Not A Joke Or A Protest – This Republican Actually Wants To Grant Corporations The Right To Vote

[ashling]

When I first read this headline, “Montana Bill Would Give Corporations The Right To Vote,” I thought, what a brilliant protest strategy! It is, I thought, what philosophers would call “reductio ad absurdum,” or the art of taking your argument to its most absurd extreme to show the ridiculousness of your opponent’s side. Unfortunately, it seems, Montana State Rep. Steve Lavin (R), is very serious about granting voting rights to corporations. Here is the bill from Think Progress:

Provision for vote by corporate property owner. (1) Subject to subsection (2), if a firm, partnership, company, or corporation owns real property within the municipality, the president, vice president, secretary, or other designee of the entity is eligible to vote in a municipal election as provided in [section 1].

(2) The individual who is designated to vote by the entity is subject to the provisions of [section 1] and shall also provide to the election administrator documentation of the entity’s registration with the secretary of state under 35-1-217 and proof of the individual’s designation to vote on behalf of the entity.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/02/23/not-a-joke-or-a-protest-this-lawmaker-actually-wants-to-grant-corporations-the-vote/

[putitinD]

1. if a corporation has the right to vote, can it be drafted to go fight for its country?

[TheMastersNemesis]

2. The Corporate Right To Vote Goes Back To The Concept When Only Property Owners Were Allowed Vote.

We tend to forget that historically on rich land owners were allowed to vote at one time in the US. Maybe the GOP wants to go back to that time. By all their antics in rigging the vote they can only get more absurd.

[unblock]

3. remember that corporations can "breed" far more readily than humans

one corporation can create thousands of subsidiaries, and therefore thousands of votes.

probably cheaper and more effective than campaign contributions....

[Bigmack]

4. Death penalty for corporations...?

That's an idea I could support.

Fuck the country enough... kill some workers or citizens, and we'll put you down like the rabid dog you are.

[reformist2]

5. Good. I propose we also make them eligible to be convicted of crimes, and given capital punishment!

[2naSalit]

6. INteresting since

we the voting public just went through two lawsuits and a vote to proclaim that corporations are not people and have no rights in engaging in elections...but then our DINO senator, Tester, was funded by corporate $$ this last election and is pushing for the Keystone XL and more coal mining and fracking in our state along with draconian anti-wildlife and public lands legislation. Don't forget, he was one of two authors of the rider in a must pass Budget Bill a couple years ago that kicked wolves off the endangered species list. I would have voted for an opponent if there had been one but he got my vote ONLY because I wanted the Dems to keep their majority in the Senate, it was really hard to hold my nose on that vote... I regret making it and will for the rest of my life.

If you think that's a big ugly-demon-nightmare-Bill-from-hell, you should see all the other shit they are trying to foist upon us in the legislature since the election... the fuckers.

[arcane1]

7. I wonder if this applies to foreign corporations that own property in Montana

Talk about a slippery slope!

[cthulu2016]

8. As long as investors in corporations could NOT vote that would be fine

Unlike speech, voting is a one-to-a-customer right.

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

9. Who would decide how the corporation votes?

No matter who makes that decision, someone gets more than 1.0 vote. Possibly 1.0000153 votes or something, if the decision is by a large group, but some actual human beings would get more than one vote.

Which perhaps makes this idea a useful way to discuss how corporations as full legal persons is an absurdity. They need some legal status in order to operate in our legal system, but once that principle is distorted and overextended, as now, it becomes not only ugly but absurd.

[SDjack]

10. What's next? Let corporations run for public office? If elected, who

would serve -- the CEO?

[stlsaxman]

11. If a corporation is a person, then- one corporation = one vote.

Monsanto gets one vote
Raytheon gets one vote
Clear Channel gets one vote....

not one per board member or stock holder... no.

Monsanto gets ONE VOTE just like the rest of us.

[Honeycombe8]

12. Oh, no. What the hell is going on in this country? This scares more than many other things I've

heard. True, complete takeover by corporations. They are after our votes (of course we saw that in the last election, when they tried to deprive millions of citizens of their right to vote by taking away polling places, reducing poll hours, causing citizens to stand in line for hours).

I gotta admit....I'm scared.

[Tsiyu]

13. Representation

without Taxation.


Because you know the plan is to buy and install those politicians who would remove all tax liability from the corporation, claiming taxes are "an undue burden."

Then the corporations can lobby for the supreme right to underpay, pollute, destroy competition, outsource jobs and make life generally a living hell for all but the top 1% - without that pesky tax thing to worry about.