Citizens United - corporation as citizen

Here's how we should analyze this thorny issue, which can only be changed by a constitutional amendment.

1. The problem stated at its most basic: All political power and authority derives from the people (citizens), who give up some of their natural rights to create government and have order, and give structure to society. Corporations are a mere manifestation of this bargain, not an originator.

2. Corporations are created by the state to limit liability, etc. Citizens create the state out of their natural rights, the state establishes the necessary structure for the society to function. Ergo, the citizens precede the state which then creates the corporation.

3. Faction: The founders envisioned citizens with competing interests (Federalist 10) coexisting within their constitutional structure - assuming equality of bargaining power. Faction was a reality that Madison and Hamilton used in their design. Corporations making unlimited contributions, with individual rights, upsets the balance the founders set up to deal with faction.

4. What happens when an issue that is good for the general public conflicts with investor goals? Corporations have an obligation via their charter to oppose the greater good issue. So, their influence could be corrosive to civic/public virtue wherever it conflicts with narrower investor interests.

Our best source on this subject is Justice Stevens' dissent for legal reasoning and principles.