Corporations should be held accountable

John Farrish, North Las Vegas

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

During his appearance on “Meet the Press” this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he did not approve of raising the liability for oil spills beyond the $75 million limit established under current law.

The hypocrisy here is staggering.

How many times have we been treated to McConnell lecturing us about the evils of big government bailouts? How many times have we heard Republicans lecture us about the need for personal responsibility?

Now that they’ve succeeded in convincing people that corporations are individuals when it comes to rights like spending to influence political campaigns, Republicans need to get to work convincing people that corporations should have the same responsibilities as individuals.

If some individual took a boat out into the Gulf of Mexico and dumped thousands of gallons of oil into the water, he would go to jail for a very long time. The individuals who make up the corporations responsible for this oil spill should be going to jail as well.

The corporations that are responsible for these spills have to bear the responsibility for their negligence. There is no excuse for not doing so. That the law keeps them from having to do so is a travesty of justice.

The legal limit on liability has to be removed. The laws that protect the individuals who make up corporations from bearing personal responsibility for the acts of the corporation have to be repealed.