3 ms·

More like bribery But according to the US supreme court, money is speech so it doesn't matter

by VHRanger 4y ago

foobarbecue 4y ago
And corporations are people, of course
- richbell 4y ago
  "Corporations are people, my friend." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c
- sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
  This is a nice tagline, but I think it's much more benign than it sounds, and it's not exclusive to America. It's just a legal convention to help think about how corporations fit into laws not explicitly written for them. For example, who can enter legal contracts and what are the repercussions if they are broken? Well contract law was thought of around people, but if you think of a corporation similarly, then the law still makes sense. Of course, they can and do specify restrictions that only apply to corporations or opt them out.
  - foobarbecue 4y ago
    I was referring to the (awful) supreme court Citizens United decision.
- anon291 4y ago
  This is one of those things that is simply not true. Corporations are not legally equivalent to people. What utter rubbish and lazy analysis.
  - foobarbecue 4y ago
    What I was really saying was that corporations should have to obey campaign spending limit laws that were explicitly designed to apply to them, to limit corruption.
- 0110101001 4y ago
  "Corporations are people and money is speech" was just Stephen Colbert's in-character strawman summary of the Citizens United decision. A better summary is that restrictions on money being spent on speech are effectively restrictions on speech, itself, and the freedom of speech is not limited to individuals.
  - foobarbecue 4y ago
    Right. Citizens United used those two ridiculous arguments (spending is speech, corporations should have rights intended for individuals) to allow corporations to ignore corporate campaign contribution limits. I didn't know Colbert coined "corporations are people" -- TIL.
    - foobarbecue 4y ago
      Ok, he didn't. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood And https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-...

More like bribery But according to the US supreme court, money is speech so it doesn't matter

foobarbecue 4y ago

And corporations are people, of course

richbell 4y ago
"Corporations are people, my friend." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlPQkd_AA6c
sicp-enjoyer 4y ago
This is a nice tagline, but I think it's much more benign than it sounds, and it's not exclusive to America. It's just a legal convention to help think about how corporations fit into laws not explicitly written for them. For example, who can enter legal contracts and what are the repercussions if they are broken? Well contract law was thought of around people, but if you think of a corporation similarly, then the law still makes sense. Of course, they can and do specify restrictions that only apply to corporations or opt them out.
- foobarbecue 4y ago
  I was referring to the (awful) supreme court Citizens United decision.
anon291 4y ago
This is one of those things that is simply not true. Corporations are not legally equivalent to people. What utter rubbish and lazy analysis.
- foobarbecue 4y ago
  What I was really saying was that corporations should have to obey campaign spending limit laws that were explicitly designed to apply to them, to limit corruption.
0110101001 4y ago
"Corporations are people and money is speech" was just Stephen Colbert's in-character strawman summary of the Citizens United decision. A better summary is that restrictions on money being spent on speech are effectively restrictions on speech, itself, and the freedom of speech is not limited to individuals.
- foobarbecue 4y ago
  Right. Citizens United used those two ridiculous arguments (spending is speech, corporations should have rights intended for individuals) to allow corporations to ignore corporate campaign contribution limits. I didn't know Colbert coined "corporations are people" -- TIL.
  - foobarbecue 4y ago
    Ok, he didn't. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood And https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-become-people-excavating-the-legal-evolution https://www.npr.org/2014/07/28/335288388/when-did-companies-...