A large open jar of honey sits on the hot sidewalk covered by flies and other sucking insects. Swatting at the annoying parasites, my more liberal friends seek to fix the problem by adding more honey. This is an example of why labels and the ‘religion’ of politics is so dangerous.
Democrats want a bigger bed
The U.S. Constitution mandates a separation of Church and State. Our courts have consistently upheld that mandate. Most thoughtful voters recognize the unmitigated flagrant use of corporate money has a corrosive and corrupting influence (money being the milk of politics) on government.
Churches are exempt from taxation–including property taxes. However, by law they are prohibited from blatantly using their pulpit for political purposes. Doing so exposes them to the risk of the IRS revoking their tax exempt status.
Some conservative thinkers agree that corporate welfare and influence undermine a democratically elected government. Corporate money corrupts the democratic process. But they argue if corporations are to be prohibited from unlimited campaign contributions, unions should be similarly restrained. At first glance, this sounds like a rational comparison. However, corporations are machines composed of money…stockholders may exist within, to be sure, but they may be many, or few, or as little as a single one. Unions, on the other hand, are composed of people and unlike corporations, one member’s (in theory) vote counts for no more than any other’s. A corporation’s shareholders cast votes proportionate (even this premise is no longer valid under the modern schemes of corporate bylaws designed to inhibit shareholder rebellion/unrest) to how many shares they control: the epitome of an antidemocratic process. We’re talking apples & oranges when facilely comparing corporations to unions.
So what’s to be done about the corrupting influence of corporate money? One possible solution I don’t recall being considered is a ‘separation’ of corporation and state, much like the separation of church and state. Religious displays are prohibited in civic forums. State/civic owned sports stadiums should no more allow ‘Safeco Field’ (etc.) than they should ‘4-Square Gospel Stadium’. In other words, a Constitutional Amendment or federal law should be enacted prohibiting corporate ties to state/federal government. Doing so would eliminate systemic pathology such as the ‘military-industrial complex’ President Eisenhower warned of. It would eliminate such social outrages as the ‘prison-industrial complex’ where corporations build and manage prisons for profit at state/taxpayer expense. The corrosive effect of tying profit by incarcerations to the state’s judicial/justice system should be intuitively obvious. The more citizens who are caged, the greater the profit potential for said corporate interests. Hence, lobbyists representing those interests will argue for ‘tough on crime’ bills to the point of a police state.
Our laws and system of government must be renewed if it is to survive. A separation of corporation and state must be part of its core principles. Though held to be legal ‘persons’ (for some purposes) by the courts, just as churches are not citizens (or even unions), corporations are NOT citizens. The ‘WE’ in the Declaration of Independence and our U.S. Constitution does not refer to corporations. Anything less will accelerate the public’s lack of confidence in the very institutions we created to serve us!