The Supreme Court decision

[gwillen]

For those on my flist, if any, who support the Court's decision in /Citizens United v. FEC/, I would be interested to know your answers to the following questions:

Is a toaster a person?

Is a corporation a person?

Can you explain the difference?

What would it mean for a toaster to have a right to free speech?

What does it mean, precisely, for a corporation to have a right to free speech? This is not the same as the free speech rights enjoyed by any of the people involved as individuals -- this, as ruled by the court, is a separate right, belonging to the corporation as an entity in and of itself, completely independent of the rights of any of the individuals involved.

Can you explain the difference?

ETA: Justice Rehnquist's dissent in /First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti/
makes for excellent reading on the subject.

Comments

[physics-dude.livejournal.com]

To clarify: you basically presented two questions/arguments. You said that the decision is wrong and harmful, and that the decision is not even logically coherent. It is the second point I was addressing, and the questions "how is a toaster different from a corporation" and "what does it mean for a toaster to have free speech" which I think were ridiculous. I am not really giving an opinion on the decision itself, though I understand the fallacy of saying that a corporation is just people, and the privilege vs right distinction.