I think we need to establish a constitutional amendment that explicitly states that non-living entities (companies, corporations, etc) are not legally allowed to express opinions in so far as they donate to PACs or directly to campaigns. Also, that the congress or the states may limit the rights that non-living entities have beyond what an individual who works for or owns a non-living entity has.
"Corporate Personhood" is such a horrible idea that it just doesn't make any sense at all.
EDIT: for clarification, the 14th amendment refers to Person(s)/People, not corporations specifically... which is where my statement was coming from. It may not be a popular subject, but the fact is that corporation rights exceed that of people at this point.
The point that's being missed in this discussion is that corporations are abstract entities defined by the state and society, ideally for society's benefit (otherwise why the hell would or should they exist, and also the original corp was for public benefit). These abstract entities can be given attributes, rights, relationships, etc. as needed, but they do not have any inherent properties in and of themselves.
Corporate personhood is an analogy, and a poor one at that. Many of the properties we assign to personhood are not suitable for corporations.
I dunno what gives you the impression that I've missed that point, really, but the scope of your message, which comes across to me as "perhaps we could slightly restructure the rights and responsibilities of corporations to better fit what we see as their role in society" is dramatically different from "Corporate Personhood is such a horrible idea that it just doesn't make any sense at all."
Both statements are equally true, as is my rebuttal. We perhaps could reframe the rights of corporations, but abolishing personhood would likely make the situation far worse than it makes anything better, as we then lose the ability to enter contracts with or sue corporations.
Much of the abilities of corporations that stem from personhood are commensurate with their other roles. I personally don't see a problem with corporations having representation, as those same corporations are otherwise bound by the laws of the land. Despite the "Wal-Mart is not a person" rhetoric, it's worth noting that many corporations are sole proprietorships, or, rephrased, people, and if they have the responsibility of obeying the whimsy of the legislature in the myriad regulations they are responsible to perform (worth noting, corporate responsibilities are typically far more burdensome than personal responsibilities) that they have the right to speak out against that whimsy where they wish.
That isn't to suggest that my word is definite, and there's definitely wiggle room to restructure, but as it stands, corporations have burdens, and knee jerk responses neither obviate nor necessarily better the proportionality of their rights in response to those burdens. Ut totum, abolishing personhood is, I think, as horrible an idea as mandatory mediation.
There is nothing in the constitution that says we can't sue legal constructs which means that while tort law and contract law might need to be updated (and while not a lawyer I suspect there is already a lot of parallel law for these cases because corporate personhood is a leaky abstraction) it certainly wouldn't be impossible.
And of course this ignores the fact that corporations with personhood are not the only way to organize a company or the only way to limit liability.
Corporate personhood protects individuals at the company and limits the liability of shareholders. I think there are positive indirect benefits to the economy at large, but I would certainly think that the direct benefits are clearly in favor of the owners and executives of the corporation.
I think you should note that "protect people" is in the sense that instead of suing CEO & board members you're suing the company. So it doesn't affect them personally.
What I meant, specifically, was that "protect people" is in the sense that if corporations did not have personhood, then we could not sue them.
Large hospital accidentally chops off both your legs? Too bad, suckah. Can't sue.
Yes, it also protects the employees and board members of said company from personal responsibility sometimes, and that is indeed a feature of personhood, but it also protects the consumers of a corporation's products, whether we realize it or not.
Couldn't have picked a more biased source ;)