This is really interesting news. Is this the future? Can we effectively work around the corporate media and the political establishment by going directly to social media? Go post this on your Facebook page or Twitter, see what you can do to help it along. (And email it to your relatives.) I gotta say, this sure looks promising:
Democratic Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern last Tuesday proposed two Constitutional amendments on the House floor that would overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which lifted limits on political spending and unleashed a flood of funding into political organizations starting in 2010.
Speaking with HuffPost Live on Wednesday, McGovern said his two amendments received an outpouring of attention after his staff posted them on the social media site Reddit.
“We’re trying to reach out in different ways to communicate with people and posting it on Reddit was suggested to me by my staff as a way to reach a whole new audience,” McGovern told HuffPost Live’s Jacob Soboroff. “We did it and the response was incredible — we’ve gotten calls from all over the country.”
McGovern’s first proposed amendment would tackle campaign finance reform, while the second would overturn Citizens United outright.
From McGovern’s press release announcing the proposed amendments:
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.
We are all aware aren’t we that the amendment to the Constitution granting equal rights to women has yet to be passed? That one has been around for 30 years. Passing any amendment to the Constitution is very, very difficult. It’s much quicker for the House and Senate to write and pass legislation voiding Citizens United. Or at least making it moot. If we all wait for an amendment to be enacted most of us will be dead before it happens.
Note the irony (is that the right word?) In an amendment to repeal something called Citizens United. WTF?
Just because something is difficult does not mean it’s not worth vigorous effort to enshrine the principle.
Imho: Buckley and Citizens United struck down congressional action. For that reason the constitutional amending process is the only show in town. I agree with Tracey. It also has the fringe benefit that if it succeeds Scalia will resign in protest.