#Human Rights
Target:
North Carolina Municipal Government Officials
Region:
United States of America

We the People, Not We the Corporations

On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions.

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule. We Move to Amend.

". . . corporations have no consciences, no beliefs, no feelings, no thoughts, no desires. Corporations help structure and facilitate the activities of human beings, to be sure, and their 'personhood' often serves as a useful legal fiction. But they are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established."

~Supreme Court Justice Stevens, January 2010

Local Government Resolution to the North Carolina General Assembly

Relating to: Amending the U.S. Constitution via congressional action to establish that corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights of natural persons and that money is not speech.

Whereas, government of, by, and for the people has long been a cherished American value; and the people’s fundamental and inalienable right to self−govern, and thereby secure rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence; and

Whereas, free and fair elections are essential to democracy and effective self−governance; and

Whereas, corporations are not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, and the people have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have the people decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of the people of the United States; and

Whereas, corporations are artificial entities, created for the purpose of conducting commerce inside and outside of our country’s borders and should be designated as such, and

Whereas, interpretation of the U.S. Constitution by appointed Supreme Court justices to include corporations in the term “persons” has long denied the peoples’ exercise of self−governance by endowing corporations with constitutional protections intended for the people; and

Whereas, the illegitimate judicial bestowal of political rights upon corporations usurps basic human and constitutional rights guaranteed to human persons; and

Whereas, corporations are not and have never been human beings, and therefore they do not vote in elections and should not be categorized as persons for purposes related to elections for public office; and

Whereas, the recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, that rolled back the legal limits on corporate spending in the electoral process creates an unequal playing field and allows unlimited corporate spending to influence elections, candidate selection, and policy decisions, and to sway votes, and forces elected officials to divert their attention from the peoples’ business, or even vote against the interest of their human constituents, in order to ensure competitive campaign funds for their own re-elections; and

Whereas, tens of thousands of people, organizations, and municipalities across the nation are joining with the Move to Amend movement to call for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate constitutional rights and the doctrine of money as free speech;

Now, therefore be it resolved that the members of the governing body of this local municipality, call on the North Carolina General Assembly to petition Congress that the U.S. Constitution be amended to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutionally protected political speech.

Video presenting the resolution to the Jackson County Commissioners, May 7, 2012

We, the under-signed, ask our local government officials to send a resolution to the North Carolina General Assembly resolving that the State of North Carolina petition the United States Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to be sent back to all 50 states for ratification, declaring that corporations are not people who have inalienable rights, and that money is not speech and can be regulated for the purposes of limiting corporate campaign contributions.

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The Move to Amend USA Constitution declaring that Corporations are NOT People and Money is NOT Speech petition to North Carolina Municipal Government Officials was written by Allen Lomax and is in the category Human Rights at GoPetition.