Companies are not People

‘Are Companies People?’ is asked of candidates and they flounder to provide the simple answer that is clear to so many.  Companies are not People.

In most contexts this is an absurd construction. Can Companies laugh or cry, get angry, fall in love, make babies and raise a family? Do they go for a swim, create soaring novels or paint affecting pictures? Do they write inspiring speeches, create beautiful music or tell a simple joke?  Companies do not participate in a human, intimate conversation or any of the other myriad things people do every day.  Companies are not flesh and blood members of the animal kingdom. They are organized extensions of people banding together to accomplish a useful and desirable function.

Rightfully Companies do not vote. Companies should be barred from political involvement. This is not their role. They are citizens of a commercial landscape and there is great danger when they try to extend their influence to the political realm. They do this mostly to gain commercial advantage. And that advantage is typically to the detriment of something else, like the climate, the environment or employee’s or customer’s health and safety. In its most blatant form they try to avoid or shift or mask the consequences of their activities and thus postpone the cost of responsibility.  More insidiously, this involvement sometimes is done to shield individuals from being identified with their opinions. We do not have government of and by and for the corporation. The Founding Fathers took personal responsibility for their actions. They risked their individual positions, fortunes and well being. We seem to have lost this stand up courage. 


From a legal perspective companies need some rights and protections to allow for efficient participation in the commercial realm. There is a need for fair and equitable regulations so that size or deceit does not tilt transactions in unproductive and dishonest directions.  But these are not the same rights people have and need. This is not the same as participation in the body politic, in the debate in the public square over those things that affect the citizen and the community.  I do not understand why companies have any right to use the funds generated in commercial activities as donations to candidates or political causes.  The funds go to their owners and workers, and it is people who have the responsibility, opportunity and obligation to support the candidates of their choice and guide the political conversation in the direction of their values.

And candidates are not companies, they are people and our system is designed to have people represent the views of people. Companies are organized to do business. The people who own or work for a company have every right use their money in the way they see fit. This is a personal right, not a corporate right. Companies have every right to use their corporate resources in the commercial realm, to make and market, to employ and sell.  But companies do not have a right to use their money in the political realm. They are not citizens, they have no vote. They are not a part of the democratic enumeration embodied so eloquently in 'We, the people...'  They do not count in the census and should not have a monetary voice in political discourse.

Not only do we need separation of church and state but we also need separation of corporation and state. We have put our military under civilian administration. We do not need corporations at the top of the pyramid. They are just another category of organization that is answerable to the People.  They are not the People’s equal.