A Simple Idea

The idea is simple and rooted in compassion and responsibility, both personal and social: Ethical businesses and the market are tools to enhance the common good.

Market success is measured in a growing common good through protection and expansion. Incentives that enhance the common good AND punish violations of the common good should govern ethical business and the markets.

This freedom expansion statement could be moved as a resolution by party precinct representatives in every organized county party in Ohio, either Democratic or Republican. How do we get county parties discussing how to  expand Ethical Business?

During 2012 Election Season

Call all candidates for public office in all parties and ask if they support ethical business in one or all of the following ways. Ask them to go on record about ethical business creation. Post positive and encouraging messages on their Facebook pages encouraging them to support ethical business creation.

Call both of your elected precinct party representatives and ask each one if they will use this language AND move a county party resolution that adopts this language when talking about expanding ethical business creation. Call your local board of elections to find out your elected precinct representatives in both parties.

Caring citizens can focus on one or all of the following four ideas:

28th Constitutional Amendment – People, Not Corporations, Are Human Beings with Human Rights

Section 1 [A corporation is not a person and can be regulated]

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only. Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2 [Money is not speech and can be regulated]

Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Section 3 

Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

Genuine Progress Indicator – Let’s Measure What’s Important

The GPI, genuine progress indicator, adds measurements of well-being to our economic measurement so that well-being is on par with wealth creation. Maryland was the first state in the union to adopt the GPI this moral measurement tool. A Vermont state senator started legislative talks in December 2011 to adopt the GPI, in 2012. Here’s a Utah Q&A video. How else do caring citizens measure effectiveness? Currently public economic policy makers rely on the measurement tools created in the 1930s that focus on the GDP, gross domestic product. GDP measures all spending as good, e.g. clean up of oil death gushers in the Gulf of Mexico, keeping prisons for profit full, invasion and occupation of foreign countries without a declaration of war.

Ethical Corporate Charters – Bringing All Stakeholders To The Table

Corporations are chartered by state government. Corporations are currently being held liable for NOT shipping jobs out of the country to reduce their costs and increase their profits. States need to offer an ethical charter that writes into the governing structure of corporations an interest for stakeholders – owners, citizens, workers, communities, ecosystems, etc., who are greatly impacted by what an unethical corporation does. The charter would have to be renewed every so often, say, every 10 years, and demonstrate its commitment to stakeholders and social responsibility. The B Corps movement is a start.

The Commons Property Rights – Let’s Stop Giving Away Our Commons

This idea was put forth by Working Assets founder, Peter Barnes. This idea leaves the charters alone, but alters the rules and landscape of the markets in which corporations operate. The idea is for all Americans to create national trusts and assign our property rights to those trusts. For example, through an ocean trust, air trust, watershed trust, soil trusts, internet trusts, electromagnetic fields trusts, etc., we collectively assign our property rights to these trusts and then charge businesses for the use of the commons. Currently, these rights are usually given away for free.