The current push by Democrats, Independents and left thinking Americans to over-turn the Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision is doomed to failure for one glaring reason: corporations are in fact people.
Once again, the left has allowed the right to frame the debate and walked right into a trap. Using a familiar method that has been used again and again, they have twisted the language of the debate to benefit their point-of-view and we have let them. This is because there is no doubt that corporations are created by, run by, employ, and indeed benefit (or harm) people. Anyone who has had a serious debate with a proponent of that idea understands this argument. But it is the WRONG argument. Just as they use “Voter Fraud” to deflect attention from “Election Fraud”, for one of hundreds of possible examples (list your example below), they have changed the language to frame this debate.
The REAL problem is that Corporations Are Not PERSONS.
While this is admittedly a very subtle difference, it should actually be the key argument against Citizens United. Because the problem in the United States today is that huge, multi-person corporations have all of the benefits of personhood but none of the obligations or responsibilities.
Ah just semantics you say. But the Supreme Court and most other courts in the United States live in a world very much affected by semantics. Words have meaning and the words we use to describe the current situation matter. Take for example the argument you have probably had with someone about whether or not corporations are “people”. Now go have that same argument about whether a corporation is a “person”. Suddenly you are comparing a potentially large block of people who can NOT be held individually accountable for their actions to a single Joe who is just trying to get by and things start to look very different.
OK, maybe I’m just a kook and I have just wasted a portion of your day with this silly idea. But try this simple change in wording of your argument the next time you have one and see if you don’t get a different outcome.