Many years ago, our forefathers fought bravely against government and religious tyranny. By instituting a constitution to restrict the power of the state, as well as separating the church and the state, they effectively limited both. Much blood has been shed throughout history in the name of liberty, as men and women perished on the battlefield, never to return home to their families. Public speakers spent their entire lives crusading against all forms of tyranny as they knew it, that is, the tyranny of church and state. Men who spoke out for liberty have been condemned to prison or death. Man has quite literally put his own sweat, blood, and tears into the idea, "liberty for all."
But today, we face a new threat to our rights, an unrestricted and dangerous threat. Corporate tyranny. The idea that corporations are seemingly unrestricted from violating man's inherent rights, and can use their money to create a government to better serve their interests, not the interests of the common person.
I propose a new idea to combat this blatant threat to freedom. Corporate constitutions. A document with equal weight to the constitution that will restrict corporate power, just as we have restricted government power, and perhaps impose penalties for bypassing these constitutions.
This document will effectively perform this one key and important action:
We must have businesses adopt a certain set of rules. Among which, they shall respect the right to privacy (specifically, spying on one while he remains in his own home), and the right for the people to know what they desire about the said product that they are buying (ingredients, whether they be genetically modified or not, the quality of such, chemicals used during the growth of the said ingredients etc).
In this way, we can hold businesses accountable to the people, and at the same time have them respect the same rights that governments do.
This is the hard part. How do you enforce a law of this kind without giving the state more power over corporations?
It would be possible to form a group of private citizens, who would oversee the enforcement of this law. Or perhaps a delegation that would control a task force with private investigators, who would oversee the enforcement of this. The only problem is how exactly this group would be formed. Perhaps appointed by a congressional vote? Or voted by the people? Or mixed between the two? Still, this is one question that would have to be pondered for a longer time.
If a business or corporation is found guilty of violating the constitution in a court of law, all insiders who knew about the crime and failed to report it to the private delegation should receive a punishment from the courts. Their business would be closed down, and any business that these criminals started when they reentered society would be branded as a business that had previously dealt dishonestly in some way.
The Corporate constitution should only be able to be amended by a 80% affirmative vote from the legislative branch of government, as well as the consent of the executive branch. This would prevent changes that would result in the government taking advantage of corporations, or corporations somehow pushing for a nullification of the document.
Again, this isn't the clearest and most concise plan. This plan still needs work, and if you have a suggestion, I would be grateful to hear from you in the comments. If you disagreed with something I said, I would love to discuss it with you. If you liked the article, remember to upvote! Thanks for reading - and remember, keep steeming!
