Although this country was founded by wealthy businessmen looking to split from the tyrannical reign of the crown, we have always been, as Abraham Lincoln put it, “A government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Yet lately it seems these lines between companies and “people” are getting blurred more and more each day.
The Supreme Court — highest court in the land — ruled last summer that corporations can be considered “people” in order to prevent the corporations from having to provide certain medical procedures the owner might have personal and religious objections to. This was a way for many conservative corporations to circumvent parts of the Affordable Care Act signed into legislation by President Barack Obama.
Most recently large corporations and businesses have been throwing their weight around on the political side of things. We’re all aware of the obscene amounts of money spent every election cycle and just how much of that money comes from corporate “donations.” Lately corporations have been getting involved politically without spending any money.
Two weeks ago, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed into legislation Indiana’s version of the already federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Without debating the merits or faults of this bill, the media made this bill out to be an anti-gay bill. Understanding it as an anti-gay bill, very large, very powerful corporations began speaking up. In Indiana’s case, corporations like Apple and e-companies like Angie’s List spoke out against this bill.
Angie’s List, whose headquarters are in Indianapolis, cancelled their $40 million plans to expand their headquarters due to the passage of the RFRA bill. This expansion would have brought 1,000 jobs to Indianapolis and potentially revitalized a struggling neighborhood.
Arkansas was poised to pass a copycat of Indiana’s legislation until Walmart, the second largest corporation in America — and the world’s 26th richest country, if it were a country — stepped in. Walmart currently houses their headquarters in Arkansas and has released multiple statements condemning the state legislation.
However, it’s not just politics corporations have begun to get behind. Companies like Starbucks have decided to attempt taking on the task of getting the discussion rolling on the hot button issue of race. Starbucks encouraged their baristas to write on every cup #racetogether, to try to start a conversation about race.
During the week this was rolled out, I went into a Starbucks to try to understand the thought process, but was instantly disappointed and confused when asked, “How many friends of a different color do you have?” I have plenty, but that’s no place for a Starbucks barista to be prying. I did feel bad for them during the mere week the program lasted — you could see the despair in some of their eyes as they loathingly would ask different racially based questions.
Being a former barista — though luckily not during this time — this tweet perfectly sums its entire #racetogether program:
"race together? they (baristas) can't spell but they're qualified to talk about racial equality?" — Tahja
— m (@mikayrodr) March 21, 2015
Not to mention, not everyone who works at Starbucks nationwide has the same opinions as the CEO, Howard Schultz. Luckily the program lasted for a week before being shut down, otherwise I can’t imagine the lawsuits against Starbucks.
While it’s nice to see companies throwing weight behind certain issues when individual people feel like they’re too small, it could set a dangerous precedent. As I previously mentioned, this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Allowing corporations to be considered people and giving them more power in politics can’t lead to anything good.
But it is always funny to see when the people who normally protest the corporations on the same side as the corporations. I suppose it’s true what they say: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Reach the columnist at Derrik.Rochwalik@asu.edu or follow @drochwalik on Twitter
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Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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