NationStates: Dominion of Caramida

[caramida]

Corporations Demand Political Say
The Issue:

A well-heeled lobby group is pushing for the elimination of regulations that prevent corporations from donating money to political parties.

The Debate:

1. "This is supposed to be a democratic country," Soda Sales industry spokesperson Elizabeth Utopia says. "Yet these archaic laws say I can't donate money to support a political party. They put ceilings on the amount any party can spend on advertising. It's time to stop treating voters like children, and trust them to make up their own minds. Free the ballot box!"
2. "You say political freedom, I hear vote-buying," says popular anarchist Beth Rubin. "If these fat cats get their way, politicians will buy their own seat in Congress. And let's face it, a slick advertising campaign can convince a lot of apathetic voters. We need to tighten the laws, not repeal them. Money should have no place in politics!"
3. "Frankly, I don't see why we need to have elections at all," says your brother, Prince Daniel, over a late-night malt whiskey. "You always seem to know what's best. Why not scrap the whole political system? It would make things so much simpler."
   

The Government Position:
The government has indicated its intention to follow the recommendations of Option 2.

My thoughts:

A corporation is not a person. Only people have free speech rights. Corporations should not have the opportunity to buy elections. If you disagree, please offer information that might help me change my point of view.

What do y'all think?

Comments

[name-redacted.livejournal.com]

If you haven't seen The Corporation, I highly recommend it. As they point out, under the US Constitution, a corporation is a person, and therefore entitled to all of a human person's individual rights. If the constitution of the DOC specifies otherwise, then the point is moot, or at least, the lobbyists' argument is pretty seriously hobbled.

[caramida.livejournal.com]

While largely based on the US Constitution, the laws of the DoC do not offer person status to corporations.

[caramida.livejournal.com]

I keep meaning to add The Corporation to my queue. Thanks for hte recommendation.

[name-redacted.livejournal.com]

It's quite good. One of the themes is they use the American Psychiatric Association's guidelines to evaluated corporate behavior, as though the corporation was a person, and conclude that corporations, by human standards, are psychopaths.