Sunday, September 13, 2009

Supreme Courts and Corporate "Personhood"

To me this one is simply a dog that doesn't hunt.
A Corporation is not a person and should not have the rights or privileges of a person. A Corporation's sole intent is profit. Therefore it's identity, by definition, is a single and self-serving focus, rather than community sustainability and citizenship. A corporation is not restricted to the community in which it "lives", it can indeed, exist far from the affect it has on an area's resources or culture. A corporation is made up of individuals. Those individuals already have their one vote...being part of a group of other individuals must NOT confer greater privilege.
Listening to Justices Scalia, Roberts, and Alito, arguing in the most recent Special Session of the Supreme Court, I was struck by how they spoke to the unfairness of restricting a corporation from democratic participation. As a citizen, I listened to their arguments with irritation. Why should a corporation have any say in the democratic process? Every citizen in their rosters already has a say, and since the corporate "say" is single faceted to their increase - it is ridiculous for a society to give any weight to their input!
When Justice Scalia asked how we could want to limit the "Mom and Pop"s and the local incorporated Hairdressers (as if they are even the issue) and asked the State defender to sight any example of a corporation using their influence against the public good - I practically choked! How about ENRON? How about the various Tobacco Companies? How about the HMOs? and what about beverage corps who commandeer local water sources all over the nation (and world). What about the energy corps who have destroyed Appalachia mountaintops and watersheds? Good Grief!  The Corporate entity does not have to be humane - CANNOT be humane if it follows it's charter to increase profit. It is like suggesting an alcoholic have a say in what protections should be established against alcohol abuse! A corporation does not concern itself with quality of life of a community- but with how to profit from the community's individuals' requisites for life! Certainly there are small corporations - incorporated to minimize taxation and maximize profit, who work in an area constructively... but when they suggest that, as a conglomerate mass of individuals, they want another vote, or a stronger voice, or better access to legislators than the rest of us, it is to our national detriment to even consider!

No comments:

Post a Comment