As relayed in previous posts, I have become more involved with the group Move To Amend (MTA), and plan to attend a regional organizing conference later this month. The group's proposed amendment to the US Constitution would firmly clarify that corporations do not carry the same self-evident rights as natural persons.
MTA has been successful so far generating interest and support for the movement, but this enthusiasm has been largely confined to the political left of the country. If the movement does not reach out to more conservative crowds, passage of this amendment will be extremely more difficult and perhaps doomed to someone's footnote.
Here are 2 major arguments for conservatives why they should support this amendment as written:
- The "money is not speech" clause will not only affect corporations, but also labor unions. They too would no longer have a constitutional right to spend freely to influence political elections. It means any flushing of money from the system engendered by this amendment will be equally painful for both major parties, and more likely to enable greater party competition that would better represent the diverse views of conservatives (and liberals) alike.
- Restricting the ability of corporations to influence government policy will make government smaller. The expansion of government has been caused as much by corporate mercantilism as it is by bureaucratic inertia and legislative best intentions.
2 comments:
My prejudices make me view w. suspicion all attempts to amend the US Constitution as more trouble than they're worth (state constitutions are so much easier and you can target more than one of them at a time), but thankfully we do not all see our world in the same way.
I think you could win over some of the smarter, more idealistic conservatives with your arg no. 2. I think most conservatives know that unions are weak enuf that no. 1 wouldn't be too persuasive...
dlw
Amending state constitutions would be symbolic only as any such clauses on the state level would be quickly and easily overturned; that's why it has to be the US Constitution that is amended.
The amendment process has already begun as Vermont was the first state to resolve to amend the Constitution to abolish the corporate personhood doctrine, and HI and NM have passed resolutions to amend to overtun the CU v FEC ruling.
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