Farewell Democracy?

[Mr Khan]

badgenome said:

Mr Khan said:

There are people in them who have unalienable rights as individuals. That they are allowed to join said group is a protected right, but the group itself needs no more rights than it needs to operate as it is supposed to operate (the right to stand trial, own property, and incur debt).

Unlike political advocacy organizations, political activity is not an integral part of the corporate assembly and therefore needs not be protected.

That's pretty contrived, and I have to assume you arrived at the conclusion first and then reasoned your way backwards to come up with such a thing. We are not even talking about the sort of political speech that you're so fretful about "corrupting the process". If there is a law that governs the activity of corporations, then corporations have to be able to challenge said law. Additionally, since laws pertain to people and not things, if corporations are not people then they can not be governed in the first place. Nor can they be taxed as a separate entity. It seems the statists want to have their cake and eat it, too, when it comes to this matter.

It's a matter of my world-view being based on the idea that rights are not good in and of themselves, but tend to be the most expedient way of guaranteeing that everyone gets treated fairly, but its not always the best idea that everyone gets rights. My thoughts on corporate rights are a history of robber-baronism of the worst kind, of ruined lives and ruined ecosystems, of shiftless money grubbers who contribute the least but reap the greatest rewards.

This is not to discount capitalist visionaries who are responsible for much of modern life, which is why it's ultimately important that they be given their share of leeway, but too much freedom for business has usually led to bad things happening.

But you do have to remember that i take a somewhat more pragmatic view of utilitarianism than Mill did (who took pains to demonstrate the utility of liberty, which i also value, but not to the same degree), and that i don't see freedoms as essentially good.