The Limits of Corporate Citizenship: Why Walgreen Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Influence US Politics If I

[unhappycamper]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/07/07-3



The Limits of Corporate Citizenship: Why Walgreen Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Influence US Politics If It Becomes Swiss
by Robert Reich
Published on Monday, July 7, 2014 by RobertReich.org

Dozens of big U.S. corporations are considering leaving the United States in order to reduce their tax bills.

But they’ll be leaving the country only on paper. They’ll still do as much business in the U.S. as they were doing before.

The only difference is they’ll no longer be “American,” and won’t have to pay U.S. taxes on the profits they make.

Okay. But if they’re no longer American citizens, they should no longer be able to spend a penny influencing American politics.

[merrily]

1. The Citizens decision is wrong.

However, since we are stuck with Citizens for a while, let's not make things even worse. The First Amendment limits government, not non-citizens.

BTW, Thomas Paine was a foreigner, brought to the US by Ben Franklin, for the express purpose of shilling for a war. Should he have been silenced?

(Yes, I know there was no US then, let alone a First Amendment. Not the point.)