Corporate Personhood and the Occupy Wall Street Movement.
The protesters have demanded the Supreme Court overturn their decision to grant "person hood" status to corporations. Are they on the right track? by Gene DeNardo
(libertarian)
Saturday, October 15, 2011
The Occupy Wall Street participants are working to propose a set of “demands” that they will soon present to the rest of the world. Various topics have come up, such as a “transaction tax” for all large financial exchanges or the right to a “minimum” working wage, etc, but none have enjoyed the popularity and enduring quality among the protesters as the demand that the recent Supreme Court decision to grant corporation full person hood be rescinded. In contrast to Mitt Romney and others of his persuasion, the occupiers do not believe corporations are people.
At least, they are on the right track. Obviously, to anyone who doesn’t have the “veil” of special interest pulled over their eyes, corporations are not people. That’s right, as odd as it may seem, only people are people! A rock is a rock, a duck is a duck and a corporation is, yes, simply a corporation.
The corporation is a type of group or association that is composed of people. But, if that made the corporation itself a person, then every Yahoo group, every neighborhood association, every Mason’s lodge and even every Saturday night poker game would be a “person”. Even your third grade child knows this isn’t the case.
The corporation is an association of people that group together to engage in a business endeavor. It is an economic group. If all groups such as this were considered “persons”, then the group patronizing the local casino would be a person. The local “investment” club meeting around someone's kitchen table would be a person. The local bake sale or school benefit would be a person. You and your best friend who bought a car when you were in high school and worked on it for four weekends and then lost your collective "shirts" when you attempted to resell it would be a person.
The owners of the corporation are those who purchase “shares” of the corporation. If this defines the corporation as a “person”, then the owners of any business are collectively a person, whether incorporated or not. The owners of a “time share” condominium would be a person. Even the passengers on a cruise ship would be a corporation. After all, they have purchased “shares” of the space available on the boat. While their “personhood” would begin and end with the duration of the voyage, that is no different than the beginning and ending of corporation share ownership.
The workers who actually perform the tasks that insure the economic survival of the corporation are indeed people. But, so are all the other workers all over the world, whether or not they work for a corporation or not. Yes, they are persons.
And so are the consumers who buy the products of the corporation, but so are all the other consumers……..well, you get the picture.
The corporation is an association of people organized in a manner determined by contracts and countless laws. Most of these laws have little to do protecting people from aggression or wrongdoing and a lot to do with privileging and encouraging the corporate form itself.
The occupiers have hit the nail on the head when it comes to removing the corporate privilege of personhood, but it is hardly the tip of the iceberg. As there should be no restrictions, regulations or unnecessary laws regarding the formation of corporations, there should also be no state imposed “incentives” or legal promotion of the form. In a free world, no one would dream of defining a corporation as a “person”.
Alas, we don’t live in a free world. The corporation, as we know it, is a complex and coercive web of legal fiction. We have little clue what the corporate form would look like or even if it would survive real freedom. Removing "personhood" is a start, but that's all it is.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of Gene DeNardo only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Gene DeNardo is solely responsible for the contents
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Posted By: Jahfre Fire Eater
Date: October 17, 2011 05:28:52 PM
Yes. Corporations worship their creators to the detriment of regular humans. The corporations need to be returned to the dust from which their life was conjured.
