To: The United States House of Representatives and The United States Senate
Democracy Is in Peril: We Need a Constitutional Amendment to Overturn 'Citizens United' and 'McCu...
The only way to undo the anti-democratic Supreme Court rulings in 'Citizens United' and 'McCutcheon' is to pass a constitutional amendment allowing limits on election spending by giant corporations and the super-rich.
Why is this important?
As a result of two disastrous rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, our fragile democracy is at risk of turning into a full-blown plutocracy.
In the 'McCutcheon v. FEC' case, the Supreme Court recently permitted super-rich individuals to dole out as much as $5.9 million every two years to political candidates and parties. The limit had been $123,000, which -- at more than double the median U.S. household income -- already gave the 1% far more than their fair share of “influence” over elected officials. And now their power has been multiplied almost unimaginably.
This ruling does for the hyper-wealthy what a 2010 ruling -- the infamous 'Citizens United v. FEC' -- did for corporations. That travesty of jurisprudence saw the high court rule that corporations can exploit First Amendment rights, where were intended for actual human beings, to spend literally as much money as they want promoting or attacking (and of course it’s usually attacking) political candidates.
Together, these two dumbfounding and wrong-headed rulings make it a certainty that politicians will become far more beholden to deep-pocketed funders than they already are. The democratic ideals that form the very foundations of our nation could disintegrate around us.
Unless . . . we fight back by mobilizing nationwide support for a constitutional amendment to overturn 'Citizens United' and 'McCutcheon' and to prevent the Supreme Court from misreading the First Amendment as granting billionaires and Big Business unlimited power to control our elections.
Take the critical step today of adding your name to the petition right now.
In the 'McCutcheon v. FEC' case, the Supreme Court recently permitted super-rich individuals to dole out as much as $5.9 million every two years to political candidates and parties. The limit had been $123,000, which -- at more than double the median U.S. household income -- already gave the 1% far more than their fair share of “influence” over elected officials. And now their power has been multiplied almost unimaginably.
This ruling does for the hyper-wealthy what a 2010 ruling -- the infamous 'Citizens United v. FEC' -- did for corporations. That travesty of jurisprudence saw the high court rule that corporations can exploit First Amendment rights, where were intended for actual human beings, to spend literally as much money as they want promoting or attacking (and of course it’s usually attacking) political candidates.
Together, these two dumbfounding and wrong-headed rulings make it a certainty that politicians will become far more beholden to deep-pocketed funders than they already are. The democratic ideals that form the very foundations of our nation could disintegrate around us.
Unless . . . we fight back by mobilizing nationwide support for a constitutional amendment to overturn 'Citizens United' and 'McCutcheon' and to prevent the Supreme Court from misreading the First Amendment as granting billionaires and Big Business unlimited power to control our elections.
Take the critical step today of adding your name to the petition right now.