Finally, A Constitutional Amendment For The 99%

[midnight]

Unlike the amendment offered by Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), the Deutch amendment does more than remove constitutional rights from corporations, LLCs, and other corporate entities. It reaches all forms of business enterprise, but without the unintended consequence of stripping constitutional rights from unions and nonprofit public interest corporations, such as the Sierra Club, NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and your local community center. The McGovern amendment would not automatically prohibit corporate election spending and would not enable Congress and the states to set limits on election spending by the wealthy. The Deutch amendment does both.
Unlike the companion amendments introduced by Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) in the Senate and Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) in the House, the Deutch amendment goes beyond simply authorizing Congress and the states to regulate campaign financing. It removes the shield of constitutional rights from business corporations and their associations, and imposes an immediate, nationwide ban on corporate election spending.
Unlike the ideas floated by TV commentator Dylan Ratigan and Professor Larry Lessig, the Deutch amendment would not use the Constitution to prevent citizens from donating to the candidates of their choice, or to chisel a dollar limit on individual donations into constitutional stone. Wisely, the Deutch amendment protects and does not diminish individual rights, and leaves the matter of setting contribution and expenditure limits to the people through the federal, state, and local legislative processes.
Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) and a number of co-sponsors in the House bravely introduced the first attempt at drafting an amendment in Congress some months back. Hopefully, she and her colleagues will recognize that the spirit in the streets and around kitchen tables and the level of legal craftsmanship have progressed to the point where a stronger amendment like Rep. Deutch’s deserves their support.http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2011114618/finally-constitutional-amendment-99

[Philosopher King]

1. Before adding anything new, we should first adhere to the ones we have in place.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People.

The 10th Amendment delegates powers, that allow the states to govern themselves in many areas. But there are conditions regarding the delegation of powers to the states: First, is that they are not already vested to the federal government by the Constitution, and secondly, that they are not reserved by the People for themselves.

The 9th Amendment also has very specific and noticeably distinct wording:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the People.

The powers of the states qualified by the consent of the People, but the 9th Amendment also affirms that the rights of the People, even those not specifically enumerated in the Constitution, may not be prohibited or infringed on, by governments.

[midnight]

4. Here is the important element that needs immediate attention

since Citizen United passed: It removes the shield of constitutional rights from business corporations and their associations, and imposes an immediate, nationwide ban on corporate election spending.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Rep. Donna Edwards is going to have a tough primary

and will need our help to win.

We NEED people like her in Congress.

[tcaudilllg]

3. Would just as well that it was offered at the Convention