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- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
Seriously. Not dystopian science fiction or a new novel by an AI version of George Orwell. Actual corporations — what America’s first Supreme Court Justice, John Marshall, in 1819 called “an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law” — are today voting in elections for everything from the mayor and town council to referendums on corporate taxes and limits on corporate behavior.
What could possibly go wrong?
There are, after all, more corporations than people in Delaware. They can now decide who’s going to run the government, what the laws are, and — through their votes to elect humans who’ll take corporate money to do what corporations want (something else that corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court legalized) — even what regulations companies must follow and what limits there are on their behavior.
This seems like a very weird proposition to me. So if you’re unemployed, no vote, but if you are a legal construct without a soul or a conscience, but you pay taxes, you’re welcome to vote? How is this sensible? It’s kind of discouraging and a little jarring to hear regular people valuing their fellow citizens by the taxes they pay. Paying taxes is certainly not the only way you can contribute to society, and shouldn’t be used to gatekeep your participation in said society.
Unemployed pay taxes on unemployment wages. They pay sales taxes. And countless other taxes… Only way to avoid paying taxes is not exist in society.
This is patently false; what if you are provided for by someone else? What if you are not eligible to collect unemployment benefits?
If someone manages to live without paying taxes, i think they’ll be perfectly fine not needing to vote cause they already living the dream.