THE dictionary definition of conservative, in general, is more or less "opposition to change." When applying this meaning to experience, things are very subjective and personal. I grew up with the notion that conservative thinking was based on the individual balancing their check books, paying their bills when due, and spending their time working to take care of themselves and their families.

Well, as I matured and went on from school to college, economics and economic development took on new meanings. I became aware that institutional indebtedness, or more precisely government debt, was part of the political establishment. Moreover, Keynesian economics made sense to me, and I began to think progressively on economic matters. After all, the national, state and local government borrowing was from our own banks, our own financial institutions, right?

With that background, today, I believe the national establishment position has changed from small conservative government to big business government. The conservatives of today are far less libertarian and much more elitist – as the economy is driven by negative market forces, i.e. Wall Street greed for profits. Our economy has gone from individual-family businesses to the multinational. Globalization allows American corporations to locate their headquarters anywhere in the world; and, for money and power reasons, they avoid regulation and taxes.

No longer is our free enterprise-market system valued for its "public service" – apparently an old-fashioned conservative value. Major changes have occurred since the Eisenhower years of the 1950s.

In 2010, the Supreme Court (5-4) decision in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case ruled that corporations can act the same as individuals when contributing to political candidates for public elections. In other words, the law now is that a "corporate personhood" doctrine exists, which affords corporations – actual artificial entities – the same rights as people, the same rights as the individual citizen.

This must stop. One way to right this corporate personhood doctrine (and the corruption of any congressional attempt at campaign finance reform) is to support the Peoples’ Rights Amendment. House of Representatives member James “Jim” McGovern, congressman from Worcester, Mass., has introduced this amendment to the Constitution to end “corporate personhood.” It would in essence overturn the Supreme Court ruling of 2010.

Bruce Karolle,
Tamuning