[GPSCC-chat] Fw: [HCA-SantaClara] Congress Responds to Move to Amend Grassroots Organizing with “We the People” Amendment

Thu Feb 21 14:58:33 PST 2013

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Lynn Huidekoper <Lynn_huidekoper at hotmail.com>
To: HCAC Activists <hcac-act at svpal.org>; One Care Now <onecarenow at svpal.org>; 
HCA Santa Clara Yahoo Group <hca-santaclara at yahoogroups.com>; CDC Healthcare 
Group <cdc-healthcare at yahoogroups.com>; CDC Issues <cdc-issues at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, February 21, 2013 12:10:36 AM
Subject: [HCA-SantaClara] Congress Responds to Move to Amend Grassroots 
Organizing with “We the People” Amendment

Another example of the 99% trying to reclaim our country from the Right Wing who 
want corporations to be people so they can continue to keep all the money. 

The Occupy movement has sparked renewed interest in grass roots organizing. That 
is what we need to do for Single Payer-educate, educate,educate.

Lynn

Lynn Huidekoper, RN 
Legislation Liaison, Santa Clara County Single Payer Healthcare Coalition
HCA-Health Care for All-California
SB810-California's Single Payer bill
HR 676 -Expanded and Improved Medicare for All
Health Care is a Human Right

IN UNITY

Kay McVay, R.N.
President Emeritus
California Nurses Association
National Nurses Organizing Committee
2000 Franklin Street
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: 510-273-2240 Cell:925-348-1545
kmcvay at calnurses.org
Web: www.CalNurses.org
SupportSinglePayer Guaranteed Healthcare
www.guaranteedhealthcare.org

From:Portside moderator [mailto:moderator at PORTSIDE.ORG] 
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 7:22 PM
To: PORTSIDE at LISTS.PORTSIDE.ORG
Subject: Congress Responds to Move to Amend Grassroots Organizing with “We the 
People” Amendment

  Congress Responds to Move to Amend Grassroots Organizing with “We the People” 
Amendment 

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap 
February 17, 2013
Common Dreams

The growing grassroots democracy movement took another huge step forward this 
week when Congressional Representatives Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota) and Mark 
Pocan (D-Wisconsin) joined Move To Amend coalition organizers Ben Manski and 
George “Leesa” Friday at the National Press Club to announce that the “We the 
People Amendment” was being introduced in Congress (H.J.Res. 29).   

  , ,    
  The growing grassroots democracy movement took another huge step forward this 
week when Congressional Representatives Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota) and Mark 
Pocan (D-Wisconsin) joined Move To Amend coalition organizers Ben Manski and 
George “Leesa” Friday at the National Press Club to announce that the “We the 
People Amendment” was being introduced in Congress (H.J.Res. 29).
This amendment clearly and unequivocally states that:
Section 1. Only People Have Constitutional Rights
The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of 
natural persons only.
Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or 
any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject 
to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.
The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through 
Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or 
inalienable.
Section 2. Money is Not Free Speech
Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit 
contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and 
expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, 
have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of 
their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the 
election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.
The real problem is that a small group of wealthy individuals have hijacked our 
sacred right to self-government, and are using the political and legal systems 
to legitimize that theft. We must get money out of elections, to be sure. But we 
have to go deeper...
Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible 
contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.
The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to 
be speech under the First Amendment.
Lead sponsor Rep. Rick Nolan (DFL-Minnesota), said: “It’s time to take the 
shaping and molding of public policy out of corporate boardrooms, away from the 
corporate lobbyists, and put it back in city halls – back with county boards and 
state legislatures – and back in the Congress where it belongs.”
Ben Manski, a spokesperson for the Move to Amend coalition agreed, saying: 
“Today, members of Congress join a movement that insists on the fundamental 
equality of all Americans, and that rejects the idea that the corporate class 
should have special protections against We the People.”
The Move to Amend Coalition was formed in preparation for the Supreme Court’s 
Citizens United v FEC ruling in 2010. Today, the coalition boasts over 260,000 
supporters, thousands of endorsing organizations, and has organized over 150 
local affiliate across the country. These are groups who have formed in their 
local communities to educate, agitate and organize in direct support of the Move 
To Amend position that only people have constitutional rights and that money is 
not free speech.
In a few short years this grassroots movement has passed almost 500 resolutions 
in municipalities and local governments across the country calling on the state 
and federal governments to adopt an amendment.
Deeper still, they have used the citizens initiative process to place the issue 
squarely before the voters in dozens of cities and counties, and have won every 
single election! Most of those elections have been super-majorities, often 
winning by more than 70%. These victories include areas traditionally considered 
liberal, and other areas traditionally considered conservative.
“The movement transcends typical political parties and labels,” said George 
Friday. “The Move To Amend coalition is multi-racial, includes rural and city 
folk, all united in the belief that we need a social movement to create real 
democracy, and to make the promise of democracy a reality in the United States,” 
she said.
The Move to Amend coalition makes a point of differentiating ourselves from the 
other proposals that have come forward in response to Citizens United. We 
recognize that the Citizens United decision is a problem, but it is not the 
problem. Citizens United is not the cause, it is a symptom.
The real problem is that a small group of wealthy individuals have hijacked our 
sacred right to self-government, and are using the political and legal systems 
to legitimize that theft. We must get money out of elections, to be sure. But we 
have to go deeper than that to address the reality that corporate lawyers use 
the illegitimate doctrine of “corporate constitutional rights” to overturn 
public health, environmental protection, and worker safety laws. And such laws 
are political questions, and should be decided with public debate, discourse, 
and the opportunity to vote and participate. When the decisions are made in the 
courts, “We the People” are relegated to spectators.
The path to a Constitutional Amendment is long, and it will take a sustained 
grassroots political education effort to succeed.
The Move To Amend coalition is up to the task. We are getting larger, stronger 
and better organized every day. But we need you to succeed. And frankly, the 
American people — and the world — need us to succeed.
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap serves on the Executive Committee Move to Amend. She is 
Field Organizing Coordinator for the campaign. She can be reached 
at kaitlin at MoveToAmend.org.   

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