Are Corporations People? No, according to Obama and the Democrats.

Last year, at a campaign rally, Mitt Romney, when being harassed by a certain spectator in the crowd, made the statement that "corporations are people".  Immediately, the anti-business and anti-corporation Democratic National Committee jumped on those words and put this campaign ad together:



Since then, Barack Obama  and other Democrats like Elizabeth Warren -- the U.S. Senate candidate in Massachusetts --  have repeated Romney's words to try and prove that he is both out-of-touch and in the pockets of the wealthy and big business.  But, for these people to argue that corporations aren't people is simply a specious argument.  Romney is right because corporations, as an entity, are a collective of people; both in terms of jobs and ownership.  Right off the bat, under the laws of this country, a corporation is  legally viewed as a person.  Because a corporation is a person, it must obey laws and it can be taxed. Something that the legal scholar, Barack Obama, should know quite well.

But, to the point that Romney was trying to make, let me use a hypothetical small business such as a lawn care service as an example.  Let's say that service is made up of three people: an owner and two employees.  I doubt that any Democrat, even Barack Obama, would say that business isn't either made up of people or, simply, isn't people.  Well, here's the thing, that lawn care business, if the owner wanted to, could become a corporation tomorrow. And, if it did become a corporation, it would look no different than it did before.  It would have the same owner and two employees.

Incorporating or the act of becoming a corporation is simply a legal mechanism to allow for structured, multiple ownership.   The owners are people who own shares or stock in that business.  Those owners have voting rights on a one vote per one share basis.  The shareholders will collectively elect a Board of Directors to oversee the general operation of the company.   The "Board" will hire a Chief Executive to run the business who, in turn, will hire other employees; as needed.  On behalf of the shareholders, the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive will decide what has to be done to grow the company and make it profitable for the shareholders.

The rationale behind this "corporations aren't people" lie is all about politics.  Barack Obama and other Democrats don't want us to think of corporations as truly being people, because it would then make it difficult to demonize them without looking like they're demonizing hard working people who work for and own corporations.