Most people just can’t get their heads around how much business that American corporations do in a given year, for in actuality, in fiscal year 2025, Amazon, as well as Walmart, had yearly revenue of approximately $700 billion, which is a sum so great it’s hard to fathom. Perhaps that is a very good thing, but when it comes down to the fact that this country is supposed to be of, for, and by the people and in which we recognize that corporations are artificial constructs of the state, the fact that corporations do so much business and have market caps that are now over $1 trillion, in addition to profits that are in the billions, it feels that providing corporations with unlimited access to democratic elections and legislation through their donations, both seen and unseen, is not going to be good or healthy for a democracy.
Justice Stevens stated that “Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office.” Yet, because money makes an incredible difference into what does or does not get passed into legislation, and who does and who does not get elected, in addition to the fact that corporate interests basically control the media, it becomes more or less a foregone conclusion that corporations have the ability which they utilize to, in essence, put their thumb upon our democratic scales, so that the result of elections and legislative acts are often in conformance to their desires, which is unfortunate, not only because corporations are not people and therefore not entitled to the vote, but also because those that are in the upper echelons of corporations may or may not have the best interests of America, in mind, but rather they are often driven by their lust for lucre or profit, above all.
To believe, somehow, that what is good for Amazon or Walmart is always going to be good for America is to read the tea leaves wrong, because corporations primarily answer only to their Board of Directors and to the stockholders who as a class are basically only interested in seeing ever increasing revenue and profit, and often care not how it is accomplished, as long as it is accomplished. On the other hand, those who are citizens of this nation may have priorities and interests that are in opposition to what a given corporation wants, and when the citizens are essentially outgunned, then the result is not going to be democratic or fair, and is, in the end, not beneficial for this nation.
The bottom line is that unlimited contributions from corporations into our elections and legislative bills basically signify that votes will have been bought, and that the result thereof is going to often favor those who have made those large contributions, and that therefore the vote, as tabulated, does not reflect a true reading of what the people would actually desire if the playing field were level. This is not good for any democracy, because in actuality, the people have no say, they have no agency, and they have been manipulated not for the greater good or benefit of this nation, but rather to further feather the nest of big corporate interests.