There is a tendency to think of corporations as evil because they act in sociopathic ways. They are not evil. They are simply built by law to have no capacity for moral judgment of any sort. All they can do is make money. That is what they are designed for.
The dangers of the amoral corporate form were very clear to our Colonial forebears. At the time of our founding, the laws concerning corporations demanded:
• Corporate charters be granted for a limited time and specific purpose.
• Corporate charters be revoked promptly for law violations.
• Corporations be restricted to activities directly pursuant to their chartered purposes.
• Corporations be barred from owning stock in other corporations.
• Corporations be barred from owning property not essential to their chartered purposes.
• Corporations be terminated if they exceeded their authority or caused public harm.
• Owners and managers be responsible for criminal acts committed on the job.
• Corporations be barred from making any political contributions.
• Corporations be barred from influencing law-making in any way.
The history of the United States is littered with highly-placed warnings about the dangers of corporate influence. Thomas Jefferson said in 1816 that he hoped to “crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.”
Between 1827-1837, James Madison, Andre Jackson and Martin Van Buren all asked whether the money and power of “a great corporation” were to be permitted to “influence political judgment and control political decisions.”
We have warnings from Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and, possibly, Abraham Lincoln—the quote is apocryphal and probably written in 1885—that, "There can be no effective control of corporations while their political activity remains."
Today we are facing a situation worse than any others in our history. The divide between rich and poor is greater than at any previous time. The working classes are under a more sustained, direct attack than at any previous time. The wealth is accumulating in the 1% in increasing amounts daily.
The rights of labor, women, voters, LGBTQ, American minorities, the environment, middle and working class communities and local governments are being challenged as never before by 1% money. We now have a hybrid democracy, running half on votes and half on cash. Apparently we need to conserve votes because so few of them are being allowed anymore. But the issue we face has been consistent from the start.
“The question will arise . . . which shall lead—money or intellect; who shall fill public stations—educated and patriotic freemen, or the feudal serfs of corporate capital....”—Edward G. Ryan, Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, 1873