In case you doubt the corruption and illegitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court, the biggest issue in recent years is not the petty corruption of justices accepting gifts or even the Dobbs decision. Wealthy and powerful interests have always used propaganda to grab more wealth and power literally at the expense of all life on earth. But Citizens United legalized bribery to the point that the wealthy and powerful can just buy politicians who will write the country’s laws in their favor. They don’t need to even convince us ordinary citizens to look the other way any more. And Citizens United is a slippery slope – now some states and municipalities are considering legislations that would give corporations the right to vote in elections. This is just not democracy. The consent of the majority of voters has to remain as a check on corporate power, imperfect as that is. Fair and equal treatment in the courts is the other check, and that was somewhat obviously the logic when corporations and other types of legal entities were given limited rights as persons. At this point, I think we need a constitutional amendment clarifying that the rights of corporate persons stop short of political speech. The political speech of non-profit organizations is limited, so I don’t see why that can’t be extended to for-profit organizations. Why would trying to make a profit separate a legal person from a non-person? If we’re really going to go down the slippery slope and give corporations the vote, why not also give it to non-profit organizations, unions, or for that matter animals or nature itself? How about some sort of custodian that can vote on behalf of future organizations? Arguments along these lines have all been made. Now maybe we can turn all voting over to AIs who can figure out what is best for us.

I think we better just stick to majority rule (of for and by HUMAN beings), HUMAN rights, and equal protection in the courts for “persons” including various types of legal entities.