Joanna
Liza Featherstone wrote:
>One thing I always wonder about the corporate personhood, is, wouldn't it be
>better to expand it in a totally literal-minded way. (I know, you would have
>to abolish limited liability - I don't know how to do that, of course.) Say,
>if they are going to be considered people and have the rights people have,
>they should have the responsibilities people have. Thus, say, OK
>corporations are people, so, when they commit crimes, the board, CEO and all
>of upper management have to do jail time. They cause someone's death, they
>get life sentences. Three strikes in California, we throw away the key. Etc.
>You could then criminalize environmental and labor law violations, and all
>sorts of other potentially great stuff. I think most people would rather see
>corporations gain responsibilities -- and miscreants wear leg irons -- than
>lose rights.
>
>Liza
>
>
>
>>From: "Nathan Newman" <nathanne at nathannewman.org>
>>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>>Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2004 16:00:12 -0500
>>To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
>>Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Challenge for leftists of all stripes
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>
>>
>>
>>John Thornton wrote:
>>
>>
>>>All persons are guaranteed "free speech". Corporations can donate
>>>money to political parties or individuals as a guaranteed form of
>>>free speech.
>>>
>>>
>>-I think this line of complaint is more petit bourgeois than
>>-proletarian. It seems founded on an often undisclosed nostalgia for
>>-the 19th century world of proprietorships or small partnerships. And
>>-what a wonderful time that was!
>>
>>No, the complaints about legal personhood for corporations have to do with
>>the history of courts in the US using that "personhood" to endow them with
>>a range of constitutional rights that legislatures could not regulate. For
>>decades, those rights included a range of economic contracting rights that
>>stunted legislative regulation.
>>
>>More recently, "free speech" and other "associational" rights have been
>>raised to try to block a range of regulations. Let me give one example.
>>At one point, California required Pacific Gas & Electric to include a flyer
>>by a consumer group, TURN, advertising to ratepayers their ability to join
>>TURN and support a consumer advocate against higher electric rates. The
>>US Supreme Court struck down this law as violating the free speech rights
>>of PG&E against having to be associated with the views of TURN.
>>
>>Believe me, in the legal work I do on economic regulation, corporate
>>opponents cite their constiutional rights against violations of equal
>>protection, free speech, due process and a range of other rights to combat
>>economic regulation. Corporate personhood is indeed one of the deadlier
>>weapons against democracy in the United States. We had a period after the
>>New Deal when this was largely abandoned, but it is creeping up on us
>>day-to-day and is likely to accellerate in the coming years as more
>>reactionary jurists extend their control of the courts.
>>
>>Nathan Newman
>>
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>>
>>
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