{"id":53648,"date":"2021-02-18T06:00:11","date_gmt":"2021-02-18T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=53648"},"modified":"2021-02-14T14:54:44","modified_gmt":"2021-02-14T19:54:44","slug":"government-by-corporation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2021\/02\/government-by-corporation\/","title":{"rendered":"Government by Corporation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A business corporation has a hierarchy of leaders. They exercise authority.\u00a0 The corporation also operates by means of rules and policies, which the leadership has put into place and enforces.\u00a0\u00a0The leaders have the power to punish or expel members of the corporation who violate those rules and policies or otherwise step out of line.<\/p>\n

In other words, corporations function like governments.\u00a0 Or, indeed, they are<\/em> governments, within their specific domains.\u00a0Why shouldn\u2019t a corporation be<\/em> the government?<\/p>\n

We often hear that \u201cthe government should be run like a business.\u201d\u00a0 Or that corporate interests determine what the government does.\u00a0 Or that we should \u201cprivatize\u201d government functions.\u00a0 Why not just let ourselves be governed completely by a business corporation?<\/p>\n

\n

This is pretty much what one technology company is proposing in Nevada<\/a>.\u00a0 Jeffrey Berns, the CEO of Blockchains LLC, is asking the state of Nevada to allow \u201cinnovation zones,\u201d in which companies could secure land and function much like county governments.\u00a0 They would operate their own law enforcement and court systems, run schools, build infrastructure, make water and land-management decisions, and impose taxes.<\/p>\n

Berns, described as a \u201ccryptocurrency magnate,\u201d wants a domain in which virtual money such as Bitcoin is used for all financial transactions.\u00a0 He also wants the blockchain<\/a> technology that makes cryptocurrency possible and that his company sells applied to other uses.<\/p>\n

He also has other ideas.\u00a0 He is quoted in a news story<\/a> about his plans: \u201cThere\u2019s got to be a place somewhere on this planet where people are willing to just start from scratch and say, \u2018We\u2019re not going to do things this way just because it\u2019s the way we\u2019ve done it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way this would work, according to the proposal before the state legislature, a company that holds 50,000 acres and that commits to a $1 billion investment could create an \u201cinnovation zone\u201d that would be governed by three people, at least two of whom would be from the company, who would function like county commissioners.<\/p>\n

Berns hopes to break ground next year for his proposed community, located 12 miles east of Reno.\u00a0 He has already bought 70,000 acres of land.\u00a0 Within 75 years, he hopes to build 15,000 homes and offer 33 million square feet of commercial and industrial space.<\/p>\n

As I understand the concept, all of this would not just be for employees of the company but for other people who want to live there and for other companies committed to blockchain technology.<\/p>\n

The Nevada legislature is considering the idea, which, however, has met with some controversy.<\/p>\n

This would not be the first time a business corporation has become a government.\u00a0 The most notable example would be the East India Company<\/a>, whose global trading ventures and royal perogatives\u2013including the right to form an army, wage war, exercise civil jurisdiction, and mint money\u2013became the basis of the British Empire.<\/p>\n

So what could possibly be wrong with this?\u00a0 Well, for a start, a business enterprise and a lawful commonwealth are different kinds of things.\u00a0 The former exists to turn a profit for its owners by producing goods and services.\u00a0 The latter enables and protects civil society, serving all its members alike.<\/p>\n

A corporation is essentially autocratic.\u00a0 The owners, whether the founders of the company or its investors, have complete control.\u00a0 Employees have little input into their decisions.\u00a0 \u00a0Applied to the venture in Nevada, whereas the voters elect their county commissioners, the residents of the Blockchain community have no say in the two rulers chosen by the company.<\/p>\n

In a corporation-run government, there would be no question of democracy, representation, or the sovereignty of the people.<\/p>\n

Nor would there be legitimate authority.\u00a0 What would give Blockchain LLC the right to impose laws, arrest me, put me on trial, and put me in prison if I break them?\u00a0 What gives a private business the right to tax me?\u00a0 Businesses raise money by producing goods and services that customers are willing to pay for in a free exchange.\u00a0 They can\u2019t just force people to give them money, as governments can, subject to political limits.<\/p>\n

Under socialism, the government presumes to operate businesses.\u00a0 Corporate rule is the other side of the coin (in this case, the Bitcoin, with its arbitrary self-affirmed value), with business presuming to operate government.\u00a0 For all of the theoretical benefits that advocates of both systems could offer, in actual practice, both would tend towards dysfunction and tyranny.<\/p>\n

In short, corporate-run government is a massive confusion of vocation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Image by\u00a0Gerd Altmann<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A business corporation has a hierarchical leadership that exercises authority and applies policy. Thus, it is a kind of government. Why shouldn’t it BE the government? Nevada is considering a proposal from a tech company that would allow businesses to exercise civil jurisdiction, including law enforcement and the right to levy taxes. Why this is a very bad idea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":53660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,36,44,48],"tags":[10523,7025,585,10520,5019,8697],"class_list":["post-53648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-government","category-politics","category-technology","category-vocation","tag-autocracy","tag-blockchain","tag-corporations","tag-government-by-corporations","tag-plutocracy","tag-technology-companies"],"yoast_head":"\nGovernment by Corporation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A business corporation has a hierarchical leadership that exercises authority and applies policy. Thus, it is a kind of government. Why shouldn't it BE the government? 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