� ���"Sure. There's mergers and acquisitions. The freedom to innovate, to introduce new products.� �� �
� ���"How about staffing? Does that play into it?� �� �
� ���"Well, of course. A company has to be able to hire new talent, and get rid of dead wood.� �� �
Starling shrugged. � ���"That's it, then. Those are the things your company won't be allowed to do. I really have to thank you for laying it all out for me like that. I wasn't sure how far we needed to go. But you've cleared it up nicely.� �� �
Reese fumed. � ���"I should have known better than to talk to you without a lawyer.� �� �
� ���"Oh, thanks for reminding me. That second aspect. There's another charge you and your cronies will be hearing about pretty soon.� �� �
� ���"Another charge? I thought the only thing my business could be charged with out of this is theft.� �� �
� ���"It is. This one isn't for the company. You see, in coordinating your activities and policies to shift the responsibility for the theft to your company, which is now just another citizen, you and the others engaged in a conspiracy to frame that citizen, and to defraud your own employees. So there's a class action. You're all being brought up on racketeering charges. And they couldn't have done it if the Supreme Court hadn't confirmed the extension of full rights to corporations.� �� �
� ���"That's quite a game you've laid out, Mr. Starling. Quite a game. And what exactly is your price for withdrawing all of these charges?� �� �
� ���"The price? Simply that the business community voluntarily relinquish all of the rights it has taken for itself over the years. All of them. Starting with Justice Field's 1886 Supreme Court ruling on Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad, which declared private corporations to be natural persons, perverting the intent of the 14th Amendment.� �� �
Reese cleared his throat. � ���"It's not that simple, Mr. Starling. Those rights have been insinuated all through the legal and social fabric of this country. Commercial speech greases the wheels of government, puts the needs of industry in front of congress, and makes sure that the economy is healthy. You can't just wave your magic wand and remove a critical part of what makes this nation great.� �� �
� ���"How do you sleep at night? Oh, right. Your company owns this chain. Look, I don't know where you buy your kool-aid, but what made this nation great isn't the robber barons who keep it at war most of the time to pad their bottom lines. It's the people. And what binds those people together isn't corporate loyalty, but the idea that a government can exist to serve the common good, rather than common greed. So, yeah. It is that simple.� �� �
� ���"That's a mighty steep price for dropping one case.� �� �
� ���"One? The first, maybe. There's an awful lot of corporations out there. How many of them do you think will be left standing after this ball starts rolling? The power your so-called � ��˜community' have built depends on the cooperation of business entities. Once we start pulling you down, that ends. So, in a way, we're back to the issue of jobs. Only this time, it's the ones at the top that are at risk. There is a way to keep your jobs, even a way to keep the business empires you've built. What we're stopping is the ways in which people like you have misused that power. I could go on, but you have a plane to catch, don't you? That's your choice. Think about it.� �� �
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