But even more important than the legal protections gained by faux personhood status are the political, social and cultural benefits. If a corporation is part of the community, then it is entitled to the same freedoms available to others, and the same presumption of non-interference that society appropriately affords real people. Especially because corporations work so aggressively and intentionally to obscure the point, it is crucial to draw attention to the corporation as an institution with unique powers, motivations and attributes, and to point to the basic differences between human beings and the socially constituted and authorized institutions called corporations. Corporations can be in two or more places at the same time. Corporations cannot be jailed.
Corporations have no conscience or sense of shame.
Corporations have no sense of altruism, nor willingness to adjust their behavior to protect future generations. Corporations pursue a single-minded goal, profit, and are typically legally prohibited from seeking other ends. There are no limits, natural or otherwise, to corporations' potential size. Because of their political power, they are able to define or at very least substantially affect, the civil and criminal regulations that define the boundaries of permissible behavior. Virtually no individual criminal has such abilities.