereignty over a designated, limited and sparsely-settled area of the state for not to exceed 99 years.That could tempt major enterprises that might be attracted by the prospect of no city or state taxes and no local or state regulations, Schumacher said."A major global company or coalition could have their own development in the center of the country," he said.
"If I were a major business, I would not want Omaha or Lincoln or Des Moines (Iowa) telling me what to do," he said.
We've snarked around the legal fiction of 'Corporate Personhood' a few times, once riffing off General Electric's tax avoidance: "Corporations are taxpayers, just like a natural person with a 975 lawyer tax departments and quarter-billion dollar lobbying expenditures." or this one from just before the 2010 midterm elections when something or other set me off:Economic development opportunities in Nebraska outside of Omaha and Lincoln have become limited, Schumacher said, especially in smaller towns and sparsely-settled counties that are experiencing population and economic decline.....MORE
Nov. 3, 2010
Time to Get Corporations and Unions Out of Politics
...Yeah, yeah, I know about that first amendment thing, regarding lobbying.:
And don't even get me started on "Kelo v. City of New London".I also know what an abominable decision the Supreme Court made in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad which enshrined the legal fiction of Corporate Personhood which led, directly to the decision in Citizens United....and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
So let's quit messing around. Let's bring a case to the Supreme Court that lets them correct the 1886 travesty,
[you little bomb thrower, you -ed]
Here's Knowledge@Wharton quoting a gaggle of experts dancing around the issue, getting into the minutiae, with no one (except J.P. Stevens in the dissent and Peter Kinder in the pull-quote) slicing the Gordian Knot by saying "You know, maybe corporate structures shouldn't have the same rights as natural persons"...
