Rally to oppose corporate personhood Jan. 20
Staff Report
Occupy Rockford and other community groups will rally in opposition to the 2010 Supreme Court Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission ruling that affirmed that corporations are people and money is speech.
The rally will be from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 20, at the Stanley J. Roszkowski U.S. Courthouse, 211 S. Court St., Rockford.
The Citizens United ruling allowed corporations to donate unlimited sums to election activities, much of it anonymously. The result is that corporate funding can overwhelm any donations made by average citizens.
The rally also supports Move to Amend, which seeks to enact a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling.
A Teach-in on the Citizens United ruling, along with a general discussion of eliminating corporate funding from our election process, will be presented from 10 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 21, at Unitarian Universalist Church, 4848 Turner St., Rockford.
More information can be found at www.occupyrockford.org.
From the Jan. 18-24, 2012, issue
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4 Comments
Action by Congress or a Constitutional Amendment is the only way to correct this wrong. But what are the chances our “bought and paid for” Congressional representatives will follow through?
So the court affirmed that if you have more money you can donate more money.
Citizens United makes the desires of corporations and the wealthy almost far MORE relevant in choosing our elected officials than you or I. Corporations can now donate limitless funds to campaigns and attack ads in favor of candidates who promise to do that corporation’s (or rich person’s) bidding on legislation, thus negating the wishes of millions of constituents.
Those who argue that corporations are “people” because people run and work at them fail to recognize two points:
1) Real people are limited as far as contributions to campaigns, and most aren’t fortunate enough to have billions at their disposal. So a corporation or rich pe4rson can donate (bribe) far more and drown out the average American’s voice.
2) Corporations can not only donate unlimited sums, but the individual employees and stockholders of that corporation can also donate as individuals — So these “persons” get to donate twice.
If you like having your voice silenced by corporate campaign bribery, keep things as they are.
If you want your elected officials to do what REAL people want, work to overturn the so-called Citizens United ruling.
It’s OUR country!
I would also add that in addition to stopping this corporate citizenship, we also need to stop union citizenship.
In Bill’s response above, you can substitute “union” for “corporation” in every point and it is just as valid.