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applegrove

(118,718 posts)
Fri Nov 9, 2012, 09:29 PM Nov 2012

Montana Passes a Referendum Declaring Corporations Are Not People

Montana Passes a Referendum Declaring Corporations Are Not People

By Diane Sweet at Crooks & Liars

http://occupyamerica.crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/montana-passes-referendum-declaring-co

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An overlooked development from Montana on election night, a referendum to state that corporations don’t have constitutional rights has unofficially passed by a 75 percent to 25 percent margin. Initiative number 166 stated that “corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights because they are not human beings,” and thus is a blow to the Citizen’s United ruling that helped make this presidential election the most expensive one ever.

Montana has been a real leader in efforts to buck Citizen’s United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that equated money with free speech and allowed corporations to contribute unlimited amounts of money to campaigns through super PACs. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a ruling by the Montana Supreme Court that limited political spending in state and local elections earlier this year.

Montana and Colorado are the first states to endorse an amendment through statewide votes. Seven other states -- Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont, Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts and New Jersey -- acted through their legislatures, which passed resolutions calling for an amendment. In two more states, Connecticut and Maryland, majorities of the legislatures signed letters to Congress calling for an amendment.

These votes reflect an extraordinary level of public support for overruling Citizens United, which has also been found repeatedly in national polling, most recently an Associated Press poll found that 83 percent of Americans favor limits on the amount of money corporations, unions, and other organizations can spend on our elections. That's more than 8 in 10 Americans.

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Montana Passes a Referendum Declaring Corporations Are Not People (Original Post) applegrove Nov 2012 OP
YES WE DID montanacowboy Nov 2012 #1
holy cow, I missed this movement aletier_v Nov 2012 #2
And Montana's AG is now the new Democratic governor! grasswire Nov 2012 #3
Yeah Montana!!!! goblue316 Nov 2012 #4

aletier_v

(1,773 posts)
2. holy cow, I missed this movement
Fri Nov 9, 2012, 09:40 PM
Nov 2012

wow.

Montana?!

Well, no, I guess it probably makes sense, after all, rugged individualists, etc.

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