Monday, October 29, 2007
Yes, Virginia, there is a king, and he is the state
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Shireen Parsons
Parsons, of Christiansburg, is the Virginia Organizer for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
A Washington Post article, reprinted by The Roanoke Times ("Legislators discuss fund for victims of shootings," July 30), included this little tidbit:
"Even if the Virginia Tech victims allege the university was at fault for Cho's rampage, it would be difficult for them to sue the state of Virginia, which has a legal protection known as sovereign immunity. ... the concept dates to Virginia's British roots and the notion that 'kings and governments can do no wrong and cannot be sued for damages.'"
This information is surely news to most Virginians, but the editorial staff of The Roanoke Times apparently thought it unworthy of explanation or discussion.
What it means is that although the governor's panel report released on Aug. 29 criticizes Virginia Tech administration's actions and states that, if the administration had done things differently, lives might have been saved -- the wounded and the families of the dead may not exercise their fundamental right to seek redress in court. Virginia citizens harmed by the policies and/or negligence of the state have no remedy under the law because the state declares itself and its agencies incapable of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Virginia citizens know that the state can, and does, do plenty of wrong, and that our state legislature and regulatory agencies consistently put the interests of corporations before the well-being of the people and the environment. We understand that corporations now possess constitutional "rights" under the law, which means that they now have more rights -- by virtue of their wealth -- than Virginia citizens within our own communities.
Citizens threatened with devastating corporate assaults on their communities quickly learn that, not only have they been left remediless by the legislature, but that the legislature and courts will intervene on the corporation's behalf.
Our only option to achieve any decision-making authority whatsoever lies in directly challenging the Dillon Rule -- a legal theory proposed in 1868 by Judge John Dillon, a former railroad lawyer, to protect railroad corporations from local community control. As one of 39 states to employ the Dillon Rule, Virginia asserts that the state legislature, and not the people, has ultimate decision-making authority over what corporations can and cannot do to the people and the natural environment of Virginia.
So, armed with the constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which declares that, "all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people," and the code of Virginia, which states that "any county may adopt such measures as it deems expedient to secure and promote the health, safety and general welfare of its inhabitants," a handful of Virginia communities are organizing and demanding that their elected local officials challenge the state's empowerment of corporations by enacting binding laws that protect Virginia citizens and the natural environment.
These communities are finding that the "land of the free" has a hollow ring when corporate "rights" trump the rights of Virginia citizens every time.
Montgomery County, for example, is under assault by Norfolk Southern Corp. and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation, which, ignoring the county's comprehensive plan, would construct a massive intermodal freight station in Elliston. The citizens have learned that the state has conferred upon NS the right to take property without the owner's consent. After learning that hard fact, citizens drafted an ordinance for the board of supervisors that would ban corporations from wielding that right within the county.
This ordinance also would challenge the assertion of constitutional "rights" by corporations within Montgomery County and each of its municipalities. In Blacksburg, for example, the development corporation that intends to force a Wal-Mart on the town would have no "vested rights" to wield against the town council's square-footage limitation ordinance. Without that challenge, Blacksburg is guaranteed to get the Wal-Mart, because the system of law that has been laid down over generations by corporate lawyers guarantees that result.
Welcome to a land in which the king has ruled that his subjects are powerless. It's time for our local elected officials, empowered by the people and the U.S. and Virginia constitutions, to dethrone the king.
