In years past, I have carried my corporate flag in Bloomington Indiana’s 4th of July parade. it looks like this.

This year, a very persuasive and spirited 77-year-old local activist, Susan Davis, convinced me to leave my flag at home and instead carry one of the tentacles of the “Reverse Citizens United” Octopus, the outfit that I used to walk behind in the annual parade.

I decided I would do it.

Why not? This issue has been dear to my heart ever since I agreed with my since deceased husband Jeff, back in 2002, that I would support us leaving Jackson Hole Wyoming for Bloomington Indiana so he could go to law school. I told him then: “Okay, but you must work to get rid of the idea that corporations have the same rights as people.”

I find it interesting now that I had already zeroed in on that topic, since it was eight years prior to 2010, and the 5-4 decision by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case that declared “political spending is a form of free speech.”

More on the murky history of how corporations gained rights formerly reserved to human persons here.

As I began to compose this post, I wondered, who started “Reverse Citizens United”? — assuming it was a national campaign. But now I wonder. In fact, I think it might be a campaign with its roots right here, in Bloomington Indiana!

Here’s a piece on Bill Moyers site back in 2016, calling for reversal. For more, see this. And this:

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/how-to-reverse-citizens-united/471504/

But I don’t see any official “Reverse Citizens United” as an actual political movement anywhere except here!

https://reversecitizensunited.org/

So, I’m proud to carry one of the tentacles, and noticed, on the parade route, which was about a mile long, crowded with cheerful locals and their families on a hot day with a cooling breeze, that maybe one out of thirty adults actually clapped, or raised their hands, or otherwise signalled, that yes, we need to get rid of corporate spending in elections.

Now, here’s what’s interesting to me. Both Tomi Allison (who used to be Mayor) and her husband Jim, a retired IU professor are Democrats, as are probably 99% of those who live within the city limits (get just outside, in the rural area the percentage flips, from blue to red, from Democrat to Republican).  Part of what made me decide to join the parade with them was a sociological query: have any Democrats in Bloomington left the Democrat party, given the Biden mess, given high inflation, border overrun, warmongering in Ukraine, etc?

Well, my answer now, and it’s admittedly anecdotal, is NO. Twice, while standing around with my group, waiting for the parade to begin —

— a woman started dissing Trump in a heated manner — until I quietly put a stop to it, by telling her that I’ve flipped out of the Democratic party, and don’t feel the same way about Trump at all. The first woman immediately stopped, got quiet for a moment, and then said, “Oh, okay.” The second woman, however, looked at me, astonished. (And I might add, it seemed she was even . . . not exactly thrilled, but amazed and even appreciative that I would dare go against the political grain in this town, and say so.) To each of them I added, again quietly: “Let’s just stay away from what divides us, and stick with what we have in common.” For example, I could have added, this idea that Citizens United needs to be reversed.

And with that, I felt quite comfortable carrying one of Octi’s tentacles, surrounded with others who feel as I do, even though they are “on the other side.” Which makes me realize: what could unite us as Americans is not only the issue of child trafficking, murder, adrenochrome, etc., but also this issue: of pushing back on the multi-tentacled corporate behemoth that appears to rule the world.

 

The issue is admittedly complex, which makes educating the public a difficult matter. But these were the signs we used, and each one carries a punch.

BTW: when I found out that Lois (neighbor across the street) was also going to be part of the Octi gang, I emailed her: “Do we want to go down there together? I could pick you up.” I wondered if she would respond. But she did!

Lois and I were “bitter enemies” at one point. See the cob oven saga on exopermaculture. That was in 2011. In the intervening years, we’ve warmed up to one another slightly, but this was the very first time that, at my invitation, we actually joined forces.

When I dropped her off at noon, she got out of the car, turned, and said, “I salute you!”