Move to Amend Corporate Power

Was skimming the "Move to Amend" News Webpage. The progressive movement has a good hook for action here, changing state constitutions to Define ‘Natural Persons’ as Human Beings, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders Saying ‘No’ to Citizens United, and Madison and Dane County Wisconsin voters moving to amend the US Constitution to check corporate power.


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Graphic: Wisconsin Move to Amend Cow.

Take the Pledge

Take the Pledge:

The Supreme Court's flawed decision allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts to influence election outcomes endangers our democracy and threatens to drown out the voices of individual citizens. I pledge to protect America from unlimited corporate spending in our elections by supporting a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's decision giving corporations the same First Amendment rights as people.

Sponsored by People for the American Way and Pubic Citizen.

We need to generate and sustain momentum. This is a multi-generational struggle.

• Contact the US Senate
• Contact the House of Representatives

Move to Amend

Move to Amend, a project of the Campaign to Legalize Democracy, is brining democracy into the hands of the people in a spirit like that behind the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights, adopted two years after the US Constitution, was a concession to the people who challenged the power of the wealthy elite who had drafted the US Constitution.

Move to Amend draws on our right to call for the amendment of the US Constitution. Dave Cobb, the Executive Director, in collaboration with others, has done extensive research into how the power of corporations can be controlled. They have concluded that it must be done by amending the Constitution.

You can sign on to the following assertion to the government:

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

1. Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

2. Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

3. Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate
"preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

Sign On

The first point untangles "free speech" from the principle of "one person, one vote." In as much as money equates to influencing votes, money in politics is contrary to the principle of "one person, one vote."

The second point settles a matter raised by the US Supreme Court in Gore Vs Bush. Following the 2000 presidential election, the U.S. Supreme Court appointed Bush and in doing so stated that the US Constitution does not guarantee individuals the right to vote for the US President. Hard to believe, I know, but it's true.

The third point establishes a principle very similar to "states rights," but applies to local governments. It prevents global treaties, often written by lawyers from transnational corporations, from treading on local community rights. If a local community wants to pass a ban on a pesticide, the amendment would allow it to do so. The local community could not be sued for infringing on the profits of the pesticide manufacturer as is now allowed under agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Cobb is crossing ideological lines by teaming up with Tea Party members to make this "move" a reality. Short of that, we are experiencing a teachable moment in history when people should pause and consider deeper civic concepts. Cobb asks us to think big and ask whether or not the time has come to move our democracy to the next level.

“I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and to bid defiance to the laws of our country.” ~ Thomas Jefferson, letter to George Logan. November 12, 1816