Democrats Pass Resolution Opposing “Money as Speech” and Corporate Personhood

Progressives won a victory at the Washington State Democratic Central Committee meeting this past Saturday in Wenatchee.

State Committee members from all across Washington State voted to pass a resolution entitled “Amending the U.S. Constitution to Reserve Constitutional Rights for People, not Corporations”. (Related platforms and resolutions have been passed in Oklahoma, New Hampshire and Maine.)

The Resolution calls on our state legislature to pass a joint resolution urging Congress “to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to establish that a corporation shall not be considered a person eligible for rights accorded to human beings” under the U.S. Constitution. The resolution goes on to say that the amendment should stipulate that “the use of money to influence elections or the acts of public officials shall not be considered a protected form of speech.”

In passing this resolution, the State Democrats took aim at the infamous Citizens United decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that permits unlimited corporate cash to influence our electoral politics. Back in January on the anniversary of the Citizens United decision, I organized a “Rally to Legalize Democracy”. Nearly a hundred people turned out at the Regional Justice Center in Kent despite rain and wind. As I stated at the rally, this is not about being a Democrat or a Republican. This is about being an American. As Americans we believe in the idea of one person, one vote. In recent Supreme Court decisions, money equates to speech, in other words: one dollar, one vote. This is undemocratic, un-American and must not be allowed to stand.

Everyone should join MoveToAmend.org in making a nationwide call to push Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United. We need to turn resolutions like the one passed in Wenatchee into organized citizen action in the form of protests, rallies, and initiatives.

Here’s something you can do right now: Call your Washington state representatives and ask that they sponsor House Joint Memorial 4005.

Brian L. Gunn

P.S. This month MoveToAmend.org co-founder Riki Ott will be in Washington State for a series of Town Hall events that will focus on the hijacking of our American democracy by the influence of corporate and big money interests. Find out more: http://www.washclean.org/hijacked.htm.