to take back the rights of individual human beings and citizaens whose political and economic interests are opposed to those of corporations. However, this prospect is daunting in the face of the Congressional appetite for campaign funds and gifts, as well as in the face of our state legislative members who are more or less owned by the corporate paymasters.
Just as the adoption of the Constitution was a response to the royal and aristocratic claims of god given rights of the ruling class as well as a correction for the difficulties experienced during the Conferation of States from 1784 through 1788, it becomes necessary to amend our Constitution to protect us from the renewed claims of right to flood our election, our legislative process and our regulatory system with money, lobbyists and lawyers.
We can see how money has invaded and twisted our government operations at every level for the past 30 years. These encroachments into our government been but a faint, pastel prologue to what the Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street wolf pack plans for our future. The majority decision was presented in long, prolix positivist legal jargon to disguise how radical the departure from judicial precedent the decision is. And the decision was drafted in such a way as to foreclose any useful action by Congress to change the result.
Corporations were, at one time, granted powers to operate for only a specific period of time and for limted purposes. The Delaware Corporation law changed all that, and led to a general loosening of the limits on corporate power. Modern corporate law grants corporations to conduct "any legal business" and have perpetual existence. Together with the limitations on liability of stockholders, the limits on stockholder suits to compel proper corporate conduct, and the aggregation of huge sums of money unattached to any discoverable entity, the modern corporation has become more powerful than King George was in 1775.
This accretion of corporate power has been long in the making, and we have been repeatedly warned about this by Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and others. Congress, whether from igorance, complicity or greed have allowed this accretion of power, dismantled all the laws governing banks fashioned in the thirties, especially Glass-Steagal and have hired corporate agents as their staffs and legislative draftsmen. No law can pass in both houses without the approval of major corporations, the Congressional comittees are run by corporate agents, and committe records and hearing transcripts are routinely classified and hidden outside the control of Congress.
The consequences of the above outlined process is, in short, that individual people go to jail for petty cimes and for regulatory non malice breaches of regulatory laws while the "Masters of the Universe" are not even investigated. It has come to pass that any perosn who honors their oath of office is trashed in the press, investigated for non-existent bad acts, accused of incompetence, and sidelined. The latest example is Sheila Baer. No one is allowed into a position of independent investigatory or regulatory power until they have been vetted and found to be compliant with the new aristocratic order. Unless this changes at a fundamental level, any pretense that we have a representative democracy disappears.
Some months ago, I made a modest proposal, which was met with the claim that the proposal was pro Republican, anti Union and impractical. However, I have seen the Citizens United decision coming for a long time. This decision is another brick in the wall that the Neocons, Federalist Society nobility and Chamber of Commerce leadership has had in mind for a long time. In the face of the current situation I again put forward a proposed Amendment to our Constitution as follows:
Proposed Amendment 27
- No person seeking to be elected to any office of the United States shall
receive any monies, aid or physical contribution from any person not a
citizen of the State and a domiciled resident of the district that a candidate
for office seeks to represent.
Upon proof before a Court of three Judges
having been appointed pursuant to Article III of the Constitution of the
United States, and without any jury, by a proponderance of the evidence,
that any such contribution of money, physical benefit or other aid is shown
to have been recieved, the candidate for office shall be disqualified from
serving in such office and be further disqualified from seeking said office
or any other office of honor, trust or profit under the United States for a
period of seven years from the date of such finding.
Any person making or reporting a false claim that a candidate has received contributions in violation of this amendment shall, upon conviction be sentenced to no less than two and no more than five years imprisonment, and from which sentence there shall be no deferral, suspension, parole or other diminution of the penaly provided and imposed.
- No corporation, partnership, agency or business entity, whether for
profit, charitable, religious or not for profit may act to aid or oppose the
election of any candidate for office as Representative or Senator in Congress
or as President, Vice president of the United states. Upon proof such aid before a
Court of three Judges having been appointed pursuant to Article III of the
Constitution of the United States, and without any jury, by a proponderance
of the evidence, that any such contribution of money, physical benefit or
other aid, the charter of such organization shall be forfeit. Any act
proscribed in this section shall be ultra vires, and such contributions shall
not be borne by the stockholders or members of such organization.
- Notwithstanding the provisions of this Amendment no limitation
provided for shall prohibit or limit any person from speaking for or against
the election of any candidate for elective office; however, the expenses of such
speech shall be personal to the speaker and may not derive dierectly or
indirectly from any person not an Inhabitant of the state and and in the case
of Elections to the House of representative, a domiciled resident of the
district which any candidate seeks to represent unless such monies or support
have been earned as wages or salary by the speaker.
- No business, whether in personal or organizational form who provides
material, services or any combination thereof to any agency of the
Government of the United States may lobby Congress or any member
thereof, nor may such persons firms or business organizations provide any
benefit, money, gift or other emolument or advantage to any Officer of the
United States, excepting the Several States who provide militia and other
governmental material or services to the United states.
There may be many flames and negative comment about this proposal. I welcome them all. I have become convinced that unless we can force Congress to send such an amendment to the states, Democracy is lost in this country absent a Jeffersonian revolution. Such a revolution is impossible today, for many reasons that have been debated over the last fifty years. There must be a movement that is insistent, focused, and solid that will show Congress that without specific Constitutional changes, the prospect of a Constitution Convention is very real. The only way to present such a threat is to lobby, demonstrate, and confront our state legislators every week, at home, in the streets, in the legislative halls that the present situation is untenable, and will not be tolerated.
Such a movement must encompass all points of view about government and social issues. This proposal, or one similar can, I have concluded, be supported by every citizen except those in financial thrall to the Bankers, Wall Street casino operators and those who seek more control over the people of this country. Conservatives, teabag partiers, moderates, liberals and lefties can support such an amendment. I see no way short of a change to the Constitution to correct the present situation. All suggestions, edits and comments are welcome. Let's talk and not rant. Let's act and not lie down like our Congresscritters are usually doing.