Quote:
Originally Posted by Kulindahr
![View Post]()
"Democrats believe that we need to set high standards for clean air and drinking water. Republicans believe that standards for clean air and water are burdensome over-regulation."
This is weak because the first part doesn't give any reason. I'll give it: it's honest economics.
What the GOP really believes here is that it's fair to offload as many costs as possible onto other people. Pollution is a cost, and justice demands that it be paid by those causing it. By GOP reasoning, if I turn loose toxic chemicals from my back yard, as a private individual I am liable to being sued for whatever damage those chemicals do -- but if I were a giant corporation, it's the problem of the taxpayers to take care of the damages.
That's a plunderer's mentality. It's not just Aladdin ethics (you're not in trouble if you don't get caught), it's Attila the Hun ethics (doing whatever damage you please and expecting people to make you wealthier).
This is weak because the first part doesn't give any reason. I'll give it: it's honest economics.
What the GOP really believes here is that it's fair to offload as many costs as possible onto other people. Pollution is a cost, and justice demands that it be paid by those causing it. By GOP reasoning, if I turn loose toxic chemicals from my back yard, as a private individual I am liable to being sued for whatever damage those chemicals do -- but if I were a giant corporation, it's the problem of the taxpayers to take care of the damages.
That's a plunderer's mentality. It's not just Aladdin ethics (you're not in trouble if you don't get caught), it's Attila the Hun ethics (doing whatever damage you please and expecting people to make you wealthier).
So it isn't corporate personhood they believe in at all -- heck, if a corporation were a person, it would have a Selective Service number! No, what they believe in is not corporate personhood, it's something even more outlandish. Indeed, what they really believe makes Mitt Romney more of a liar when he said that "Corporations are people" -- more of a liar, because what he really believes is that if corporations are people, they're like Mormons who have already died... Had he been honest, what he'd have said is this:
"Corporations are gods, my friend."
Discuss.