>>The complaint I have is that *human* rights are
>>accorded to an artificial legal entity, not the people in it.
>It is pretty surreal that a corporation should be treated as a person, but, on the other hand, I'm not sure what the folks who make a big deal out of this want to see in its place. Any suggestions?
>Doug
The biggies on this seem to be Alliance for Democracy, Corporate Watch, and Public Citizen. As far as I can see they advocate two things. The "moderate" (i.e. liberal) position on this seems to be Federal Charters -- with requirements for meeting environmental standards, treating workers a little better, treating the community a little better.
The more radical position on this is to emphasize a corporate death penalty, where corporations which violate the law are actually divided up among the community and their workers. This is more radical than it seems at first glance, since very few corporations go any length of time without significant violations of the law -- in essence it is a proposal that the majority of the economy be taken over and redistributed within a five year period.
I see the same stengths and weaknesses with both of these positions. They may be of value as a conciousness raising excercise, as a way of demonstrating that capitalist power is not legitamate. But as practical positions: If you have the power to force meaningful corporate charters, you have the power to regulate corporations in a meaningful way. If you have the power the institute a corporate "death penalty" then you have the power to implement real socialism, rather than just re-starting capitalism with an intially better wealth distribution (and one which no doubt will not stay better for very long).