The first step in a long, important journey
by digby
Yesterday 8 senators– Jeff Merkley (OR), Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Tom Harkin (IA), Tom Udall (NM), Michael Bennet (CO), Dick Durbin (IL), Mark Begich (AK) and Chuck Schumer (NY)– all Democrats, introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United vs FEC. Here’s the full text of their resolution, the concept of which is supported by most Americans, though, obviously, opposed by the 1% and their politicians. The Republican Party is expected to fight this to the death– hopefully its own. The poster boy against the amendment is Mitt Romney with his weird assertion that “corporations are people.” This is how Udall, while acknowledging that amending the U.S. Constitution is an extremely difficult process and an impossible one while the Republicans control the House, explained it to New Mexico voters Tuesday:
“Campaigns should be about the best ideas, not the biggest checkbooks. It’s time to put elections back in the hands of American voters, not corporations and special interests… The latest reinterpretation of the Constitution has left our political system vulnerable like never before.”
In announcing its full support for the amendment, MoveOn made clear to its members that this is going to “be a strenuous, long-term endeavor but ultimately it is the only way to reverse the damage of the Citizens United decision. We’ve amended our Constitution before in moments when we needed to make fundamental changes to how our country works. Right now is one of those moments. It isn’t ultimately about who’s benefiting, Democrats or Republicans, it’s about the fact that giving corporations the full First Amendment rights of people is threatening the integrity of our democratic process.”
Every single Blue America candidate backs the amendment. No one will be endorsed who doesn’t. Yeah… that important
This is good. And necessary. Indeed, I think that the various citizens groups, netroots progressives and Occupy protests could get behind this without any worries about partisanship, even though the people backing it are Democrats. The action is inherently political in nature and has to have at least a component of political involvement whether we like it or not. This is a long term project that has to start now and it needs a serious commitment from both politicians and citizens even though it may not come to fruition right away.