Occupy Duke banner an affront to reason

The following quotation is taken from the Occupy Duke banner that is currently displayed on the Main Quad:

“A democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth.”

Though many letters to the editor begin by asserting that particular claims by columnists or student groups are “misguided,” I would like to express that the above language is not misguided—it is exactly wrong.

To paraphrase the Declaration of Independence more accurately than the sign, the original founders of our government indeed intended for it to derive its just powers from the consent of the governed. But, as the occupiers of Wall Street are doubtless aware, resultant derivatives are destined to look very different from the original source material on which their current form and value depend. It is because of this phenomenon that our government remains the only entity that may seize—or was it extract?—wealth and property from the earth and its people explicitly without consent. As the nation’s sole organization with a legal military and police force (which means a legal monopoly on the use of physical violence), the government is the only entity capable of enforcing such actions as taxation, eminent domain, extraordinary rendition and many other acts a private citizen or company would be imprisoned for attempting.

Standing in complete contrast to our democratic government is the corporation, which survives solely on the principle of explicit consent. In dealing with private enterprise, the people have the power to exchange their dollars in whatever way they see fit. Every purchase is an act of consent, and without it a corporation ceases to exist. Try walking through a Walmart and not buying something; it’s an easy enough task. Now try browsing the selection of products that the government offers (schools, welfare, Domino’s commercials) and try not to pay for—or use—them. Now you’re in jail.

The point is that Duke’s Main Quad is now bedizened with a monstrously backward maxim that, as long as it stands, will remain an affront to the intellectual reputation of this school and its students.

Derek Speranza, Trinity ’12