Should Corporations Have Free Speech? What Did the Founding Fathers Think?
“Stevens points to one important ‘speech right’ that the — now discarded — campaign finance laws upheld:
There is yet another way in which laws such as §203 can serve First Amendment values. Interwoven with Austin’s concern to protect the integrity of the electoral process is a concern to protect the rights of shareholders from a kind of coerced speech: electioneering expenditures that do not “reflec[t] [their] support.” 494 U. S., at 660–661. When corporations use general treasury funds to praise or attack a particular candidate for office, it is the shareholders, as the residual claimants, who are effectively footing the bill. Those shareholders who disagree with the corporation’s electoral message may find their financial investments being used to undermine their political convictions.
Food for thought….
Read more: Should corporations have free speech? What did the Founding Fathers think?
Additional articles on the subject:
The Founding Fathers Did Not Want Large Corporations
Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States
The Betrayal of Adam Smith: Excerpt from When Corporations Rule the World
For the Love of Money: Article based on When Corporations Rule the World.
