On August 7 the Milpitas City Council will consider adopting a resolution in support of a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which declares that corporations are not people and money is not speech.
On June 14, The United States Conference of Mayors unanimously adopted a resolution of support and calls upon local bodies to do the same. You should email, write or call your local councilor and urge them to support this movement.
You will not be alone, other cities and people across America—faced by the local impact of the judicial doctrine that corporations are people—have already taken action. Los Angeles, West Allis, Wis., Kansas City, Berkeley, New York, Salt Lake City, and Portland have passed the resolution, along with our neighbors in Los Altos Hills and Mountain View. The cities of Campbell and Palo Alto are also calling for a 28th Amendment.
Is it a surprise that there’s a groundswell of support to amend the U.S. Constitution?
The catalyst was the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, which is having a horrifying impact on our election process. The Supreme Court declared that money is speech and corporations have a constitutional right to spend as much as they want in order to buy the political process.
So much corporate cash is being fed into the political arena that it's warping and crushing our political system at every level. It was one of the reasons Mike Huckabee did not even attempt to run for president and that large box retailers are invading our cities.
Politicians, pundits and regular Americans across the political spectrum immediately recognized the corrosive and corrupt impact of this decision, but many are still unaware of the repercussions being felt around the country.
Corporations’ use of the First and Fourth amendments to justify their actions have wide-spread repercussions. Here are just a few examples:
- Court decisions granting corporations the same rights as human beings have meant that laws that required food labeling are overturned because of corporation’s First Amendment “constitutional right” not to speak, as seen in the International Dairy Foods Assoc. v. Boggs case.
- Corporations use the Fourth Amendment to avoid search and seizure and evade enforcement of our health and safety laws.
- Corporations obtain personal medical histories by appealing to the First Amendment, like in the Sorrell v. IMS Health, Inc. case.
The court-decreed grant of constitutional rights to corporations is seriously impacting the ability of cities and communities to self-govern. Local land use laws can be overturned, and local campaign finance laws can be thrown out.
On June 25 the U.S. Supreme Court made it crystal clear that the Citizens United decision applied not only federally, but to the state and local level as well. The court discounted the expert testimony to the effect that when a local economy depends on distant markets, distant corporate interests trump local interests.
The floodgates are now wide open for unlimited corporate money to drown local political priorities.
Since the only way to overturn a Supreme Court decision is by an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Milpitas city council members have the opportunity to join hundreds of local communities across the nation and assert that political rights accrue to people, not corporations. And that in America it's people, not corporations, that determine the choices we make for our community.
Do you think the Milpitas City Council should adopt a resolution in support of a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?
Money in politics is not good. But, this solution is worst than the disease itself. Also, these self proclaimed elitists who are behind this assumes that voters are fools. No sir, voters are intelligent enough to see through walls. Money may influence some, but majority of voters don't get fooled by it.
There are local laws, and state laws and federal laws and then there are constitutional rights. Constitutional rights mean those with them (and our founding fathers just meant them for human beings) can overturn all other laws. Corporations , whose only goal is profit, should not be given the right to overturn the will of the American people as expressed by democratically enacted laws. When the 28 th amendment passes, all the civil and criminal laws will still apply to corporations. Corporations will just not be alllowed to claim the highest form of rights, constitutional rights, or claim that money is speech. Unlimited corporate concentrated wealth in politics undermines democracy itself.
It is corporate money that is the major threat. The money unions spend to buy elections is a tiny fraction of the money corporations spend to buy elections. This amendment is about returning the power to made decisions about our communities and our nation to the people, and not having those decisions overturned by corporations or unions. Here is the link to the amendment http://movetoamend.org/democracy-amendments
I agree with your examples. Monsanto, Exxon, etc. are evil companies. But there are good companies that spend money on lobbying to get the twisted laws straightened.... the law proposed by socialist who wants to convert this country into what was once USSR. Private companies provide employments to the whole nation. Not every company is involved in corruption.... but most politicians are.
Anybody supporting this amendment should disclose their views on unions. Otherwise, you have no credibility here.
BP polluted the Gulf Coast -> it is sad but they are paying through their nose for that. What makes you think they are getting away with it? The real issue here is that socialists like you elect bogus politicians. You believe that people who doesn't contribute anything to society are "entitlement" to be fed by those who bust their asses from 7am to 7pm. Let me ask you this, what do you do?
I understand your position very well, somebody has to defend those poor little corporations and the way to do it is to stuff the ballot with dollars and elect bogus politicians. The problem is that you are accusing me of doing exactly what we cannot afford to do, so we do the best we can with what we have in the face of almost limitless dollars.
Just because a few corporations are erratic, your proposal is to kill them all including the ones that innovate, bring new products to market, create jobs and make the country a global leader. The issues you have mentioned do not require any constitutional amendment. You are trying to throw in useless facts. So far you have not commented on the real issue that is threatening the country in immediate terms; that is union influence. Also, socialist elitists believe that voters are stupid and that elitists should tell every citizen as to how life ought to be lived. No sir, we are not stupids and also we know how to manage our lives without the help of socialist elitists.
I appeal Milpitas City Council to remove this misguided and time wasting item from the agenda and discuss what is more important to the city and the people. This is such a waste of time.
Correct me if I am wrong, you and everybody who is supporting this constituional amendment want to see that everything is run by the government (just like USSR). There should be no corporations, no provate property interests, nobody should be making money and those making money through their hardword should support the ones who like to sit on a comfy couch and expect to be supported by others. And why do you keep using the word "Nazi?" Do you think anybody who believes in a fair system and a balance budget is a Nazi? On the contrary, people who support union greed are Nazi's because they are destroying local communities.