Occupy Wall Street - Success

[vaylorie]

Originally Posted by booter [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All I'm saying is that everyone sort of freaks out when they hear "corporate personhood" but the main goal is really campaign finance reform. That was what the McConnell rule (that was overturned by Citizens United) was attempting to do.

The idea of corporate personhood is not what many people think - by granting "personhood" to a corporation, the government is prevented rom violating the constitution in their treatment of corporations. This is also what allows you as a citizen to sue a corporation for wrong doing.

Good point! This impacts things from protecting shareholders from personal litigation, contracts as well as allowing companies to own assets on paper. Corporate personhood was a major driver behind the industrial revolution and economic growth by allowing limited liability for capital investments.

I think OWS would be better to describe their concern as the outlay of money by corporations being protected by free speech as I can't image they really want the abolition of corporate personhood and the major crash of the economy that would follow. Of course, that doesn't fit as well on a piece of cardboard but.. eh.