After September 11, 2001 the President Knew What We Must Do: Go Shopping

Rick D. Massey, JD
Copyright © 2010

I am more saddened than disgusted every time I pull up to an intersection, look up and see the Orwellian camera staring back at me.  More troubling than the hypocrisy of the claims that these “telescreens” are there to save our lives, is the nagging fear that this lie will be accepted. 

That's what happens when corporations, whose only aim is to make money for their shareholders are allowed to make decisions and write laws to govern human beings.  Some may think it strange that a lawyer with a corporate background and a track record of encouraging small businesses to incorporate would have such a negative attitude toward corporate participation in government. But these two positions are not mutually exclusive.  Corporations should be tools of the people.  Unfortunately, the wealthiest people have used them to drive the rest of us into submission and to place us, the flesh and blood people, at the mercy (a bad choice of words because corporations by definition are incapable of mercy) of corporations. 

Corporations are legal fictions created by business people to protect business people. When corporations serve living, breathing human beings, they serve a valid and useful purpose. When they usurp the rights of human beings and take control of the levers of what should be a democratic government something has gone terribly wrong. And that unfortunately, is where we find ourselves today.

Not only has the corporation become a “person” with all of the rights of human beings (but much fewer of the obligations imposed on human beings), it is now entitled to exercise the right of “free speech” - which it communicates in the form of money.  Corporations have been buying politicians for years.  But the Supreme Court has now given this disgusting practice the legal seal of approval.  When will we finally realize the inescapable fact that power and money are inseparable twins; that those with more money have more power; and that power (whether euphemistically tagged as democracy or something else) will never be shared by those already in power with those who don’t have money?

Through the ages, our wisest leaders have instinctively known this.  Commenting on the third attempt to create a central bank in the United States, Abraham Lincoln foretold what has since proven to be completely true:

I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me, and the bankers in the rear. Of the two, the one at my rear is my greatest foe. As a most undesirable consequence of the war, corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow. The money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed. 

Lincoln's fears have been realized.  Sen. Dick Durbin did not exaggerate when he said the banks are the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. Nor was he overstating the case when he added “. . . they frankly own the place.”

People are beginning to notice.  But they don't seem all that upset.  For a tyrannical system to last, the peasants must acquiesce in it. They won’t all be foolish enough to believe it, or to buy into it. But they do need to accept it. The system requires a lack of will on the part of the masses to revolt – an aversion to risk losing what they do have for a fair and just arrangement.

That lack of will to resist is the greatest threat we now face. The expansion of power and simultaneous breaking down of the will of the people was implemented in graduated stages. No master plan was needed. It was, as always the result of human greed. The greediest individuals do whatever it takes to get to the levers of power. Once there, they see what needs to be done to maintain and increase that power. So they proceed with the next logical step to build on what has gone before.

Who would have thought even twenty years ago that Americans would soon become so complacent that the State would have a camera trained on them at virtually every intersection in almost every town; or that the presumption of innocence would be so completely forgotten that once accused by one of those cameras they would receive a letter in the mail telling them that they have the option of ratting out their friend or family member to prove their innocence and escape punishment? 

I don't mean to trivialize the greater transgressions to our freedom, dignity and self-respect that have crept in while we were "out shopping" in response to the 9/11 attacks.  But the nonchalant manner in which the government can so blatantly intrude on our personal lives really underscores how far we have fallen in such a short time.  So much ground has been lost that our politicians can boldly take the most cold, inhumane, and despicable positions without fear of losing the popular vote.

• Laws have been proposed (and largely supported by public opinion) making it a “crime” to provide food and water to another human being who will otherwise die in the desert because he or she did not ask permission to cross an imaginary line and come onto our turf.  
• The public has supported laws that allow the government to seize the property of and to jail human beings that are dying of cancer for the “crime” of using a common plant to relieve their own pain and suffering.  
• The government no longer needs permission from the courts to spy on its own citizens. And American citizens can be (disappeared) arrested, tortured, and convicted with no right to a lawyer or to even let their own family know what happened to them by the mere declaration of the President that they are “Enemy Combatants.”  

