Encourage our local governments to endorse the end of corporate personhood

[Barry]

MoveToAmend has crafted a simple constitutional amendment to correct the egregious mis-interpretation that allows corporate personhood and equates money with speech. These are foundational errors that hopefully can be corrected as part of the Occupy Movement.

I think we should demand the local city governments and county government to pass a resolution of in support! LA might be doing so soon (See below)!


LOS ANGELES POISED TO BE THE FIRST MAJOR U.S. CITY TO CALL FOR END TO CORPORATE PERSONHOOD

Grassroots Momentum Builds Toward Passage of a Constitutional Amendment

LOS ANGELES, CA Next week the Los Angeles City Council will vote on a resolution that calls on Congress to amend the Constitution to clearly establish that only living persons -- not corporations -- are endowed with constitutional rights and that money is not the same as free speech. If this resolution is passed, Los Angeles will be the first major city in the U.S. to call for an end to all corporate constitutional rights.

The campaign in Los Angeles is the latest grassroots effort byMove to Amend, a national coalition working to abolish corporate personhood.Local resolution campaigns are an opportunity for citizens to speak up and let it be known that we wont accept the corporate takeover of our government lying down,"said Kaitlin Sopoci! -Belknap, a national spokesperson for Move to Amend. "We urge communities across the country to join the Move to Amend campaign and raise your voices.

Earlier this year voters inMadison and Dane County, Wisconsin overwhelmingly approved ballot measurescalling for an end to corporate personhood and the legal status of money as speech by 84% and 78% respectively. In November voters in Boulder, Colorado and Missoula, Montana both passed similar initiatives with 75% support.

We are experiencing overwhelming support for what may be a historic turning point in restoring a voice to the voters and setting an example for the rest of the country," statedMary Beth Fielder, Coordinator of Move To Amend LA. "This action would provide the basis for overturning the recent Supreme Court decision inCitizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Move to Amend volunteers in dozens of communities across the country are working to place similar measures on local ballots ne! xt year, including West Allis, WI, a conservative suburb of Milwaukee where last week local residents successfully qualified a measure for their spring ballot.

Move to Amends strategy is to pass community resolutions across the nation through city councils and through direct vote by ballot initiative. Our plan is build a movement that will drive this issue into Congress from the grassroots. The American people are behind us on this and these campaigns help our federal representatives see that we mean business. Our very democracy is at stake, stated Sopoci-Belknap.

The campaign in Los Angeles is endorsed by a growing list of organizations including Common Cause, Occupy LA, LA County Federation of Labor, Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Environmental Caucus of the CA Democratic Party, Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, MoveOn LA, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains, Democracy for America, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, AFSCME 36, L! A Green Machine and California Clean Money Campaign.

For a complete list of all resolutions passed to date see: https://movetoamend.org/resolutions-map. Read Move to Amend's proposed amendment here: https://movetoamend.org/amendment.

Section 1 [A corporation is not a person and can be regulated]

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.
Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other 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 speech and can be regulated]

Federal, State and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own contributions and expenditures, for the purpose of influencing 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.

Section 3
Nothing contained in this amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

[Hotspring 44]

The campaign in Los Angeles is endorsed by a growing list of organizations including Common Cause, Occupy LA, LA County Federation of Labor, Physicians for Social Responsibility, The Environmental Caucus of the CA Democratic Party, Southern California Americans for Democratic Action, MoveOn LA, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains, Democracy for America, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, AFSCME 36, L! A Green Machine and California Clean Money Campaign.

For a complete list of all resolutions passed to date see: https://movetoamend.org/resolutions-map. Read Move to Amend's proposed amendment here: https://movetoamend.org/amendment.

There is a fairly good interview with Mary Beth Fielder, Coordinator of Move To Amend LA. on the The Dylan Ratigan Show titled; "Grassroots movement fights against corporate money in politics".

https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3151081...show/#45559222

[Larry Robinson]

We have a narrow window of opportunity right now to reverse the decline of democracy in America. This amendment, if adopted, could be a game changer.

[zenekar]

We have a narrow window of opportunity right now to reverse the decline of democracy in America. This amendment, if adopted, could be a game changer.

