Abstract

“THE RESPONSIBILITY ERA”

 INDIVIDUAL                  CORPORATE                         POLITICAL

Abstract: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates by law that Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of all publicly traded companies in the United States must now sign personal liability contracts vouching for all financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I argue if responsibility by contract is good for corporate America and good for the American public as we meet our responsibilities in modern American life, responsibility by contract must be good for political America, and good for American ideals of representative government. In addition to being good for America and the American people, the political theory and tactics presented in this paper provides CEOs, CFOs and Directors of publicly traded corporations the tool necessary to rebalance the business/political equation in the wake of Sarbanes-Oxley.

This theory was alpha tested in a 1989 congressional election and beta tested successfully in 1994 with The Republican Contract with America. Imagine, an America where politicians at all levels of government include in their campaigns for office a new social contract, a Microtution, that includes a handful of action items they choose to offer voters: All nicely wrapped around crystal clear language that says if they fail to do these few items they will not seek re-election in the next election cycle. Rather than force compliance through the power of law, such robust change in American politics must be voluntary and constitutional. I propose the structural framework to facilitate this social contract reality and argue the necessities of practical politics, coupled with the marketplace of ideas, will drive these new contracts into the American system of government.

Together, we can make the Responsibility Era a reality.