D’Apollonia raised an interesting issue back in November. The writer talked about “the dreadful reading of the Constitution since the late 19th century that allows corporations the same rights as individuals. Corporations, unlike individuals, do not die, unless they are unsuccessful and go bust. They can thus amass fortunes in ways that individuals cannot, and thus obtain a choke-hold on the legal system, not to mention the political system.”
Did the founders intend this? Is there a ”strict constructionist” around who reads this blog and who can point to the bit of the Constitution that allows corporations to run our lives? And what evidence is there that their interests coincide with ours?
Not sure where you coming from on this; the Constitution provides the basic form of governance for the federal govt, and anything not specfically delegated to the feds is left to the individual states to govern; there is no mention of rights to corporations; only individuals (not animals, either!) have certain inalienable rights, such as right to liberty, right to assemble peacably, etc. It may be that our courts have interpreted certain rights into the constitution regarding coprorations, but I am really not aware of any; exactly what rights were you talking about, D’Appollonia? By the way, coporations do not amass, wealth, since corporations are actually owned by individuals(stock holders)