Immune to It All

Robert Reich has a new blog entry: Why the Telecoms Shouldn't Get Immunity. I liked it when I read it. I liked it even better when I heard it on Marketplace.

I have mixed emotions about the proper place of corporations in our society. In this you’re-either-with-us-or-against-us climate we’ve created in this country, it seems increasingly difficult to have a reasoned debate. There’s no doubt that corporations have contributed greatly to America’s success. I also don’t think there’s any debate that there has been some abuses. I think Molly Ivins said it best (sorry I can’t find the exact quote) when she pointed out that we don’t just want just any corporation to succeed...we want the honest ones to succeed.

Corporations seemingly want the best of all worlds. They want the rights of humans but then, they want to avoid the responsibilities. While that is an all-to-human trait, the power they have to avoid those responsibilities is definitely super-human.

I wonder if they’ll use more lawyers to seek immunity than they did to question whether it was proper to comply with the government’s request ?

Don Brown
November 29, 2007