Illustration/Helen Cox
¿Plata o plomo? Colombian and Mexican drug gangs ask government officials, judges and police officers which they prefer, “silver or lead,” when offering bribes and threatening violence.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision granting corporations the same free speech rights as natural persons allows them to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections and public affairs.
Corporations, foreign and domestic, can now force politicians to choose silver or lead when supporting or opposing corporate and foreign power interests.
Any politician who places the well-being of the public over corporate demands can count on well-financed negative publicity at the next election. Moreover, corporations will be able to directly influence the election of state judges and the confirmation of federal judges.
With the Congress, White House and Supreme Court now up for sale to the highest bidder, we, the people of the United States of America, must exercise our fading power before it is lost forever.
The 11th and 12th Amendments clearly establish that the Constitution exists to protect the rights and powers of the people, not corporations.
It is our Constitution! We must amend it to ensure it protects us, not corporations.
The Power to the People Amendment
Section 1
Only natural persons shall be protected by this Constitution and entitled to the rights and freedoms it guarantees
Section 2
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press for non-person entities engaged in the gathering and reporting of fact, analysis, and opinion. In all other respects, Congress and the States shall regulate and tax non-person entities as necessary for the public good.
Section 3
This article shall become operative once it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three-fourths of the States thereof.
William John Cox is a retired prosecutor, public interest lawyer and political activist. His is the author of the book, You’re Not Stupid! Get the Truth: A Brief on the Bush Presidency and is currently working on a fact-based fictional political philosophy. His writings are collected at votersevolt.com. Mr. Cox can be reached at , and he can be contacted at u2cox@msn.com.
My recommendation to readers is instead to join law professor Larry Lessig’s campaign:
http://action.change-congress.org/page/s/amendpetition
Having heard Professor Lessig speak twice, I agree with everything in the comment except “Instead.” We need both.
With public funding of congressional elections, we will still have tremendous amounts of money going into presidential, state and local elections.
Even with passage of the proposed amendment, we would still need public funding of elections to put an end to other special interest money.
Utter rubbish! This writer is just blowing bubbles and clearly does not have a clue as to the realities (and history) that underlie a Constitutional amendment. Amend the Constitution? LOL.
So, John, we should just do nothing? Attend the games and let the corporations completely take over the country. Begin to vote, run for office?
If you think that anything short of a constitutional amendment, such as additional legislation in Congress, will do any good then you are just blowing bubbles. The SCOTUS, as presently constituted (for a very long time given their relative youth) will continue to do as it pleases.
I agree, given the current administrations tactics, along with the previous as well, there seems to be no boundary uncrossable when individuals rights are at stake.
What is now taking place though speaks loudly about the American publics’ view of omnipotent government:
http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/
Including what Vermont is currently in the process of:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1957743,00.html