CORPORATE PERSONHOOD

The US Supreme Court has decided that corporations are 'persons' and have the right to free speech, as well as the right to give any amount of money to a political action group.

It is unfair to say that the Republican members of the court wanted to get more money for Republican campaigns. It is true that fewer and fewer people are registering as Republicans. Did you know that, in California, Republicans pay up to $10 for every Republican registered? The person doing the registering does not get anything for people who register with other parties.

But one can say that brilliant legal scholars are often naive about the effect of a decision in the real world. For instance, a human person who can not give money due to laws against large political donations, can form a corporation and give the money through the new corporation. I can form a corporation in a day.

A corporation has always been a kind of person, in that it can sue and be sued. However, corporations can not represent themselves in court, they need an attorney to do that. (In California, at least.)

I will believe a corporation is equal to a human person when we can put corporations in prisons and/or give them a lethal injection.

In the US, it is not possible to totally buy an election. The campaign donations that come from human persons represent a commitment to a candidate. A huge campaign donation from a really rich person represents that rich person truly believing that the 1% has a right to rule us 99%.