I’m always up for making a positive career change. So the other day I did some serious Googling to see what kind of opportunities might be out there.

I think I found the perfect one. Hardly any qualifications are required, just…

• Minimum age 35 years old
• Be a natural-born U.S. citizen (but will be considered even if born abroad, as long as both parents are American).
• Must have resided in the United States for at least 14 years (but not necessarily the past 14 ones).

Hey I can do that! And the benefits, WOW!!!

• Nice house, plus vacation estate
• Room, board, fine chef and housekeeping staff
• Annual salary $400,000
• Travel & expense accounts $150,000
• Personal Jet
• EXCELLENT pension plan

Thanks guys, where do I sign?

But to my disappointment as I read on, turns out I’m not the only one interested in that position.

First, there’s this lady from New York (the one whose hubby once said, “I never, ever, had sex with… ”). Well she’s not really from New York, although she sometimes lives there now.

Then there’s also this Hawaiian “dude” (surf’s up!), or is he from Chicago? He’s also already been short-listed for the job.

Okay, so what. The job description doesn’t sound that good anyway:

• Order commissions that turn boys into ”officers and gentlemen”… and girls too
• Grant reprieves and pardons for federal offenses (except impeachment)
• Convene Congress in special sessions
• Receive – as well as name - ambassadors
• Take care that the laws be faithfully executed
• Wield the "executive power"
• Appoint officials to lesser offices
• Serve as Commander in Chief of the Nation’s Armed Forces

Still it made me think about different things I’d read…

Like that Chief Justice John Marshall once said, “A corporation is an artificial being […] and may act as a single individual.” Or Black’s Law Dictionary (6th Edition, 1991), which defines corporations as, “An artificial person […] created by, or under the authority of, the laws of the state”. And let’s not forget Wex, everyone's resource for law learning, which says “The law treats a corporation as a legal "person"

Well after all, the U.S. Supreme Court in its milestone 1886 ruling on Santa Clara County vs. Southern Pacific Railroad did determine that a corporation was indeed a person!

Also makes me wonder… if events hadn’t caught up with the company when they did… could Enron have run for president?

Similarly, in the United Kingdom, could the Cadbury Chocolate Company go on to become the Queen’s Prime Minister (e.g., “the PM that melts in your mouth, never on your hands”)?

Or in France, could Renault (Megane automobile manufacturer, “shake that ass, shake that ass”) one day head up the French Government? Indeed, some evil mouthed observers might pretend that it already does.

However despite such cynics, the answer to both of these questions is, “probably not”, even if the legal systems’ equivocation of corporations and people leaves room for some speculation.

For example, if god “created Man […]”, then are a corporation’s shareholders gods? They certainly sometimes seem to behave as if they thought they were.

And which is the greater truth?

Is it that corporations develop according to some unseen master plan set into motion by their creators; or is it that they continue to evolve until only the fittest have survived?

Perhaps we’ll never really know.