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But it would have to be done under due process of law, and like it or not, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution treats those oil companies as "persons" with all of the same rights as a person.
One way it could be done, and pass constitutional scrutiny, would be for the government to buy out the major oil industries one by one. Many people on the Left would not like this idea because the oil company executives and major shareholders would make a shitload of money, but it might achieve many of the goals of nationalization in the long-run.
I've thought about this same approach as far as health insurance goes in the US too. A buyout might be the only way to shut down the health insurance companies and the HMO's and replace them with a single payer Canadian style system. The tradeoff, though, would be having to stomach all of those insurance executives getting very, very rich, in exchange for them shutting down their industries.
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