The Money of Corporations

Written by SuenMike Sunday, 17 January 2010 09:24

Mike and I recently heard about the US Supreme Court decision to give companies the right to give political candidates unlimited funds.   We understand that the main argument fuelling the opinion was that it would be unfair to corporations not to give them the right to support their candidates. 

It’s very strange that a society that celebrates the individual and feels so strongly about individual rights is now promoting the collective entity called a corporation.  It reminds me of my Ayn Rand days, although Rand was much more concerned about government power.  Ayn Rand would not have stood for the bank bail-outs, as it isn’t pure capitalism.  In a pure capitalist society, corporations would live by their wits and not by pity or blackmail.

I think Rand would be equally as disgusted with this recent decision.  In her world, individuals reigned supreme: it is the individual who is the pinnacle player in society, not a collective.  It is the individual who is the building block of society, not a collective.   Some people saw this as mean-spirited or selfish but I always saw it as a celebration of human beings.   The human spirit expresses itself in individual bodies; respecting ownership and property is an important element in the human scheme of things.  Laws have been put in place so that these ideas are enforced, punishments created for perpetrators who disrespect others’ property, etc. 

But laws can also be created not to enforce individual rights but collective ones – and this is the worrisome bit.  By welcoming corporations into the political landscape, the concept of the individual and the concept of “corporate interests” will naturally fight it out.  It’s like George Bailey versus Mr Potter.  And you don’t have to watch “It’s a Wonderful  Life” too many times to see how corporate money works in the human drama.