If Vermont--among a handful of states--drag the concept of the corporation out of the 19th Century, it'll be a scary time for the apologists of Milton Friedman and mega-capitalism. Because after decades of arguing that capitalism most efficiently serves society's goals, there will be real world data to confirm or refute that cherished notion. If the concept of the B-corporation falls flat, there'll be no wiggle-room for arguing that the threat of shareholder lawsuits (backed by legal precedent) "forces" corporations to choose between doing well and doing good.
I don't want to be cynical, I expect the first round of B-corporations to fail miserably. Mainly because expect the enabling legislation to be sabotaged by the vested interests, resulting in standards that are either:
A.) Impossibly contradictory, so as to tilt the playing field like a water slide toward purely capitalistic corporations, or
B.) Watered down to the point of irrelevancy.
Revolutions being what they are, I expect the idealistic first round of B-corporations will likely be noisy in their entry into the market, and no less quiet in their spectacular exits. Or, in the event of lax standards and looser enforcement, the B-corporation will simply become a vehicle for in-kind embezzlement and/or tax-dodging. Either variety of flame-out will provide the Mr. Potters of this world (and their groupies) with more self-vindication than they'll ever need.
But if revolutionary history is any indication, the second generation will be more pragmatic, and far more effective. For the concept will probably remain on the books, although the requirements may well be tightened up. The Declaration of Independence certainly didn't form the United States; no one--saving complete pedants like George F. Will--cites the Articles of Confederation in political arguments.Hammering out the Constitution was hardly a glamor job, but guess what we're still working with two centuries and change later? You get the idea...
As little faith as I have in the dashing first run at this concept, I'm not panning B-corporations. Not in the least. For if we are stuck with the evil fiction that is corporate personhood, legally imbuing that "person" with a capacity for humanity is revolutionary indeed.
