Senator Bernie Sanders echoed the sentiments of many last week when he
called for a constitutional amendment (link is external)
to repeal the notion of corporate personhood. This issue jumped into
public consciousness last year after the Supreme Court, in its
Citizens United
decision, effectively allowed unrestrained corporate influence in
American politics, based partially on the idea that corporations are
legally "persons" with constitutional rights. Sanders, in calling for
the constitutional amendment, declared: "This is an enormously important
issue, and how it is resolved will determine, to a significant degree,
the future of American democracy."
What is it about corporate personhood that so concerns Sanders and
many others? That question could be answered many ways, but perhaps this
is most concise: Corporations are psychotic.
If corporations are indeed "persons," their mental condition can
accurately be described as pathological. Corporations have no innate
moral impulses, and in fact they exist solely for the purpose of making
money. As such, these "persons" are systemically driven to do whatever
is necessary to increase revenues and profits, with no regard for
ethical issues that might nag real people.
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