New research: Citizens United Can Be Made Irrelevant Via Changes To State Corporation Law

[ToxMarz]

25. Early in our history, corporations existed in a much more limited scope for a reason

Early corporations in the United States, which were modeled on British trading companies, were often chartered for a limited period, typically between 10 and 40 years. Unlike today's perpetual charters, these were temporary and required re-approval by the state legislature to continue existing

The purpose of time-limited charters

State legislatures in the early U.S. imposed expiration dates on corporate charters for specific public-interest reasons.

Preventing undue influence:
The state tightly controlled corporations to prevent them from amassing too much economic and political power. Lawmakers were wary of powerful, wealthy interests and built controls into the charter, including restrictions on capitalization and mandatory director rotations.

Limiting scope:
Early corporations were chartered to perform a specific public function, such as building a bridge or a canal. Once the purpose was achieved, the corporation was expected to terminate.

This has evolved into the exact opposite towards complete lack of regulation and "Corporations are people too..."

Everything always drifts to the extreme and once they get there, it's backers argue we're done and everyone should just get used to it. What's best is almost always somehwhere in between and ever changing, but that leads to the constant bickering and fighting (ie. democracy is messy debates) that is actually needed "in order to form a more perfect union".