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Exactly. Trying to conflate Freedom of Speech with eligibility for public office can't be anything other than intentional misdirection. US Constitution, Articl
by CWuestefeld 17y ago
Exactly. Trying to conflate Freedom of Speech with eligibility for public office can't be anything other than intentional misdirection.
US Constitution, Article 1 Section 2:
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Does a corporation pass any of those tests? So why the heck do they make out like this is some kind of crisis?
- jackowayed 17y agoWell they aren't a person who shall be a Representative. They're a corporation that shall be a representative. The Constitution doesn't say that only people may run for Congress, only that if a person chooses, he has special restrictions. Now, the state election laws may make it impossible for them to get on the ballot, but the Constitution doesn't put any restrictions on a corporation that shall be a Representative.
- pyre 17y agoBut the point that sparked this thread was about corporate personhood (i.e. the law says that a corporate is a person). So arguing that a corporation isn't a person under these restrictions is kind of circular.
- CWuestefeld 17y agoPerhaps you forgot to read my post to which your responded. Or else, can you describe in what way a Corporation is, in fact, a citizen of the United States?
- jackowayed 17y agoMy point is that, from a very literal standpoint, since they didn't say "you must be a person that ... to be a Representative", there's no actual restriction saying that only people may be Representatives. It just says that certain restrictions apply to people who wish to be representatives. If you're not a person, then " No Person shall be a Representative who ..." doesn't restrict you. It's splitting hairs to the max, and I'm sure a court would find some way around it if it ever got there.
- jerf 17y agoOh, we'll be having that fight, but it won't be over corporations. It'll be over sentient programs. Also, is that 25 years objective or 25 years subjective, in the case of an AI that grows up faster than real time? (To the extent that that even has meaning outside of a direct human brain simulation.)
- joubert 17y agoOnly natural persons can be citizens (by definition).