To Pass For a Person Here
Oh I love this crazy country Gmaj7/6
But it’s not very clear D7
How to pass for a person here Am7 D7 Gmaj7 G#° D7
I went to the Founding Fathers Gmaj7/6
What do you think they said? D7
All men are equal, son, Am D7 C7
unless you are brown or red B7
So I asked the Supreme Court C C#°
Just what I need to know G E7
If you want to be a person, sonny, D7 A7
Money’s the way to go D7
The judges seem so satisfied Gmaj7/6
To be so out of touch. Corporations are D7
People, but people not so much Am7 D7 C7 B7
Still I love this crazy country C C#°
But it’s not very clear G E7
How to pass for a person here D7 A7 D7
The judges all ride so high Gmaj7/6
Abandon all pretense D7
It shouldn’t be so surprising, though Am7 D C7
It isn’t their first offense B7
And they’re saying to the ladies C C#°
Well okay, we’ll let you vote G E7
But your body still belongs to us D7 A7
Now don’t you go rock the boat D7
INSTRUMENTAL
Well I just can’t shake the feeling Gmaj7/6
That a person’s wearing thin D7
That depends upon your gender Am7 D7 C7
Or your money or your skin. B7
Now there’s people in Alabama C C#°
That you cannot even see G E7
Frozen in a test tube, D7 A7
And they’re laughing at you and me D7
I love this crazy country Gmaj7/6
But it’s not very clear D7
How to pass for a person here Am7 D7 C7 B7
Oh, it’s tougher than it may appear C C#° G E7
Just passing for a person here! A7 D7 G
©Doug Hendren 2024
What’s it about? “Personhood” in the USA is not as clear as we may have learned in school. Although the Founding Fathers coined the lofty notion that “all men are created equal,” what they really meant at that time was white men. They weren’t including women, nor people of color. Living up to the language has required multiple amendments, a Civil War, women’s rights and civil rights movements, and we are still not there yet, after 250 years.
In recent decades, perhaps the most troubling development has been the infamous “Citizens United” decision in the Supreme Court, saying in essence that corporations are people, and money is speech. Annie Leonard’s short video is the most entertaining way to get up to speed on this!
So, the Supreme Court says whoever has the most money can now win elections.
And, now a conservative Supreme Court, several of whom intentionally misled Congress about their intentions during confirmation hearings, have set women’s rights and healthcare back fifty years by overturning Roe v Wade. Not to be outdone, in 2024, the Alabama Supreme Court declared frozen embryos in the lab to be persons. What’s next? Civil rights? Under the Trump regime, the infamous Project 2025 has been systematically dismantling many of the essential foundations of our constitutional democracy. And it is uncertain whether our constitution will survive intact.
One way or another, all these things come down to money. A small class of very wealthy people, enabled by the Supreme Court, and controlling vast, unregulated social media resources, now control of the USA.
We are not likely to return to a functioning democracy without undoing Citizens United and corporate personhood. Here are a few resources to learn more.
Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United?
The Corporate Power Reset That Makes Citizens United Irrelevant
