QuoteProject
Capitalism is out of control, thanks in no small part to Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision which said that a corporation is a person, even though it doesn't eat, drink, make love, sing, raise children or take care of aging parents. You can't have a people's democracy as long as corporations are considered people.
Bill Moyers
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote critiques the influence of corporations in democracy, arguing that treating corporations as people undermines democratic principles.

Bill Moyers highlights the problematic nature of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which equates corporations with individuals in the political sphere. He argues that this legal stance allows corporations to wield disproportionate power in democratic processes, overshadowing the voice of the individual citizen and eroding true democratic governance.

Themes

CapitalismDemocracyCorporationsPoliticsSupreme Court

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about corporate influence in politics, this quote serves to illustrate the dangers posed to democracy.

More from Bill Moyers

I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies.
Bill MoyersRead
This is the first time in my 32 years in public broadcasting that PBS has ordered up programs for ideological instead of journalistic reasons.
Bill MoyersRead
I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one
Bill MoyersRead
Democracy may not prove in the long run to be as efficient as other forms of government, but it has one saving grace: it allows us to know and say that it isn't.
Bill MoyersRead
When I learn something new - and it happens every day - I feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest.
Bill MoyersRead
Theology asserts propositions that cannot be proven true; ideologues hold stoutly to a worldview despite being contradicted by what is generally accepted as reality. When ideology and theology couple, their offspring are not always bad but they are always blind. And there is the danger: voters and politicians alike, oblivious to the facts.
Bill MoyersRead

Similar quotes

The truth of an upright man must be accepted on his own terms. Moreover, since natures vary, we must agree that all the beauties of human excellence may be fostered by faiths that we do not share.
Victor HugoRead
We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are shining parts, is the soul.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Everything happens for a reason and a purpose, and it serves you.
Tony RobbinsRead
You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain; I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care. As the peach-blossom flows down stream and is gone into the unknown, I have a world apart that is not among men.
Li BaiRead
There is a community of the spirit. Join it, and feel the delight of walking in the noisy street and being the noise. Drink all your passion, and be a disgrace. Close both eyes to see with the other eye.
RumiRead
Losing too is still ours; and even forgetting still has a shape in the kingdom of transformation. When something's let go of, it circles; and though we are rarely the center of the circle, it draws around us its unbroken, marvelous curve.
Rainer Maria RilkeRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Bill Moyers | QuoteProject