A not-so-modest proposal

[david_vincent]

I very rarely start a thread. This might be an indication of how often I get an idea... but something occurred to me, and I'd like to air it, and get as much feedback from you as possible.
Tonight, while investigating an earlier post of the new "Top Censored" stories, I was reading about Thom Hartmann's discovery that the legal decision supposedly granting "personhood" to corporations did not, in fact, do that. Nevertheless, we now have a country in which corporations are purported to be "artificial persons" with rights on a par with those of "natural persons". This has led, of course, to the idea of "corporate citizenship". Corporations claim to function as citizens of the country, and exercise rights reserved for citizens as they enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Along with rights, however, come responsibilities. When we go to war, corporations seem to regard it as an opportunity to pursue happiness, i.e. profits, vigorously, without endangering either their life or their liberty. War is good business, as the old saw goes. This leads to a situation in which our corporate citizens are either indifferent to a prospect of war, or anxiously hope for it, anticipating that they might find a way to extract money from it.
"Natural persons" fear war because of the risk of injury or death. "Artificial persons" who are corporate citizens have no reason to fear war.
I propose, therefore, that when America enters a war, corporate citizens should be in as much danger as human citizens. A formula should be developed, based on the casualties inflicted on our combatant citizens, and applied to the corporate citizens such that a certain number, proportionate to the groups involved, shall be injured or killed. Those injured may suffer harm in several ways: forfeiting assets, surrendering trademarks or copyrights, etc. Those killed would have their charters revoked, and the company broken up in a way that leaves no surviving remnant.
In this way, the prospect of war might become as loathsome in the eyes of our corporate citizens as it is to us, the natural citizens who do the fighting, the suffering, the bleeding, and the dying.
What say you?