Are They People Or Not?

People can be defined as corporations for tax purposes.  Lee Iacocca’s $1/year salary as the CEO of Chrysler is a great example.

Corporations can be defined as people when it comes to handing out large volumes of money to a political campaign as money equals free speech.  This is apparently not unfair influence, nor akin to bribing a public official; but rather an issue of the individual person’s right to free speech.  And, corporations are “people,” so they can be free in their speech and their “speech.”  ($$$)

Say I build sharp steel bear traps and leave them laying out on the street.  I might hurt a few people.  I would not necessarily hurt absolutely everyone that walked on that street, but I could be sued or charged for creating a dangerous situation.  I would face a number of charges and sanctions with each person I hurt.  

I could argue that I didn’t know bear traps were dangerous for the first couple of people, but after repeatedly setting out bear traps, eventually the pattern would be obvious to me and everyone else.  I could not argue ignorance forever, and in time me leaving a bear trap on the street would arguably be a premeditated attempt to harm someone.

Say my response to hurting someone is to deny there is anything wrong with the bear traps.  I could blame the person who got caught in the trap.  I could hide my involvement, and lie about the situation.  I would be in trouble for lying.  If I obstructed investigations and lied about my involvement while throwing even more bear traps on the street, my penalties would be much harsher.

The Beltway Sniper kills 10 people.  He is incarcerated, and executed.  He gets the serial killer label.

General Motors Corporation hides a defect in their vehicles that kills 12 people and harms 31 others.

Is GMC still a “person?”  

In the mental gymnastics of the business world, a company can “close,” change names, keep all staff and board members and materials but no longer be liable.  I cannot change my name and say, “Bob did that, my name is John now.”

We cannot execute a piece of a person, nor incarcerate part of a person.  We cannot incarcerate or execute only the brain of a person.   We kill or incarcerate the whole person.  

We cannot in good conscience treat GMC as a person in that we should not incarcerate everyone from the janitor, cafeteria worker assembly, line worker, the accountant, and so on.  We should however deal  with the people with the actual knowledge and decision making power to affect the situation, and we should treat this as more than board room politics.  People were dying, GMC did not take responsibility in a timely fashion.  As long as it is cheaper to settle lawsuits than fix known issues, and less costly to get caught suppressing information than it is to suffer a recall, this crap will continue.  

Corporations are people when they can gain freedom, power and influence.  When there is even a shadow of a consequence, then the legal system very clearly and blithely does not consider a corporation a “person” at all.  “Too much harm to the community, lost jobs, too big to (be allowed to) fail.”

Is a company closing now a “death?”  Buying a corporation a form of “enslavement?”  Hostile takeover a form of “assault?” Certain departments and employees in the corporation, are they “Tumours?”  Marketing strategies, are they “cosmetic surgery” that medical insurance companies can now pay for?  If money is speech, then are imposed price tags, fines and bills violating my right to free speech?  (“I prefer Rolls Royce over Hyundai, but I don't have enough money to buy one.  My right to free speech is being suppressed!”)

I am uneasy with some of the vague definitions of “person” and “corporation.”  It is becoming worrisome that we have given the power to sufficiently rich enough entities to become either one, whenever and however they wish.