Corporations Are People Too

Mitt Romney got a lot of press for saying this to a crowd recently, but it reflects not only a growing sentiment, but a recent Supreme Court ruling as well.

Romney explained his comment by saying that corporations are made up of people, so of course they’re people. Like so many things coming from the festering gob of the Right these days, that makes perfect sense …for about three seconds.

At the fourth second, you realize that there are three major problems with this thinking:

1)   The people who make up these corporations already get a vote. Why are they voting again?

2)   Corporations have the power and money to exert more influence than nearly any individual, thereby overriding the wishes of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.

3)   Political decisions made by corporations aren’t made by the people who make up the corporations, but by the people who control the corporations. That’s a really significant difference that drastically changes priorities.

 The job of the decision makers in a company are decidedly myopic, with a laser focus on sales, output, and profits. Maybe that’s as it should be--shareholders think so--but that perspective (responsibility?) will severely skew your views on a wide range of issues, like:

• Health care: Should companies pay more to offer their people better coverage?
• Pollution: Should companies spend a little more to reduce CO2 emissions?
• Minimum wage: Should companies offer their workers a livable salary?
• Unions: Should companies allow workers to band together to improve working conditions?
• Safer working conditions: Should companies be required to provide better training and equipment to reduce workplace injuries?[1]

 I think we all know how a company’s workers would vote on these issues, but how about the companies? Would their millions go to a candidate who supported these issues, or one who opposed them?

 And how much money will the employees, the working people, of these companies be able to contribute to counteract the efforts of their employers?

 If companies are people, shouldn’t racecars be allowed to run the 100-yard dash? I mean, there’s a person driving it, right? It all makes perfect … hey, wait a minute. 

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[1] You might argue that companies would support this, but that actually bolsters my point, since avoiding workplace injuries reduces downtime, worker compensation claims, and training costs.