Corporations are not people, and should not be
The US supreme court, in a split decision, has ruled that corporations are people, free to spend on political campaign advertising as a form of free speech. This is a terrible decision that threatens the foundation of democracy.
Corporations have different goals to people. They are about their own survival, and act in nobody's interests but their own. Customers? They're out to screw them for every cent the market will bear. Ditto suppliers. Employees? There to be used up and thrown away as soon as it's profitable to get rid of them. Executives? To be sacrificed every time the stock drops, or forced out as part of a merger or acquisition. Shareholders? Love them -- until things get tough. Then declare chapter 11, wipe them out, and find some new suckers.
By declaring corporations people, we have created a new species, parasitic upon our own, and significantly stronger. Corporations will suck us in, use us up, and spit us out, without regard for wealth or class. There will be no lucky ones: we will all be the losers. Once they are in control, the best efforts of humanity will be subjugated to the survival of the corporations. They will wreck our environment, because they do not need to breathe. They have no interest in our health or our life-spans. They don't care whether we're happy, and they don't care if we like them. They only care about other corporations.
Democracy is government by the people and for the people. By declaring corporations people we subvert democracy, pushing towards political goals that are dramatically contrary to our own interests as human beings. This is a genie that needs to be put back in its bottle, immediately, before it is too late.
Comments
Ricky Romero
Why don't they just cut the foreplay and allow corporations numbers of votes based on their size? That's clearly what this train of thought is leating to. Horrifying.
Ricky Romero
Don
You know, I do believe that if a corporation can perform well and be profitable, then that will be good for the employees, at all levels. Hopefully it would lead to additional employment as the business grows.
This is an interesting proposition though, a large corporation can publicly state who they believe everyone should vote for, is that right?
Could be awkward for the employees who disagree, could be bad for the company if most of their employees disagree.
And what if the other side wins, they could make it difficult for that company.
It will be interesting to see what happens, I reckon nothing will change, I don;t think any influential companies would publicly back one side over an other.
Thanks for letting me know about this development!
Don.
Andy
Visit our site and let me know if you are interested.
Regards Andy
Garin Kilpatrick
Corporations are unnatural institutions in that they are imbued with the legal rights of a human, despite lacking a pulse.
By the pooling of investors capital corporations have risen to intense power. But not all corporations are evil, take Google for example.
Investors should understand that corporations provides an opportunity for ethics to be compromised, and that ethical compromises will lead to losses. Savvy investors should study those in control of corporations for insight into the ethical validity of a corporation.
Ethical investments should be applauded. Investors who invest in corporations displaying strong ethical culture offer some hope for the future of the corporate form.
By aiding the growth of ethical corporations investors will be able to provide some security for their investment, and start to help put to rest some of the many unethical corporate monsters of today.
-Garin Kilpatrick
@GarinKilpatrick
Chris Mangum
Governments and nations are also people. The Church, the PTA, the neighborhood pub, your followers on Twitter, the readership of this blog, also all people. Do they have a pulse? Are they vulnerable or prone to being unethical? Yes and Yes. Governments often have more power than the people they govern. The Church, as an institution, has more power than many nations. The PTA is probably organized as a non-profit corporation, and chances are the local pub is also organized as some kind of legal entity resembling a corporation. Twitter and other social media sites play to the wisdom of the crowd, but once this crowd is organized (whether in a legal entity or not), it has the ability and the propensity to behave in a self-interested way. My point: Corporations are only as good as the people they comprise. If you want more ethical corporations, you need to focus on more ethical people.
Chris
monicauk
monicauk
Regards,
http://www.cooperburns.co.uk