[Hoot Gibson]

"Corporations have been enthroned...An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people...until wealth is aggregated in a few hands...and the republic is destroyed." -Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln spoke this shortly before he was assassinated. In 1886, the United States Supreme Court, in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, ruled that a private corporation was a "natural person" under the US Constitution and therefore entitled to protection under the Bill of Rights.

Suddenly, corporations enjoyed all the rights and sovereignty previously enjoyed only by the people. This decision, basically, gave corporations the same powers as private citizens. But considering their vast financial resources, corporations thereafter actually had far MORE power than any private citizen. They could defend and exploit their rights and freedoms more vigorously than any individual and therefore they were MORE FREE.

Fair scales capitalism lost... the era of cut-throat capitalism came blowing in.

It is always a good idea to provide the source of such quotes. According to Snopes.com, Lincoln did not say what you say he said. You will need to look elsewhere for quotes to defend the current regime. Marx or Alinsky, perhaps.