LA City Council approves motion against corporate personhood. Let's get local city councils to pass a such a resolution, as well as the County, the State...
https://movetoamend.org/news/move-am...ric-vote-video

[Barry]

This is Huge! I'm thinking this should really be embraced as THE DEMAND of the occupy movement!
This press conference is well worth watching. It renews one's faith!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=0EowNLWa7eQ

LA City Council approves motion against corporate personhood. Let's get local city councils to pass a such a resolution, as well as the County, the State...
https://movetoamend.org/news/move-am...ric-vote-video

[zenekar]

This is Huge! I'm thinking this should really be embraced as THE DEMAND of the occupy movement!
This press conference is well worth watching. It renews one's faith!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=0EowNLWa7eQ

Whether via the OWS movement or not, each community should demand it of their city reps, county reps, etc.

[Barry]

Bernie Sanders has just introduced an amendment to end corporate personhood!

[ubaru]

Bernie Sanders has just introduced an amendment to end corporate personhood!

This is a time for heroes to speak up and reclaim American democracy. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tom Udall of New Mexico are two such heroes.

This is worth hearing,
Liz

[ubaru]

This is a time for heroes to speak up and reclaim American democracy. Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Tom Udall of New Mexico are two such heroes.

I have to revise that a bit. I like that Tom Udall initiated the Amendment that Bernie Sanders mentions in this video (View Video), and that he put forth the Amendment to take out the indefinite detention part of the S. 1867: National Defense Authorization Act, which didn't pass. However, he, like 91 other Senators, voted for the bill without it, and he should have stood his ground along with Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul who voted it down.

The other heroes who voted it down are Senators Thomas Harkin of Iowa, Thomas Coburn of Oklahoma, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Mike Lee of Utah.

Liz

[Hotspring 44]

I have to revise that a bit. I like that Tom Udall initiated the Amendment that Bernie Sanders mentions in this video (View Video), and that he put forth the Amendment to take out the indefinite detention part of the S. 1867: National Defense Authorization Act, which didn't pass. However, he, like 91 other Senators, voted for the bill without it, and he should have stood his ground along with Bernie Sanders and Rand Paul who voted it down.
Liz

I agree, but;... ...I am hypothesizing a bit here, (I'm sure there are other ideological reasons besides my ‘hypothesizing’ ones). I think it's very possible that some of the senators who ultimately voted for the bill don't want to be seen as risking in any way, the troops overseas.

Also, I have a hunch that they know that there are (undoubtedly) outstanding “contractual obligations” to pay huge sums of money to the industrial military complex that they seem to be too dependent upon, for so-called national security etc. IMHO.

Also, I think there's a psychology of; when it comes to the topic of ‘terrorism’, the old school George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld tacticians that used a "mild" form of phsy-ops

United States PSYOP units and soldiers of all branches of the military are prohibited by law from targeting U.S. citizens with PSYOP within the borders of the United States(Executive Order S-1233, DOD Directive S-3321.1, and National Security Decision Directive 130.) While United States Army PSYOP units may offer non-PSYOP support to domestic military missions, they can only target foreign audiences. tactics on the American public....

And yet during the Clinton administration under the direction of Jeanette Reno:

During the Waco Siege, the FBI and BATF conducted psychological operations on the men, women and children inside the Mount Carmel complex. This included using loudspeakers to play sounds of animals being slaughtered, drilling noises and clips from talk shows about how much their leader David Koresh was hated. In addition, very bright, flashing lights were used at night.^[13]...

Then there is more specifically, what I am referring to:

... More recently, an article in Rolling Stone magazine alleges the United States has conducted psychological operations on its own senators and other decision makers in order to influence foreign policy.... ...https://www.rollingstone.com/politic...ators-20110223

...

Remember the “if you're not for us you're against us” kind of BS that got us into this whole absurd overreaction mess in the first place? It gained so much momentum it's like a huge freight train traveling at a high rate of speed, downhill that takes a long time to stop. Meanwhile, the freight train is getting closer and closer to the end of the tracks and still at risk of derailing and causing major disruption and damage; more so than what has already occurred.

[ubaru]

Then there is more specifically, what I am referring to:
... More recently, an article in Rolling Stone magazine alleges the United States has conducted psychological operations on its own senators and other decision makers in order to influence foreign policy.... ...https://www.rollingstone.com/politics...ators-20110223

I read that Rolling Stone article and it's horrifying, but expected. What say you we do a counter psy-op mission on Congress instilling some good things like ethics, honesty, love, respect, common sense, and a true sense of duty to the people who elected them? Oh, and honoring their oath to obey the Constitution.

Liz