McGovern Introduces Two Constitutional Amendments to Overturn Citizens United
McGovern introduced two amendments to overturn the Supreme Court's decision.
Submitted by Scott Zoback, the office of U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, on Tuesday introduced two Constitutional amendments to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case, which unleashed a flood of corporate and special interest money into the American political system.
The first amendment, HJ Res 20, advances the fundamental principle of political equality for all by empowering Congress and the States to regulate political spending. It will allow Congress to pass campaign finance reform legislation that will withstand Constitutional challenges.
The second amendment, HJ Res 21 , would overturn Citizens United and put a stop to the growing trend of corporations claiming first amendment rights. This “People’s Rights Amendment” not only addresses corporate rights as they pertain to campaign finance, but is broader in scope to clarify that corporations are not people with Constitutional rights. Importantly, the amendment clearly protects the people’s rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free exercise of religion, freedom of association, and all other such rights of the people.
“The American people are deeply troubled by the growing influence of corporations in our political discourse,” Rep. McGovern said. “They are also demanding action on campaign finance reform – because they are repulsed by the large amount of money in our campaigns. And, quite frankly, they want elected officials to spend more time on policy, on debating and deliberating on issues – and less time dialing for dollars.
“We need to have a serious, thoughtful debate in this country about this important issue,” Rep. McGovern said. “I hope that my amendments will begin to spur that debate.”
PREDATOR
7:31 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Are labor unions also included....or are only evil corporations punished?
craig Clevidence
11:21 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
A massive people powered movement is required for any amendment push for campaign finance reform. What Rep. McGovern seems willing to ignore is that this movement must be nonpartisan and broad-based across the political spectrum. The corporate personhood amendments are perceived as and are obviously politically biased. Nowhere is the influence of unions, political parties, or other groups addressed. This is another strong reason why the formulation adopted in the Renew Democracy Aamendment is dramatically superior.
Tom Crumley
8:43 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
I am sure labor unions could be included on this suggestion. Any corporation or union that has members or employees speaking on behalf of the organization would have to say so, and stipulate their status in the organization. This way people could decide what kind of weight to give the speaker. Are you a person that pays dues to belong to a labor union, or are you a paid mouthpiece of a corporation., context is very important, wouldn't you agree?
raspywolf
3:54 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
A labor union is not legally classified as a person. A corporation is a piece of legal fiction specifically designed to be classified as a legal person in order to protect its members.
craig Clevidence
11:27 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Americans would be well advised to consider the Renew Democracy Amendment proposal. It states:
"The right of the individual qualified citizen voter to participate in and directly elect all candidates by popular vote in all pertinent local, state, and federal elections shall not be denied or abridged and the right to vote is limited to individuals.
The right to contribute to political campaigns and political parties is held solely by individual citizens.
Political campaign and political party contributions shall not exceed an amount reasonably affordable by the average American.
The rights of all groups, associations and organizations to other political speech may be regulated by Congress but only as to volume and not content and only to protect the right of the individual voter’s voice to be heard."
The RDA would create a constitutional guarantee of the right to vote and directly elect all candidates for whom they were qualified to vote. It would eliminate the Electoral College and it would empower the individual voter by requiring our representatives to be funded solely by the individual voter. The RDA does something that no one else is brave enough to address and anger their base and that is cut the purse strings between our representatives and the political parties who benefit from political divisiveness. The RDA would also eliminate the huge advantage the wealthy have in running for office.
PREDATOR
11:36 am on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
I am not familiar with it....however, based on what u have said.....sounds good thus far....I will be doing further research....thanks.
Leann S
9:14 am on Thursday, January 24, 2013
I agree that corporations, special interest groups including unions and the NRA should be banned from contributing to political campaigns. They are not citizens, they are not allowed to vote, and they should not have a bigger say than the people of this country.
Christopher Adam Ridge
4:04 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
Monitary persuasion is wrong period. A unified vision is shared long before it could ever purchased.
David Feaker
6:34 pm on Friday, February 1, 2013
How can you possibly be worried about unions, they make up just over 11% of the workforce I think they are hardly a drop in the bucket for political campaign money
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/business/22union.html?_r=0
Liberty or Death
1:40 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
I belong to a union and never once have they tried to sway our political thoughts or the way we vote. If you think for a second that a union has the financial power that a corporation has, then you are out of your mind.
craig Clevidence
4:02 pm on Sunday, February 3, 2013
According to open secrets.org political contributions by labor as a sector is the eighth largest with last year's donations at $175 million. Two of the top 10 leading donor groups are union groups. Labor as a sector donated more money than the oil industry. A constitutional amendment that only restricts corporate spending does not address the whole problem. As others have commented, groups like the NRA, the Chamber of Commerce, also distort Democratic process through campaign contributions.
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/index.php
Gerald Schrader
4:52 pm on Monday, March 18, 2013
How much do unions spend to win elections for their endorsed candidates compared to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Wall Street Corporations and the billionaires to elect the candidates they favor in elections. I'll bet everything I own that it is not even close. There are not even many unions left to help get politicians elected who favor bills that help the working people and middle class.