The Difference between Corporations, Organizations and Government

In a recent debate with some of my progressive friends, they spewed their liberal views that corporations are evil and should represent the will of the people. To some degree, the people through local, state, and federal governments can regulate, mandate, and restrict business activity. One way the government controls business activity is by creating mandates to protect the environment. Another way a community may restrict businesses is by protecting their local “mom and pop” small businesses and therefore, restrict national chains from opening stores. Meanwhile, my friends have a positive view of the government and organizations such as labor unions. This whole debate started because they were protesting the Supreme Court decision: Citizens United. Citizens United said that corporations and organizations are no longer limited in their campaign contributions based on the first amendment of free speech. My friends pointed out that money is not free speech. Like it or not, the Constitutional meaning of freedom of speech has expanded over the centuries to include freedom of expression. My friends also deemed that the government, under the Constitution’s necessary clause, had the right to enact any laws and programs they see fit. But is it necessary to have a faith czar, or dozens of redundant teen pregnancy programs, or a space program (NASA), or a Department of Education, or social security, or a mandated healthcare insurance law, and so forth. This clause has been debated vigorously since Alexander Hamilton urged President Washington to establish a national bank, which Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, said was unconstitutional.

So what is the difference between corporations, organizations, and government? Corporations provide us with something tangible whereas; organizations and government practice a specific ideological belief. The difference is that corporations provide us with the necessities we need to survive (food, shelter, energy, and medical care). They provide us with the luxuries that make our lives easier (cars, refrigerators, stoves, and phones). Corporations also provide us a means to practice our freedoms since organizations and the government would not exist without taxpayer or individual contributions, monies that are earned through employees working for corporations. The National Rifle Association (NRA) could not practice its second amendment rights without corporations building guns. Unions could not practice their first amendment rights without employee dues. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) could not protect endangered species without charitable contributions. Government entities that serve and protect American citizens, such as the police and fire companies, are funded by taxpayer money.

Thus, there is no doubt the backbone to our national freedom is corporations and not organizations or the government. Without corporations practicing free market capitalism our society would collapse. In fact, the best political, government, and organizational leaders are astute businessmen. These are the best leaders who are capable of balancing school, local, state, and federal budgets. Businessmen are the best at marketing a political or organizational ideology. What kind of leadership do we get when politicians have absolutely no business experience: Barack Obama. A man who was a community organizer who has no idea how to create a job, nor does he have the ability to manage a crisis, case in point, the Gulf oil spill. And finally, let’s not forget that government employees working in similar private sector jobs earn on average over 10% more. And what’s worse, the corporations that the government is running are losing more money than their private sector counterparts. The Post Office, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Amtrak, GM, Chrysler, are all examples of government run companies that are losing billions in taxpayer funding while their private sector counterparts are thriving. So then, who exactly is infringing on our personal freedoms and is therefore, evil?

My Book: Is America Dying? (Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble)