[Lekooks] Move to Amend

[Gerald Flakas]

One of the actions in our LCUUC Social Action initiatives on Inequality is to support the movement to amend the US Constitution to overturn the "Citizens United" decision by the US Supreme Court
That decision ruled that campaign-finance limits cannot be enforced because "money is the same as speech" (which is protected by the First Amendment), and that corporations have First Amendment rights, particularly Freedom of Religion, so they can refuse services to their employees and customers based on their "sincerely-held religious beliefs".

To counter this ruling, which opened the floodgates for unlimited cash infusions into election campaigns by wealthy donors and corporations, and to corporations refusing insurance coverage to their employees, and services to LGBT people (or, I suppose, anyone else that their religious beliefs allow them to discriminate against), there is a nation-wide movement to amend the Constitution to establish that 
(1) Only human beings - not corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations or similar associations - are entitled to constitutional rights, and
(2) Money is not speech, therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

16 state legislatures (not Wisconsin), and 72 Wisconsin counties and municipalities (including Waukesha), have passed resolutions, either by legislative action by governmental bodies, or by direct legislation by referendum. There is a group of people in the City of Delafield who are planning to gather sufficient signatures on a petition to the City to either pass a resolution instructing our state and federal representatives to take appropriate action leading to a constitutional amendment, or place such a resolution on the November 8 election ballot to be voted upon by the people.

HOW YOUCAN GET INVOLVED:

1. Help circulate the petitions. You do not have to be a resident of the City of Delafield to do this, just willing to talk to Delafield residents about it by going door-to-door (we have walk lists of likely supporters), or gather signatures at the Delafield library, farmers market, or other place where Delafield residents are likely to go. .

COME TO AN ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING AT THE DELAFIELD LIBRARY THIS SUNDAY AT 2 PM, or contact Fran Bills, Barbara Begale, or me.

2. If you a City of Delafield resident, vote in favor of the resolution on November 8.

THIS IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING, AND YOU CAN BE PART OF IT! Please contact Barbara Begale, Fran Bills, or me if you have any questions.

Gerry Flakas

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