I see there is no arguing with a true believer. That is, if you truly believe that infinite expansion of production and consumption is possible and desirable on a finite planet, and that a corporation’s only obligation is to maximize shareholder profits, regardless of whether that occurs in a socially adaptive way (i.e. innovative products and services that benefit consumers and outcompete their competitors) or a socially maladaptive way (i.e. passing on the costs of doing business to the public, by polluting their air, land, and water, or engaging in exploitive labor practices, or buying out politicians in order to prevent any regulation in the public interest of their destructive practices, or engaging in predatory speculation to inflate stock prices while exploiting first-time homeowners) — then I have nothing further to say to you.

However, our national charter, the Declaration of Independence, clearly states otherwise — that is, that the sole purpose of government is to secure the rights of the public — of all citizens, that is — to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, through consent of the governed. Putting it a simpler way, government exists solely to serve the PUBLIC interest. And the public interest is more than the sum total of private interests — it is our common interest in public health and safety, clean air and water, the right to vote and express our opinions freely, and an intact, functional biosphere to hand on to our children and grandchildren. For any given policy choice, we all may argue over whether it serves the public interest or not, but when there is undisputed evidence from highly trained scientists that a policy has harmful consequences for the public at large (or any subset thereof), that policy should be changed accordingly.