Corporate Personhood and Human Personhood

Corporate Personhood and Human Personhood

Introduction

There have been contentions since 1886, if organizations are individuals or not. The constitution shield living creatures from subjective government and enriched them with the right to talk collect request. The instance of Santa Clara County vs. Southern pacific Railroad Co. was the start of corporate "personhood," under law. The litigant companies are persons inside the expectation of the proviso in the constitution of the United State.

Discussion

Although corporate personhood did not come about until much later, this case set the stage for corporations to gain legal personality, which inadvertently lead to the notion of corporate personhood. When the constitution was drafted, corporations were chartered (Corporate personhood, 2011). This means corporations were governed by states (Corporate personhood, 2011). The state charters were very specific on what corporations could do, how they do it, for how long, with whom, when, where and how much they could charge for products and services (Corporate personhood, 2011). Owners of corporations were liable for any wrong doings done by their corporations (Corporate personhood, 2011). Corporations could not own stock and could not participate in any area of the political process (Corporate personhood, 2011). The most important attribute of state charters were that in order for corporations to remain and succeed, they had to contribute back to the communities in which they were based (Corporate personhood, 2011). Whenever any of these guiding principles were not met or violated, states revoked the corporation's charter and they seized to exist (Corporate personhood, 2011).

It is common knowledge that the more wealth a person has, the more power they also hold. Corporate personhood takes power away from the people and gives it to buildings and ideas also known as corporations. While corporations bring much needed capitol to the United States as a whole, as well to individual states, granting them rights as individuals has rendered them untouchable. Ultimate power by few to control many is not democracy, which is what this nation should be founded upon. Unless the concept of corporate personhood is ratified, democracy will die, along with the American way of life.

Corporate personhood benefits only large corporations, disadvantaging the small and family-owned businesses that town governments most closely work with and support.

Only large national companies, chain stores, and global corporations invoke 'corporate personhood.' Small businesses rely more on personal relationships and the legitimate personhood rights of their human owners when working with town governments.

Campaign finance laws thrown out by Citizens United allowed both big and small donors to influence elections. Without limits, only large corporations, not small businesses, have the resources to flood local elections with out-of-district campaign funds.

Only large corporations, not small businesses, have the staff and resources to pursue expensive civil-rights litigation to overturn actions of local governments. Example: When Florida tried to impose differential permit fees on locally-owned and out-of-state businesses, a national corporation took the matter to the Supreme Court, claiming that the 14th Amendment (each person has a right to equal protection of the laws) ...