Hi Friend,

You might have noticed, if you've been paying attention to the U.S. news in the last week so, that as millions of "Hands Off" protestors against the Trump/Musk combo gathered across the United States in over 1,200 locations, and as financial markets tumbled, Trump himself was having a great time gathering with his billionaire friends for a fundraiser for his family business at Mar-a-lago and a Saudi-backed gulf tournament. (I mean, you can't make this stuff up.)

According to a NY Times article (title: Trump Family's Cash Registers Ring as Financial Meltdown Plays Out), the guests, including sugar magnate Pepe Fanjul and James Taiclet (note the Fanjul family shows up in my article series about the history of sugar - and not in a complimentary way), did not seem bothered by what was happening with the markets. They seemed to enjoy giving millions (literally) to Trump's various superfunds. The article quoted a 39-year-old entrepreneur who said that "he admired Mr. Trump for focusing on his own businesses while also implementing tariffs that he believed would benefit Americans. ... 'It's all about business and money,' Mr. Davis said. 'That's what its all about. America is a business. It's a corporation."

Now, besides the blatant clear symbolism of 'isn't this what an oligarchy looks like', I found the entrepreneur's comment quite interesting.

It raises several questions. If I were to pose one of those questions as a high school essay (such as an A.P. exam), I might ask: "To what extent can we describe America as a corporation?" To which the students would get a chance to answer some version of: Given the long history of corporations intertwined in American history, we can say that to some extent it is and also to some extent it is not. Four-point discussion. One could then have a follow-up question around the variety of possible ethical responses to this history and its contemporary manifestation. Though I don't recall that being a big discussion in high school civics, economics, or history classes (but I could just not be remembering very clearly).

Perhaps one of the first points would be Jamestown, VA: The year was 1606, and King James I chartered a joint-stock company, the Virgina Company of London to authorize them to establish a colony in North America. Just as a reminder, a Joint-stock company means it is funded by investors who purchased shares in the company, sharing both the potential profits and the risks of the colonial venture. Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in North America. They were looking for gold - following the lead of the Spanish.

One could then connect it to other early colonies: Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. All of these were founded as corporate colonies. Control (ie: who called the shots) was granted to the joint-stock company who were funding these (well-armed) ventures.

Those early English settlers were, in some ways, company men. And some were also seeking religious freedom/aiming to create the promised land.

Over time, all of those corporate colonies transitioned to royal colonies (itself a rather interesting shift in our current moment), wherein the king appointed the governor and the other officials.

A clever student might also link this pattern to the British East India Company (often referred to as the EIC): the first such British corporation, established in 1600,  a few years prior to Jamestown, and charged first with engaging in the spice trade. Which eventually led to the colonization of India (amongst other things).

The EIC and these other corporations all had the Doctrine of Discovery embedded into their charters - and, perhaps more importantly, their mindset.

Remember that?

So yes, this young entrepreneur hanging out in Palm Beach has, ahem, grocked something 'true' here. America has deep roots as a corporation. Foundational roots, even.

But it's not the only story.

Because something else also happened.

That something happened when some people met other people.

It happened as the land and waters here changed the people.

It happened because capital accumulation by a few people is not, actually, the only story that matters.

Democracy (and a republic, for that matter) arose on this soil because of another story/embodied and lived reality: a story of freedom, liberty, independence... stories/cosmovisions lived by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. In one of those cosmovisions, there is the Great Tree of Peace, part of a matrilineal system, and it led to the Great Law of Peace, which led to the structures of what we now call American governance .... all of which is only possible through interdependence.

There is an undestanding of wealth, of land, of collective interbeing, that we have only just begun to understand. In fact, I think there are possibilities for regenerative wealth and collective well-being here that we haven't even begun to realize.

Sometimes, I imagine this moment as looking at a forest with a lot of vines growing on the trees. At a glance, it all just looks like plants. Look closer, and it's clear that some of the vines are suffocating the trees - it's a parasitical relationship. To save the tree, you have to deal with the vines.

But don't fool yourself. These are not new vines. They are old. That's part of why they keep coming back in different forms.

Such as in 1886 (just after the Civil War); when in the Supreme Court Case Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment applied to corporations, meaning that the corporation has the same legal standing (with its associated rights) as a person, in what we now refer to as 'corporate personhood' or 'juridical personality.'   (We could see this as an early form of artificial intelligence, as corporations are not actually people, and has it own form of intelligence separate from any one person.) . In most countries, a corporation has the same rights as a natural person to hold property, enter into contracts, and to sue or be sued. 

To the dismay of the farmers and everyday people of Santa Clara County who were trying to get the Railroad to pay taxes it didn't want to pay. 

I double-checked: what ended the EIC in India? A mutiny.

Which led to a more formal process of British colonization. For a lot of folks, things got a lot worse before they got better. And then there was a long series of actions that led to the crumbling of the British empire, including the strenghtening of local economies - and the recognition that swaraj, or freedom, entails economic sovereignty. 

This thing we are grappling with? It's old.

It's part of why engaging with our collective shadows is so important. Which is part of why I keep teaching the ReMembering Course. Which is starting on April 25.

In reflecting recently about how much is happening today wherein these histories are relevant, an old friend said to me, "you need to be teaching all of America right now."  After a long pause, he added, "you know I always want you to expand your work, but I have to admit, right now, I wish your work wasn't so needed." 

I told him how much I agreed with him.  

One more thing - I wasn't at either Trump's gathering or the protests (though I've really been enjoying some of the signs/images that some of you have been sending me from those protests!) I was with a group of 13 amazing people gathered at the base of a sacred mountain (Mt Shasta), hanging out with waterfalls, supporting each other's spiritual growth and leaning into better ways of engaging with wealth - and love. Both. In some ways, it was a bit of a chance that these things all happened at the same time. And on some level - maybe it was not chance at all.

There's a lot that's needed right now. And a lot that's possible.

We are more than just the workers/peons/discarded afterthoughts of someone else's corporation.

We are also inheritors of wisdom, traditions and ways of peacemaking and songs and dances, and crafters and makers. We are those who can and do come together in harmony, not just in greed.  

There is a tree of life. There is a tree of peace. Keep remembering.

If you're interested in the course, please send me an email at sarajolena@sequoiasamanvaya.com

Best,

Sara Jolena