Is a Corporation a Person? No!

Is a Corporation a Person?  No!
By Josh Glazer

    A Corporation is not a person in any sense.  Thus, the ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission is not ethical, nor legal.

    A Corporation does not sweat.  It does not have to get up in the morning, or go to sleep at night.  It does not have need of family, friends, or any kind of society.

    A Corporation has no need of nutrition.  It has no rational faculty.  It cannot reproduce (biologically).

    A Corporation may be made up of individuals, but in no way can it be considered a unanimous conglomerate of people.  Additionally, in reality, a Corporation’s actions may be instituted by a relatively small number of individuals, who lie at the top echelon of power.

    Is there a Platonic idea of a Corporation, floating up above in the heavens, the same way that the perfect idea of a tree, or a chair, might exist?  I would argue not.

    Finally, I would argue that the idea of a corporation being a person is a simple ruse to allow a small number of individuals to have a disproportionate amount of power, especially in the political and economic spheres.

    Thus, the decision rendered in Citizens United v. FEC is without any basis in law, logic, or ethics.  There is no logical way a corporation should have the rights of a person, legally, and there is no ethical way for a corporation to participate in elections, in any form.  Funding, lobbying, advertising, etc.  are not legal methods for Corporations (or Unions) to use in order to influence Government in any way, especially elections.

    I am amazed that there is not a more popular movement against this ridiculously unfair verdict and legal reasoning.  Again, it is merely a simple ruse to obtain an unfair amount of influence over all spheres of American life, and the Supreme Court that passed it should be ashamed.  It is an overly partisan, corrupt, and un-Democratic verdict. 

    Are people scared of speaking out against this issue?  Are they afraid that they will be taken away in the middle of the night, never to be seen again?  Well, now that the Populist Trump is in power, that may become a Reality.  The time of rational government is over, and people are in danger of their own leaders.

    In the words of John Locke: “When by the miscarriages of those in authority, [power] is forfeited, it reverts to society, and the people have a right to act as supreme.” (Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Paragraph 243)

    Corporations are not people, and Citizens United v. FEC should be over-ruled immediately.

Why Have Kids?

Why do so Many People Have Children?

By Josh Glazer

Everybody knows how bad the divorce rate is in this country.  Books, movies, and TV are filled with stories about how tough having kids and being married can be.  Yet many people willingly plan their lives around having a family.  Is that all there is to the meaning to life?  Having children? 

           

            Raising a human child to adulthood can be both the easiest, and hardest, job out there.  It is easy, because you don’t have to do anything besides keep the child healthy for it to physically grow.  It is hard, because no one knows the perfect way to teach a child how to be a good person.  So many kids do not follow the right path these days (i.e. focus on education) and there is no agreed upon method of “How?” to make a child be a decent person.

            The work of raising a child is enough for a full time job, and then some.  A child, while they are growing up, needs a great deal of love and attention, especially because public school can be very traumatic to a young child’s self esteem.  I mean, to honestly think that a young person will be well molded  by the common system is just about ludicrous.  I believe it is the same as tossing a child into water in the belief they will “figure out” how to swim. 

           

People should seriously spend their time learning about themselves and the world before deciding to settle down and have children.  I used to joke that there should be a law that “no one is allowed to get married until age 30”, but now I think that the issue of when to settle down and have children goes beyond age limitations.  As human beings, we have the ability to stifle our immediate biological needs for other goals that we believe are more important.  For example, we might go for a day without sleeping in order to cram for an exam, or skip a meal so we could hear an important lecture.  Why should our need to procreate be any different?  Our biological desire to have children should be trumped by our human desire, which is a result of our free will and our intelligent awareness, to better ourselves and our world.  We must find a way to rise above material concerns and the pressures of society to define our own most desired objectives in life.

            Is the meaning of life simply to procreate?  I cannot believe so, since humans have risen so far above simple biological concerns.  I think that the most important thing is to truly find one’s self first.  The focus of each person’s life should be on self-realization, before anything else.