Corporate Power

9 Pages 2355 Words

It is widely argued that the American corporation holds undue and excessive power over government decision making. Theorists supporting this notion have pressed numerous publications, from magazines to reviews to books warning us to be weary of corporations gaining too much political power. Corporate tyranny is a thing of the past, especially in the era after the Second World War, corporate political power is maintained at a safe, fair level. There is no reason to fear corporate power. The corporation has a right to gain political power; it can be argued the corporation must do so for survival. Furthermore, the attitude of government surely does not yield excessive power to the corporations, as has been proved many times by legislative action.
The origins of American fear of corporations start before the birth of America, when the Sons of Liberty staged the Boston Tea Party. Despite what our elementary school history lessons tell us, the Bostonians were mainly concerned that the East India Company had gained enough power with the colonial government to levy the tax in the first place. The real reason for their dumping thousands of pounds of tea into Boston Harbor was to act against the corporation that was gaining enough size to dominate their lives (People’s Bicentennial Commission, xii).
Later on in American history, Abraham Lincoln foresaw a tyranny of corporations to come. He wrote to his friend in 1864:
It has indeed been a trying hour for the Republic; but I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . [C]orporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. (Shaw, 40)

Many other great Americans, including Thomas Je...