I've ranted before about the absurdity of the Citizen's United case, and the absolutely insane ruling by this activist right-wing Supreme Court defining a corporation as a person, and defining money as equal to speech, thus applying the constitutional protection of free speech to the money that the wealthy can use to further currupt our political system.
I know that many will argue that I am missing some nuance here, and that I am oversimplifying. But really, regardless of how much "person-hood" a corporation might have enjoyed before this ruling, this ruling makes it very plain to the American people that this Supreme Court believes that a corporation is equal to a person under the constitution.
OK, regardless of how insane and absurd I think this is, it is clear that we have become so pro big-business in our judicial system, and so beholding to the fat-cats of our oligarchy, that this ruling seems to be sitting OK with most Americans. All the shouts of "WAKE UP AMERICA" are not going to reverse this ruling.
So, I think that the laws of the nation should be applied to corporations in the same way that they are applied to citizens. So, if a corporation steals from people - as in the case of Enron, or in the latest case of the big banks, then the CEO goes to jail, and the corporation has a criminal record. If the corporation is convicted of a crime, then it loses the same rights that a citizen loses. If it is convicted of 3 crimes, then the 3 strikes law applies, and it gets life in prison - in the case of a corporation, that means that it must be disbanded - it cannot exist any longer - the death penalty. Stockholders lose big value. We no longer have to find individuals guilty - if the corporation does badly - the corporation "goes to jail".
Right now, BP has a big debt to society to pay. What if an individual committed that degree of environmental terrorism? That penalty should apply to BP - right now!
Why not?
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