A Challenge to Libertarians: Why Corporations Are Not People

Exxxxcellent article… Just try to argue with this guy…

Why Corporations Are Not People,
And The Unsavory Consequences
of Pretending That They Are

[quote]Plainly put, corporations are anti-American. They are anti-individual. The word “corporation” does not appear in our Constitution. Large institutions of all kinds (both government and business) were suspect in colonial and early America. In fact, the Boston Tea Party was not a protest against taxes, but direct action taken against the East India Company, which represented the commercial interests of the British elite.

It was not until 1886, after a series of cases brought by lawyers representing the expanding railroad interests, that the Supreme Court ruled that corporations were “persons” and entitled to the same rights (actually more) granted to individual people under the Bill of Rights. This sinister ruling, discussed by Thom Hartmann in his 2002 book Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and The Theft of Human Rights (Rodale Press) [b]has led to the corporate dominance of the individual – a thoroughly un-American state of affairs. As Hartmann points out, the largest transnational corporations fill a role today that has historically been filled by kings. They control most of the world’s wealth and exert power over the lives of most of the world’s citizens. And they pretty much own the U.S. government: the revolving door between corporate boardrooms and the top echelons of all recent administrations is no secret.

But why, then, are “Libertarians,” self-styled promoters of individual rights and interests, such mindless boosters of corporations? Why in the world do “Libertarians” vehemently insist that corporations are market entities, when even a cursory examination of the matter reveals that they are actually government entities?[/b]

Well, “Libertarians” are obsessed with labels. The thing that distinguishes “Libertarian” analysis is their State/Market dichotomy. All the major “Libertarian” propaganda outlets are non-profit organizations. That is, they have gone to the government and asked to be exempt from the forces of the marketplace. You would think that a bunch of people who according to themselves understand economics and the marketplace better than anyone else on Earth would be able to manage to, say, publish a newsletter without losing money, but the “Libertarians” won’t even have a go at it.

Since “Libertarians” avoid the marketplace like the plague, how, then, are they to be “for” the “Market” and “against” the “Government?” Answer: they sit on the sidelines and root for the “Market,” like fans rooting for a major league baseball team. Since the actual marketplace (food co-ops, mom & pop groceries, auto repair shops, etc.) isn’t very glamorous, (you hardly ever see it on TV) “Libertarians” stick the “Market” label on prominent non-market entities (corporations) and then respond to the label as if it were the thing.[/quote]

Before i would even dare to give the reasoning of corporations as a good thing. Can you admit that they are beneficial at all?

Cheers,
Okami