"Corporations are not people. Money is not free…

“Corporations are not people” and “Money is not free speech” are two political sayings (often grouped together) that have been printed on many images. The saying have often been stamped (unofficially) on U.S. paper currency.

The sayings became popular after the U.S. Supreme Court decision of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (decided January 21, 2010). Although the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people and money is free speech, many people have argued that this is not the moral law.

“Money is not free speech. Corporations are not people” was posted on Twitter by Bluey with the Good Mask on October 10, 2009. “Money is not free speech, and corporations are not people” was printed in the Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY) on January 12, 2010. “It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, corporations are not people and money is not free speech” was posted on Twitter by Will Phillips on January 22, 2010. “Corporations are not people. Money is not free speech” was posted on Twitter by slim volume later on January 22, 2012.

A Wired magazine article on October 15, 2012, described a money-stamping machine:

“The Stampmobile, conceived by Cohen and neuroscientist-artist Alan Rorie, was designed to carry a dollar bill, on a roller-coaster like track, up and through a series of kinetic sculptures, and into a stamping device that would emblazon it with one of four slogans: ‘stamp money out of politics’; “corporations are not people, money is not free speech’; ‘the system isn’t broken, it’s fixed’; and ‘not to be used for bribing politicians.’”

Wikipedia: Citizens United v. FEC
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States concerning the relationship between campaign finance and free speech. It was argued in 2009 and decided in 2010. The court held that the free speech clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent expenditures for political campaigns by corporations, including nonprofit corporations, labor unions, and other associations.
(...)
Argued March 24, 2009
Reargued September 9, 2009
Decided January 21, 2010

Twitter
Bluey with the Good Mask
@carolinablueb
Money is not free speech. Corporations are not people. Next, they’ll be given the right to vote. Other than buying candidates, I mean.
7:58 PM · Oct 10, 2009·Twitter Web Client

Newspapers.com
13 November 2009, Times-Mail (Bedford, IN), “Your Opinion,” pg. A7, cols. 2-3:
Corporations are not people
To the editor:
(...)
Through the years the courts have extended more and more rights to corporations and special interest groups so that today corporations are a person and money is free speech.
(...)
Carol Roop
Mitchell

Newspapers.com
12 January 2010, Press & Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY), “Letters to the Editor: Public financing for elections,” pg. 8A, col. 5:
Money is not free speech, and corporations are not people.
(...)
RICHARD G. NOLAN
JOHNSON CITY

Twitter
Will Phillips
@willphillips74
Dangerous! It’s been said before and I’ll say it again, corporations are not people and money is not free speech. http://nyti.ms/810ths
10:30 AM · Jan 22, 2010·TimesPeople

Twitter
slim volume
@slimvolume
(thx GB!) Corporations are not people. Money is not free speech. These money machines need a fucking emergency brake we passengers can pull.
4:05 PM · Jan 22, 2010·Twitter Web Client

Twitter
Jeff Giesick
@JeffGiesick
corporations are NOT people and money is NOT free speech
6:21 PM · Jan 29, 2010·Twitter Web Client

Twitter
TRUTH 2 POWER
@truth2powerrock
Happy 234th Birthday America !!! Here are 8 words that may just save us: CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE, MONEY IS NOT FREE SPEECH
9:20 AM · Jul 4, 2010·Twitter Web Client

Reuters
AUGUST 3, 2010 3:12 PM
Target Corp targeted for political donation
By Andrew Stern
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“It just so happens that Target is giving to a candidate with views far out of step, I think, with most Americans,” (MoveOn.org spokeswoman Ilyse—ed.) Hogue said. “But our members would react with similar outrage on the principle that corporations are not people, and that corporate money is not free speech and democracy works best when everyone has an equal voice.

