Beyond Citizens United: Democratizing the Economy in the Wake of the Small-Dollar Revolution

Authors

Jay Hedges

Abstract

(Excerpt)

Citizens United increases the power of corporations over our political process. Under current corporate governance laws, permission for corporations to behave as political actors ignores the consent of a particularly important constituency of these business entities—labor. This neglect of workers reveals three democratic crises resulting from the corporate structure in the United States, which have only intensified following Citizens United. First, while the political speaking-power of corporations has been substantially increased, these entities lack legitimacy to speak on behalf of their labor constituency. Second, the use of corporate profits, generated by the corporation’s labor force, as the means of political speech accelerates worker exploitation. And third, given the United States’ consensus that the corporation’s purpose is to maximize shareholder wealth, greater corporate influence in the political arena increases political power to prioritize shareholders, escalating the already soaring economic and social inequality in the United States. In light of these crises, the result of Citizens United is anti-democratic.