The Orange County Commission is considering banning corporate donations in their elections. This is troublesome for various reasons.
The first thing that people should understand is that corporations represent people. A donation from a corporation is just like a donation from a group of people. More specifically they represent share holders, employees, and ownership, all of whom are people. A ban on their ability to donate is a violation of their freedom of speech just like it would be if such a ban affected a labor union.
The leading argument for the ban is that developers are using campaign contributions to get what they want and to corrupt the system. First of all companies don't buy off politicians with campaign contributions, they give their money to the politician who already agrees on the issues affecting the company. Secondly, and most importantly, why do developers feel they need to take an active role in supporting candidates for county commission. The reason is that property rights have quickly disappeared in America. The county commission has the power to tell the developers: what they could do on their own land and when they could do it. This means that the developers don't really own their land. They have to help elect people who will tell them that it is okay for them to do what they want on their own land.
Every piece of land is owned by the government today. The founders of this nation fought for freedom and we have begun to give it away piece by piece, without a fight.
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