Twitter
Richard Collins
@Librehombre
Despite the absurd proclamations of the Supreme Court, money is not free speech, and corporations are not people. http://bit.ly/cll7wX
10:35 AM · Nov 15, 2010·bitly bitlink

Google Groups: butler-csi
Organization Meeting
Michael Bagdes-Canning
Feb 28, 2011, 11:48:39 AM
COMMON SENSE INDEPENDENTS

(CSI-BUTLER COUNTY)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
2 pm to 4 pm.
Panera Bread – Butler, PA 16001

If you believe:
Corporations are NOT people
Money is NOT free speech
&
Tax breaks for the wealthy should not be continued while we try to
balance the budget on the backs of the working poor & middle class –
JOIN US!

Google Groups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
OT….. Who would you vote for?
cj
Oct 15, 2011, 3:49:28 PM
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the occupy wall street protests are going global…many many people are sick and tired of corporate greed. of course your retired so it does not (corporate greed) have any impact on your life. letting wall street run amok is a huge problem for a vast majority of the citizens.money is not free speech, corporations ARE NOT people. GREED is the problem.

Google Groups: occupy-boulder-goals-and-strategies
Demands/grievances
lbrillante
Oct 31, 2011, 7:44:39 PM
(...)
Example of Goals

-To pass an amendment to the constitution to get money out of politics.
-To pass an amendment to the constitution that resolves that corporations are NOT people and money is NOT free speech.

NorthEscambia.com
Occupy Pensacola Protester Now Occupies Jail Cell
November 19, 2011
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COMMENTS
David Huie Green on November 21st, 2011 5:30 am
REGARDING:
” Money is not Free Speech! Corporations are NOT PEOPLE! ”

Of course, it isn’t FREE speech, but it IS speech. Money talks. People say what they mean by how they spend their money. Any limitation on how a person spends his or her money to speak is a way of stifling that person.

Wired
NATHAN HURST DESIGN 10.15.2012 06:30 AM
Ben Cohen’s Crazy Money-Marking Contraption
Ben Cohen, the first half of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, wanted to take on the man. So he enlisted the San Francisco maker community, and built a noisy, carnivalesque, vaudeville-style device, full of bright-colored wood and plastic and metal, to drive around the country and stamp slogans on money.
MORE SPECIFICALLY, COHEN wanted to run a publicity campaign against the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that allows corporations to contribute unreservedly to political campaigns, though not to candidates or parties. As part of his campaign, which he calls a “stamp stampede,” Cohen envisioned a playful, mobile stamping machine that would print slogans on bills, a sort of political Rube Goldberg device mounted on the back of a Chevy 3500 truck. He calls it the Stampmobile, or sometimes, the Amend-o-Matic.
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The Stampmobile, conceived by Cohen and neuroscientist-artist Alan Rorie, was designed to carry a dollar bill, on a roller-coaster like track, up and through a series of kinetic sculptures, and into a stamping device that would emblazon it with one of four slogans: “stamp money out of politics”; “corporations are not people, money is not free speech”; “the system isn’t broken, it’s fixed”; and “not to be used for bribing politicians.”

Twitter
FriendofTrees
@JamiaStarheart
Move to Amend’s Amendment Broadcast Campaign: Corporations Aren’t People! Money Isn’t Free Speech! #MoveToAmend http://indiegogo.com/projects/move-to-amend-s-amendment-broadcast-campaign
12:29 AM · Jun 14, 2013·Twitter for Websites

Reddit—GreenParty
Posted by u/IAmTheOracle Green Party of the United States October 22, 2013
“Corporations are not people. Money is not free speech.”

Twitter
Liam Dorris
@DLiamDorris
Replying to @lotta_niko @leilacleigh and 6 others
My plan is to pass a 28th Amendment that gets money out of politics, effectively overturns Buckley v Valeo and Citizens United, Corporations aren’t people and money isn’t free speech. This can be done through the U.S. House or can be taken to constitutional convention.
6:41 PM · Aug 19, 2021·Twitter for iPhone

Twitter
Move To Amend
@MoveToAmend
Did you call your representative today? Now’s a good time! It’s never too late to remind them that Money is NOT free speech & Corporations are NOT people!
Call and leave a message now: https://oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/promo/3Jn
#WeThePeopleWednesday
#WeThePeopleAmendment
10:34 PM · Sep 15, 2021·Twitter Web App