The great state of Arizona recently passed a "show us your papers" law while our politicians freely and openly discuss how our newly created department of "Homeland Security" should operate.  And our congress can, with a straight face and in all seriousness, debate whether or not holding a person we think knows something about someone who may do something wrong upside down and forcing water down his throat until he loses consciousness is really "torture." 

We have seen how this works and where it inevitably leads.  It is about time we kick the corporations out and put human beings back in charge of governing people's lives.

Harness the Power of Incorporation: The Small Business Entrepreneur’s Invisible Friend

By: Rick D. Massey, J.D.
Copyright © 2010

Consider the forward thinking and planning that went into building the Gateway Arch. 630 feet wide and 630 feet high, every detail had to be precise beginning with the foundation. When its two legs were joined by the insertion of the final four foot piece at the top, everything had to line up perfectly. Anything less would have been a disaster.

Your new business is to be your memorial. So the foundation – the legal framework needs to be solid and enduring. Some people get discouraged by the alphabet soup of legal options. Do you need an LLC, LLP, C-corp, S-corp, or some other legal mumbo-jumbo? Learning all of this stuff, in which you probably have very little interest, should not get in the way of building your business. Like a well built automobile, your business framework should be versatile, rugged and dependable. You know how to drive. And you know where you want to go. You should not have to learn everything about how the engine works before you can get started. You just need to know what kind of automobile is most likely to meet your needs.

There are various ways to incorporate your business. But they all share the primary goal of protecting you from personal liability. In theory at least (there are notable exceptions), you can start any business without fear of losing your house or your life’s savings regardless of how bad your decisions or your luck turn out to be if you take full advantage of the laws of incorporation.

Corporations are amazing creatures. They are the scapegoats of modern business owners. In ancient times, the High Priest would lay hands on the scapegoat and symbolically transfer the sins of the people onto the animal. The goat would then be chased off into the wilderness to atone for the sins of the people. That’s what corporations do. They quite literally legally serve as a “person” that takes on all of the blame – and the resulting loss for the business owner’s bad decisions.

For that reason, the ability to incorporate either as a limited liability company (LLC), C-Corp, S-Corp, limited liability partnership (LLP) or other fictitious legal entity is among the most powerful and important instruments in the small business creator’s toolbox. These tools are widely accessible. But choosing the right tool can be confusing. And the significance of your choice of business entity cannot be overstated. This legal structure will be the framework upon which the entire business entity stands or falls. If you die, decide to sell your business, or if someone files a lawsuit against you, the structure of your business entity can make a major difference in how things play out.

For most Missouri small business men and women there are three important things to know. 1. You really need to do it. Simply registering a fictitious name with the Secretary of State will let you open a bank account. But it will not offer you any of the protections these legal entities provide. 2. For most businesses, you need to choose between one of two kinds of business entity – corporation or LLC. 3. If you are starting a small business and don’t expect to make a lot of money in the first year or so, an LLC may be the best choice for you. The LLC has a lot of flexibility without the rules, formalities and structural requirements of a Subchapter S corporation. On the other hand, if you expect to generate significant profits early in the life of the business the additional red tape and reporting requirements of the corporation may make more sense for your situation. This is because even though LLCs and Subchapter S corporations both offer pass-through taxation (and therefore avoid double taxation on the company’s profits), there may be significant tax savings by choosing the S-Corp over an LLC if you generate profits beyond what you would normally take as a personal salary in the first year or two.

If you do decide to go with a corporation, LLC or other business entity, you need to realize that you will not get their protections unless you do them right. Setting up these entities without the proper follow-though can result in the same consequences as you would have faced if you had not done anything at all. The best way to cut through the jungle of options is to consult with a lawyer that knows and understands the needs of small business. Going that route is a lot less painful than trying to figure it all out by yourself and guess whether or not you did it right. Because there are experienced business attorneys that don’t charge anything for an initial consultation, there really is no reason not to be safe now rather than sorry later.