I have no doubt, and I have mentioned this in other posts, that the view pioneered by Charles and Mary Beard in 1913 that the Constitution was crafted in the economic interests of the authors and their class, is a correct view. The thing we must remember is that property in the USA was virtually free at the time; at most the cost was cents on the acre. So, for Free Persons acquiring property was not a problem in an agrarian economy. The problem was with definition of "Free Persons"...and excluding non tax paying Indians. Slaves were property and Indians didn't count to the authors of the Constitution. This a cruel reality of those times.
Over the years the Constitution has been ammended to protect those people who were excluded in the first place. Although, I do think that giving the rights of Persons to for profit corporations is a serious problem. It is destroying the possibility of future progress and may well destroy our chances for a more democratic society.
The Steelworkers are now in Federal court pursuing a lawsuit against the NAFTA treaty on the grounds that the NAFTA treaty was not approved by a 2/3 majority in the U.S. Senate.
Your email pal,
Tom L.
Doug Henwood wrote:
> Tom Lehman wrote:
>
> >The use of replacement workers i.e.scabs and free trade agreements like
> >NAFTA that encourage run-away shops haven't helped any and should be viewed
> >as an assult on the Constitution.
>
> No, they should be viewed as an assault on the working class! Excuse me for
> repeating myself but why fetishize some goddamn document written by
> property owners instead of a real live group of human beings?
>
> Doug