Updated 12/3/2019
On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled once again that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. The problem goes back to 1886 when the Supreme Court (in a case called Santa County v. Southern Pacific Railroad), citing the 14th Amendment, and without hearing any arguments, declared unanimously that corporations are persons deserving of the laws protections. And they did this at a time when all women, all Native American, and even most African American men were still denied the right to vote.
Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions. A grassroots movement, Move to Amend, has rightly concluded, "We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United and other related cases, and we should amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights. The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule."
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Section
1. [Artificial
Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights] The rights protected by the
Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons
only. Artificial entities
established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state
shall have no rights
under this Constitution and are subject to regulation
by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. The privileges
of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal,
State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable. Section
2. [Money
is Not Free Speech] Federal, State, and local
government shall
regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions
and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens,
regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process,
and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more
access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for
public office or any ballot measure. Federal, State, and local
government shall require
that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed. The judiciary shall not
construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment. |
Citizens United provided the impetus for Move to Amend to launch their campaign for the 28th Amendment and their Motion to Amend petition. Since then they have acquired hundreds of thousands of supporters, leading to a consistently growing network of affiliate organizations and hundreds of coalition members.
Here are 5 actions you can take to join hundreds of thousands of Move to Amend supporters in a consistently growing network of affiliate organizations and hundreds of coalition members.
1. The Motion to Amend petition is the well from which we draw success. As such, getting more signatures is among the most important things any Move to Amend supporter can do to help us triumph. Please ask your family, friends and neighbors to sign the petition to declare their support for this movement. CLICK here to sign. Where it asks how did you find out about Move to Amend, you can write Florida Veterans for Common Sense.
2. Of vital importance, is to get sponsors in Congress for House Joint Resolution 48, which was first introduced in January 2017. There is a bill pending in the house and we are pushing for introduction in the senate.
· Send a message to your U.S. House Representative urging them to co-sponsor the "We the People Amendment" - CLICK HERE
·
Send a message to your U.S. Senator
urging them to introduce the "We the People Amendment" - CLICK
HERE
3. Beware of “fake” amendments. If your member of congress says she or he already supports the “Democracy for All Amendment,” you will have to explain to them that there’s been confusion that “all 28th Amendments addressing money as speech and corporate personhood are pretty much all the same.” It is important to understand that, the Democracy for All amendment is not equivalent to the We the People amendment. They aren’t. It’s not even close. For details and talking points on the comparison, click here.
4. Voting matters: Vote for candidates who support the “We the People amendment.” Advise any candidates who do not support the “We the People amendment,” that they will not get your vote.
5. City Councils and organizations can pass a resolution of support for the We the People Amendment. Click here to go to the resolution section of Move to Amend toolkit. A good example is the Resolution passed by Florida Veterans for Common Sense.