So What Do We Do Now About Corporate Power?
compiled by George Draffan
© Public Information Network, PO Box 95316, Seattle WA 98145-2316
Despite constant popular resistance, and an occasional judicial blow
limiting corporate power (such as the 1892 Illinois Central case), the rise
of corporate power has been a dismal history.
The overwhelming weight of American law has supported property over
democracy, corporations over family enterprise, and big government over
local control. Regulation shields corporations, and restricts citizens
rather than corporations.
The question before us today is no longer about tinkering with regulations,
or appealing to corporate responsibility, or to common sense and common
virtue. Corporations (or regulatory agencies, for that matter) don't have
common sense or virtue; they are not persons. Corporations are legal
fictions designed for economic profit. Corporations should not have the
civic and political powers granted to them by court after court. The
governments created to protect our interests have destroyed our sovereignty,
and joined with corporations to create the Corporate State. Power without
accountability os tyranny.
What are the arenas in and processes by which we can truly change the status
quo? How can we remove the regulatory and administrative obstacles to
defining the nature and powers of corporations? How can we reclaim our civic
and political power from corporations, and restore our sovereignty? Some
arenas of sovereignty include, but are not limited to:
Constitutional amendment.
State corporate codes.
Federal chartering.
State corporation charter requirements & revocations.
Corporate certificates of authority to operate.
Quo warranto actions (by what authority does a corporation exist?).
Recall of state and federal officials and legislative representatives
who fail to define and control corporations according to the will of
the people.
Initiative & referendum.
Voluntary charters adopted by forward-thinking corporate directors.
Broadening the public forums for debate among the legal community,
local communities, and the general public.
How will these processes be used to define and control corporations, to
define what corporations can be and do? The following have been, in some
cases still are active law, in various places, from California to Wisconsin
to New Jersey:
Defining the goals of corporations (subordination of profit to public
interest).
Controlling the means and ends of production.
Defining the chartering and revocation processes.
Requiring that violation of a corporate charter leads to mandatory
revocation of that charter.
Prohibiting corporations from exercising civic and political "rights"
-- no corporate "personhood".
Strict liability of shareholders, managers, directors.
Limiting the length of corporate existence.
Controlling the intra-corporation relations between managers, directors
and shareholders (for example, scaled voting, and corporate books open
to shareholders).
Ensuring the right and duty of the state to amend and revoke charters
for abuse or misuse.
Prohibiting corporations from owning stock in other corporations.
Limiting real estate holdings and capital accumulations to those
necessary for actual corporate purposes.
Prohibiting corporations from operating under pseudonyms.
Prohibiting harm to the public or its resources. Today we would extend
these prohibitions to include zero toxics, requiring
environmentally-friendly materials and processes, and full recycling of
waste materials.
Requiring periodic audits for health, safety and environment, conducted
by parties chosen by workers and communities, with findings and
recommendations binding on the corporation. No audit privileges. No
escape from liability.
Defining and controlling the use of bankruptcy to escape liability.
Establishing a maximum ratio between the salaries of the highest-paid
executives and the lowest paid workers.
Giving state courts authority to hear all corporation cases.
Guaranteeing the rights of shareholders and citizens to charter and
revoke charters.
Restricting the location of corporate headquarters and annual meetings.
Restricting the residence of shareholders to the state in which the
corporation operates
Opening corporation books to legislative and public scrutiny: full
disclosure as a requirement for incorporation and continued corporate
existence.
Ongoing legislative oversight over corporations.
Prohibiting corporations from any participation in political campaigns
and discourse. Zero civil rights.
Prohibiting corporations from making charitable, civic, or other
donations.
Prohibiting the transfer of public credit, monies or resources to
private or corporate parties. Zero subsidies.
What are the laws and institutions of a truly sovereign people? Who’s in
charge?
What do we do now? Get thee to your natural allies, now. Drop the factions
and philosophy, and all else that’s not essential. As Benjamin Franklin
warned us: we must all hang together, or surely we shall hang apart.
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