Moon Pie wrote:
] Now, Nike is arguing that, as a legal person, they should
] enjoy the same "free speech" right to deceive that individual
] human citizens have in their personal lives, in this case, to
] fraudulently claim that Nike no longer uses slave labor to
] manufacture its shoes.

For the record, and I imagine I'll piss a lot of people on this site off by saying this, but I have serious problems with the train of analysis offered in this posting. And its arguements are typical of those made by the radical left in this context.

1. Corporations do not "speak with a billion dollar bullhorn." In general corporations *NOT* rich. Nike is not a typical example of a corporation. The church in your neighborhood is. So is every magazine or newspaper you've ever read (including the left wing ones). So is almost every political organization you've ever heard of, including the left wing ones. Big fortune 500s like Nike are in the minority by a very very large margin. In fact, most of the economic activity in the United States involves small businesses.

2. Your right to freedom of speech is an inalienable right. Even if you are rich. Thats what an inalienable right is. The CEO of Nike has just as much a right to freedom of speech as you do. Even if you don't like him. Even if you think he is evil. Thats what living in a free society is all about.

3. The government has the authority to control commercial speech. They do not have the authority to control political speech. Even by corporations. Even by rich people. If they could, then there would be no free press in this country. As I'm sure you know, almost every organization which might be thought of as "the press" in this country is a corporation, and many of them are quite rich.

4. Arguements that the left would somehow carve out an exception for media organizations are totally bunk. The whole concept of inalienable rights is that you are ASSUMED to have them unless there is an overriding interest in taking them away. In this case what you are talking about is taking them away and then maybe giving them back where you see fit. I leave an explanation of what the problem with that is as an exercise for the reader.

5. People cannot and should not loose their right to free speech simply because they have organized a group and wish to speak as a group. This is the actual reason why rights must apply to groups as well as individuals. If they didn't then you would have no ability to organize politically. In a democracy, you have to organize in order to impact elections. Every real political organization is a corporation. Every one.

6. Having said all of this, Nike is probably engaged in commercial speech. People make a decision about whether or not to do business with Nike based on whether their products are produced via a moral means. Misleading the public about this is false advertising. You don't need to destroy the free press in order to bust Nike for this.

RE: Now Corporations Claim The 'Right To Lie'