As
of 7/3/2021
H.R.1
is a package of democracy reforms recently passed in the U.S. House
Representatives. A companion bill, S.R.1, was formally introduced into the U.S.
Senate on March 17.
Highlights
of the bill include:
Given
the dangerous campaign to disenfranchise millions of voters along racial and
class lines, reformist legislation like H.R.1 / S.R.1 is needed and long
overdue because it protects and expands voting access and mitigates corruption
in the short term.
But the Act has problems. Certain campaign funding
provisions further disadvantage small, minority political parties in favor of
the two-party system, which should be amended, if not delayed and revisited
later.
Despite
this, the For the People Act deserves your support for its other provisions
HOWEVER...it's still playing
defense. The For the People Act does NOTHING to end
corporate constitutional rights because a statute cannot overturn a
constitutional interpretation.
Only a constitutional amendment like House Joint
Resolution 48 (our We the People Amendment) can abolish corporate
constitutional rights so that the Supreme Court cannot reinstate them. That
is why it's critical that we continue to push hard for the We the People
Amendment to have genuine DEMOCRATIC POWER FOR THE PEOPLE.
Highlights
of the amendment include:
√ Democratic power "for the people" to assert
our rights as "natural persons" and to limit the powers and
privileges of artificial entities (currently
impossible so long as corporations can claim Fourteenth Amendment equal
protection and due process rights)
√ Democratic power “for the people” to require the
labeling of dangerous ingredients in foods and other manufactured goods (currently impossible so long as
corporations can claim First Amendment rights “not to speak”)
√ Democratic power “for the people” to conduct surprise
safety inspections to protect workers, consumers and the environment, (currently impossible so long as
corporations can claim Fourth Amendment search and seizure rights)
√ Democratic power “for the people” to ensure a livable
world by mandating fossil fuel corporations to keep coal, oil and gas from
being mined, drilled or fracked (currently
impossible so long as corporations can claim Fifth Amendment “takings” rights)
√ Democratic power "for the
people" to require campaign finance regulation as basic duty, including
disclosure of all permissible political contributions (currently impossible so long as
"money equals speech" and corporations can claim First Amendment
"free speech" rights)
Democracy
for the people
only goes so far without the power of
the people to control our government's own legal creations --
corporate entities. Even
if the For the People Act passed, there’s no way to protect it from being
gutted by our corporate-friendly Supreme Court.
As
we address the most evident shortcomings in our electoral system, we cannot
lose sight of the root problems that enabled these dysfunctions in the first
place. Comprehensive democracy that benefits people, communities and the planet
MUST include amending the U.S. Constitution to add the We the People
Amendment.