Scrap

Scrap

Outline

  1. Overview

    1. Read Me!

    2. TL;DR

  2. A hot day in Des Moines

  3. What Mitt meant

  4. All the world's a stage

    1. We could use some more players

  5. A legal red herring

    1. History

    2. United Citizens

    3. Hobby Lobby

    4. A tidy codebase

  6. Tech drives companies toward personhood

  7. What kind of people are companies?

  8. How can we encourage companies to be better people?

    1. Legal pressure

    2. Social pressure

Hot day in Des Moines

Scrap

After this first salvo, the conversation seems to have jammed up. Which is a shame, because there are a number of ways to interpret the claim that corporations are people. The only one that is patently absurd is the one we've gotten stuck on:

  • A corporation is a flesh-and-blood human.

  • A corporation is simply an association of people, and accordingly:

    • taxes that impact corporations ultimately fall on people

    • when corporations make decisions, a person should be held responsible for that decision

  • A corporation can sue and be sued, and so legally has some of the rights and responsibilities of people.

The New York Times runs what today seems like the best piece:

‘Corporations Are People,’ Romney Tells Iowa Hecklers Angry Over His Tax Policy

DES MOINES — Emerging on the campaign trail in Iowa after largely shunning the state, Mitt Romney was confronted on Thursday by hecklers on corporate tax policy and told one of them, “Corporations are people, my friend.”

Mr. Romney was speaking at the Iowa State Fair’s soapbox on Thursday morning, but when it was time for the question-and-answer session, the mood turned heated, with a small group of angry hecklers calling on Mr. Romney to support raising taxes on the wealthy to help finance social entitlement programs.

“We have to make sure that the promises we make in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are promises we can keep, and there are various ways of doing that,” Mr. Romney said. “One is, we can raise taxes on people.”

“Corporations!” the protesters shouted, suggesting that Mr. Romney, as president, should raise taxes on large businesses.

“Corporations are people, my friend,” Mr. Romney responded, as the hecklers shouted back, “No, they’re not!”

“Of course they are,” Mr. Romney said, chuckling slightly. “Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. Where do you think it goes?”

It was a telling, unscripted moment for Mr. Romney likely to be replayed on YouTube. In an instant, he seemed to humanize himself by pointedly squabbling with the group of hecklers, showing flashes of anger and defying his reputation as a sometimes stilted, unfeeling candidate.

This last point is the one that fascinates me most. Making the argument that corporations were people actually made the robotic Romney seem more human.

We're going to use Romney's remarks as a launchpad for an exploration of several areas. We're going to talk about groups and group behavior. We're going to talk about the difference between being a person and being human. We're going to talk through how, when, and why corporate personhood was created. We're going to ask ourselves how companies ought to behave.

When we're all done, we'll watch the video again, this time with a more nuanced perspective on what it means to say that corporations are people.

Introduction

We begin by revisiting the soundbyte that started it all. We look at the context of Mitt Romney's speech, the immediate reactions to it, and the lasting impact it has had.

Corporations are people, my friend

  • The original video

  • Play-by-play analysis

  • Context of the video (recall Tom Cruise couch article)

  • Immediate reaction on the left (and right?)

    • Elizabeth Warren

    • The Young Turks

  • Did it sink Romney’s campaign?

Corporations consist entirely of people, my friend

Corporations have some of the rights and responsibilities of people, my friend

Corporations should enjoy freedom of speech, my friend

Corporations can have religious beliefs, my friend

  • HL: a corporation can declare a religious belief and be granted exemptions accordingly

Persons and human beings are not the same thing, my friend

  • Not all people are humans

  • Not all humans are people

  • Personhood is a contract

  • Being human is a condition

Detritus

PreviousPut me in Group Behavior section

Last updated