If money is speech, democracy is compromised because some voices speak louder than others Move to Amend is a national group with a single focus: to pass a constitutional amendment that ends corporate personhood and the legal rights that it gives to corporations and to end the idea that money is speech to stop the nearly endless amount of money […]

Oh, this is rich Last week a judge in Indiana ruled that the state’s so-called “right to work” law is unconstitutional. According to federal law, unions must cover everyone at a workplace but Indiana law prohibits delivery of services “without just compensation”. Since Indiana’s right to work law allows workers to benefit from union collective bargaining but does NOT require […]

Confirming what has long been accepted: ALEC is nothing more than a front group for corporate interests The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) calls itself “a nonpartisan public-private partnership of America’s state legislators, members of the private sector and the general public” that “works to advance the fundamental principles of free-market enterprise, limited government, and federalism at the state level”. […]

“Citizens United v. FEC is one of the most destructive Supreme Court decisions in the history of this country”

In August of last year Dean of the House Congressman John Dingell introduced the Restoring Confidence in our Democracy Act. This legislation sought to undo the democracy-crushing impact of the now-infamous Citizens United Supreme Court decision that has allowed huge sums of money to be spent by wealthy individuals and corporations to pervert our elections and subvert our democracy.

Congressman Dingell will be reintroducing this bill during the current legislative session and tomorrow at 6 p.m. in Ann Arbor he will hold a public forum and panel discussion to discuss it.

Click through for details.

There’s more than just a battle for the Chair on Saturday

This Saturday, February 23 at the Michigan Democratic Party statewide convention at Cobo Hall, the Justice Caucus is presenting a terrific panel titled “Citizens United v. FEC – The Invisible ‘Person’ in Michigan Elections”.

The program will include a short film “THE Story of Citizens United v. FEC” followed by an all-star panel that you won’t want to miss. Click through for details.

Corporations are not people, money is not speech

A coalition of people in the Ann Arbor area are putting together a working group to join the national push to repeal the corrupting Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. The nearly unlimited amount of corporate money flooding into our electoral process is already having a corrosive impact on our democracy.

On Friday, June 29th, this group is bringing David Cobb from Move To Amend to Ann Arbor to speak about this issue and what can be done about it.

Details after the jump.

Stay tuned… Earlier this month, I wrote about an effort being spearheaded by Jocelyn Benson to put a constitutional amendment up for vote in November called the Corporate Accountability Amendment. The amendment would bring a level of transparency to our state’s elections that is sorely needed: Michigan has some of the weakest lobbying and ethics laws in the country, with […]

Corporations are NOT people One of my favorite Michigan political movers and shakers, Jocelyn Benson, has launched a petition drive to strip away corporate influence on our elections in Michigan. The petition drive, if successful, would lead to the formation of “The Corporate Accountability Amendment”. Benson and others held a press conference yesterday on the steps of the state Capitol […]

David Cobb, a former Green Party candidate for president and current spokesperson for the Move to Amend initiative, will be speaking in Grand Rapids on January 12. I have no affiliation with Mr. Cobb or his group but their effort to revoke the treatment of corporations as persons (“corporate personhood”) with rights like “freedom of speech” and the ability to […]

Now that we’ve learned that corporations are people, I got to thinking about the implications of this. It’s something, frankly, that I’ve known since I saw The Corporation. However, this is the first time I’ve heard it uttered with complete sincerity by a politician who knew people could hear him or her. If corporations are people, that should bring with […]