Liberal Congressmen and Senators Make Case For Overturning Citizens United
April 18, 2012
The grassroots movement for a constitutional amendment to return control over our democracy to We the People got a big endorsement from more than a dozen members of Congress on Wednesday.Â
<p><span style="font-size: small; ">The "Congressional Summit on Overturning <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Citizens United</span></em>," convened by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) at the Capitol, </span><a href="http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=3584" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">spotlighted the growing movement</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> to overturn <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission</span></em> and other egregious Supreme Court rulings that go against core constitutional and democratic principles.</span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Lurking somewhere in the crowd, but live-tweeting from an alternate universe not inhabited by the overwhelming majority of the American people, Citizens United head honcho</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCAQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fdavid_bossie&ei=tRSPT_npO42e6QGSyan7Dg&usg=AFQjCNFAK898R4kLQzWkIH-y_FQ21SPERQ" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; "> David Bossie</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> dismissed these leaders and grassroots advocates as "clowns" and "socialists" who want to "chill speech."</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Back in the reality where money is property and not speech, and unlimited political spending by corporations and the super-wealthy to buy influence and access is antithetical to First Amendment values, today's event was a breath of fresh air in a Capitol where large corporations and wealthy interests dominate the conversation all too often.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Instead, we heard the voices of concerned Americans like Georgina Forbes of Vermont. She described how people from all walks of life, Democrat and Republican and Independent alike, organized so that citizens at more than 65 town meetings throughout her state would </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-a-clarion-call-for-renewal-of-democracy/article_8abccd8d-0354-5208-8236-c0035a7051aa.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">simultaneously demand</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> a constitutional amendment based on the principles that corporations are not people and money is not speech. Last week, the Vermont Senate followed suit in a similar fashion. What's more, the legislatures of New Mexico, Maryland and Hawaii also have announced their support for an amendment, and similar efforts are under way in more than 17 other states.</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Responding to these citizen-led efforts and to </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.citizenvox.org/2012/01/27/citizens-united-public-citizen-democracy-is-for-people-constitutional-amendment-j21-anniversary/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">thousands of demonstrations nationwid</span></a><span style="font-size: small; ">e that took place in January (on the two-year anniversary of <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Citizens United)</span></em>, members of Congress from both chambers today lined up to join state and local elected officials, grassroots activists like Georgina, and diverse pro-democracy organizations in</span><a href="http://united4thepeople.org/add-official.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; "> signing a Declaration for Democracy</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> in support of these kinds of constitutional amendment efforts.</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">With Americans </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2012/01/lp_citizens_united.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">continuing to agree </span></a><span style="font-size: small; ">by more than a 3-to-1 margin that unlimited spending in elections by corporations and the super-rich is bad for democracy, and supporting amending the U.S. Constitution by similar wide margins, these supportive voices in Congress are just responding to the will of the people in one sense. But in a system where those with money and power are allowed to game the process, it takes true leadership to stand up to that rising tide at its peak. The dozen-plus individuals attending today's event have exhibited that leadership and deserve our continued thanks and encouragement.</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Many of them, as well as the entire 76-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, are actively supporting </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.resolutionsweek.org/" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">Resolutions Week,</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> a nationwide initiative spearheaded by Public Citizen in partnership with other organizations, aimed at passing still more local resolutions that call for a constitutional amendment the week of June 11. More than 5,400 people in all 50 states have signed up to push local resolutions, hoping to join the hundreds of municipalities that have taken action so far.</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Also on board are both labor <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">and</span></em> business leaders, united by the recognition that a political system where only a handful of large corporations can dominate and corrupt the process is bad for workers' rights and bad for fostering actual business competition. Selling access to the highest bidder reverberates negatively whether you're a member of the Communications Workers of America trying to organize for better wages, or summit speaker Rudy Arredondo, who represents Latino ranchers and farmers, whose voices all too often are drowned out by campaign-cash-flush agribusiness interests.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">That simple, commonsense logic is why more than 1,000 corporate, investment and small-business leaders have </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.asbcouncil.org/campaigns/citizens-united" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; "><span style="font-size: small; ">declared their support</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> for a constitutional amendment, and why </span><a href="http://www.asbcouncil.org/poll_money_in_politics.html" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; " target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small; ">recent polling</span></a><span style="font-size: small; "> shows that small-business owners view the impact of <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Citizens United</span></em> (and of the dominant role of money in our politics) as bad for business by a whopping 7-to-1 margin. Again, this movement is not about "silencing" anybody, but ensuring that <strong><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">all</span></strong> Americans' voices and rights are paramount in our democracy.</span></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">As Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) reminded today's capacity crowd, James Madison said that constitutional amendments were remedies for "extraordinary occasions." With our democracy up for sale to the aristocracy of corporate influence that Thomas Jefferson had hoped would be crushed in its birth, we've sadly arrived at one of those moments.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; "><span style="font-size: small; "><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">The movement to respond to extraordinary circumstances threatening the health of our democracy, just as generations before us have done, is being driven by determined American patriots throughout the nation. And as today's event demonstrated, their message is no longer the pipe dream it may have seemed in the immediate aftermath of <em><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Citizens United</span></em>, but the mainstream voice of the masses who want to reclaim their democracy and their Constitution.</span></span></p>
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