We are way past overdue for major corporate reform, including the enforcement of existing statutes preventing the establishment of monopolies, such as Amazon's brave new experiment in creating a monopoly by attempting to control as many supply chains as possible, to name just one flagrant example.
In my considered assessment, the old model, of corporations being primarily or solely accountable to their shareholders, is no longer workable. That they are scarcely, if at all, answerable to those who actually do the work, or to the public at large, any sane person should find completely unacceptable—in a word, anathema to one's sense of human decency and fairness.
This need for corporate reform includes not only the right of workers to organize; in my view, in my reasoned analysis, it—corporate reform—should also include the implementation of safeguards that help prevent the ongoing escalation of inequality, which represents one of the gravest threats to democracy that we face or have ever faced.
The tyranny of the excessively monied and powerful is, or should be, no more acceptable to citizens of a democratic republic than it would be for King George, of the days when this country was first being fought for and established, to return to his reign of tyranny and disregard for the will of the people as if the principles upon which this country was founded never existed. But the tyranny and anti-democratic behaviors that characterize today's mega-corporations are not so radically different from those behaviors of the King that led over the years and decades to the Revolutionary War.
We need a multi-tiered approach to the establishment, taxation, and regulation of corporations (and also of individuals who have through whatever means accrued an excess of wealth, power, and influence).
It should be easiest, and least bureaucratic, for the Mom 'n' Pop type shops or other businesses to be established and operated, within the usual boundaries of our legal system. And if such small businesses are unable initially to comply with the demands, for example, of a reasonable minimum wage, they should receive tax credits or the equivalent to assist them and to help them and their employees prosper.
The larger the corporation, the more tightly regulated and taxed it should be.
I don't know about you, but to me these things I have brought up are just common sense. And you know, I know, we all know, what our society would look like, and does look like, absent this type of common sense. We're living in the midst of that nightmare this very day.
Note: This essay was something I wrote just today in response to a petition to Senators Feinstein and Padilla in support of the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. The paragraph below, which I included as the final paragraph of the petition, was the default letter that would have been sent had I not gotten a bit more verbose.
Unions help lift all workers. Unions establish standards and norms for compensation for all similar work, which improves the lives of both unionized and non-unionized workers. As a constituent, I strongly urge you to support working families by passing the PRO Act.