• Capitalism does not require corporations.
  • Corporations do not strictly require capitalism.
  • Among other requirements, corporations need laws protecting private property.
  • Corporations are the offspring of limited liability contracts; they are founded with the idea that people, working together, can share the risks and burdens required in a business enterprise.
  • Corporations encourage the joint ownership of property. Through this shared ownership, combining knowledge and skills of the many, people can transform their property into a means of production more advanced than they could have done individually.
  • Corporations compete with other corporations and entities. However, the modern definition of “compete” tends to be dominated by rivalry; instead, we should enact laws which emphasize the etymology of the word “compete”: Late Latin competere “strive in common,” in classical Latin: “to come together, agree, to be qualified,” later, “strive together,” from com- “together” (see com-) + petere “to strive, seek, fall upon, rush at, attack”
  • Corporations do not require a hierarchy. It is a misconception to think that a corporation’s only form of internal structure is that of a hierarchy.
  • We can begin the restructuring of modern society with the restructuring of corporations: A mandate to outlaw or limit hierarchical corporate structures. One such replacement: primus inter pares.
  • Primus inter pares: first among equals, as Robert Greenleaf suggested in his book Servant Leadership. The structure can be such that all employees are equal owners.
  • There are already some employee owned corporations; although they may not have a primus inter pares structure or equal ownership… See the list from NCEO. Support them and boycott the hierarchies!
  • The cannabis industry (and any other new industry) provides the perfect opportunity to create corporations with novel structures.
  • Corporations have political power. In effect, consumers grant political authority to producers. A consumer, by purchasing from a given producer, indirectly votes and empowers that producer to continue its existence as both a producer and political power.
  • A consumer, given the choice to purchase a similar product among various producers, can make an aware political decision to support the producer aligned with his/her personal beliefs — Price be damned!