With Gail Collins away on book-writing leave, Maureen takes it upon herself to recount for the umpteenth time Gail's favorite story about Seamus, the Irish Setter, who was driven by Romney from Boston to Ontario in a dog carrier strapped to the roof of his station wagon. (To both Gail and Maureen: Romney might currently be the front runner in a fallow field of Republican candidates, but he will never receive the nomination, and as much as I care for canines - we recently adopted two abandoned puppies - this story is getting dog-tired.)
Of somewhat more interest is Dowd's description of an incident involving a Romney critic at an Iowan fair:
"At the fair, Romney — whose net worth is between $190 million and $250 million — once again went manly by flipping a pork chop on a grill and facing down hecklers worried about cuts in Social Security. When a man in the audience yelled that corporations should be taxed more, Romney replied, 'Corporations are people, my friend.'
Give 'The Stormin’ Mormon,' as Neil Cavuto approvingly called him on Fox News, credit: never has the traditional Republican doctrine been so succinctly explained.
Of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation. We the corporation. Corporations who need corporations are the luckiest corporations in the world. Power to the corporation!"
I agree with Maureen: Corporations are not people. On the other hand, I believe that corporations are the embodiment of people, and reflect what's good and bad about their management and employees.
You needn't think too hard to come up with the names of various predatory financial corporations, known for their avarice and manipulative conduct.
On the other hand, where would we be without the innovation and drive of such companies as Apple, Google, Intel, Amazon and Microsoft? The hi-tech companies with which I work in the fields of biotechnology and medical devices, powered by brilliant and caring people, are a daily inspiration to me.
Lest Maureen forget, she, too, is an employee of The New York Times Company, which, from a financial perspective, has known better days, but has shaped news reporting and public opinion for some 160 years.
And although corporations are not people, they provide employment to millions of Americans, they contribute a steady flow of taxes to the US Treasury, they have played critical roles in America's defense, and they have shaped America's scientific greatness.
In a 1947 House of Commons speech, Winston Churchill declared, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." I hold a similar sentiment regarding the relationship between corporations and human enterprise.
Do you have a point to make. Please read "The Tragedy of the Commons". If you have read it, read it again. The problem is not Corporations it is unregulated capitalism. A system that is designed to fail. Well regulated capitalism is a functional system and needs to be restored to this country. When Gordon Gecko said "Greed is Good" he was totally wrong. I disagree that corporation are paying taxes, they pay the minimum and expect the maximum return. Due to failure of the Supreme Court, we are now living in a corporate oligarchy where money buys power. This needs to be corrected or our future will look like Mexico today.
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