Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin's campaign came up with a smart idea to promote his re-election campaign among the socially progressive voters of his base: distributing reusable grocery bags that say "Re-use, Re-duce, Re-cycle and Re-elect Senator Jamie Raskin!"
It's just as good as a lawn sign or a bumper sticker, because it is a visible tool that gets circulated at the grocery stores and on the way home. Plus it firmly identifies the candidate as part of the sustainable movement.
By the way, in just one term, Senator Raskin has established his record as one of the most progressive state legislators in the nation. One of my favorite bills gets to the heart of the structure of American capitalism that currently imposes a legal duty upon directrors of corporations to follow their fidicuary duty to disregard employees, the environment and everything else besides maximizing corporate profits. This is a problem, because imposing a legal requirement on every single director of every single corporation to systematically ignore everything besides the maximization of profit means all of our businesses pay less than what would be optimal for our economy's purchasing power and consumes more resources that is optimal for our long-term sustainability. Profit is key, but it shouldn't be the only outcome driving corporate decision-making. And every state's corporate law imposes that obligation on all of the for-profit corporations duly incorporated in their state. Except for Maryland. A new law, authored by Senator Raskin, permits the creation of a Benefit Corporation, where the company exists not only for profit but for the benefit of the community. These B Corporations will, I hope and predict, become an increasingly important part of our economic life.
No comments:
Post a Comment