I hope Pelosi and the Dems go through with it: it’d be amusing seeing a several hundred page constitutional amendment put up for a vote
(CNS News) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday endorsed a movement announced by other congressional Democrats on Wednesday to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate political speech when it is engaged in by corporations as opposed to individuals.
Pelosi said the Democrats’ effort to amend the Constitution is part of a three-pronged strategy that also includes promoting the DISCLOSE Act, which would increase disclosure requirements for organizations running political ads, and “reducing the roll of money in campaigns†(which some Democrats have said can be done through taxpayer funding of campaigns).
“I’ve introduced a People’s Rights Amendment, which is very simple and straightforward,†Rep. Jim McGovern (D.-Mass.) said at the forum. “It would make clear that all corporate entities, for-profit and non-profit alike, are not people with constitutional rights.
In actuality, the proposed amendment is rather short
Section 1. We the people who ordain and establish this Constitution intend the rights protected by this Constitution to be the rights of natural persons.
Section 2. People, person, or persons as used in this Constitution does not include corporations, limited liability companies or other corporate entities established by the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state, and such corporate entities are subject to such regulation as the people, through their elected state and federal representatives, deem reasonable and are otherwise consistent with the powers of Congress and the States under this Constitution.
Section 3. Nothing contained herein shall be construed to limit the people’s rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, free exercise of religion, and such other rights of the people, which rights are inalienable.
Actually, it would limit freedom of the press
Television and radio networks, newspapers, publishing houses, movie studios and think tanks, as well as political action committees, are usually organized as, or elements of, corporations.
So are unions. And organizations like MoveOn.org, Media Matters, and the Center for American Progress. La Raza. NAACP. Project Vote. The list keeps going on and on.
Blogs would likewise be exposed to regulation by the Central Government. That includes liberal blogs. Many could charitably be called “corporations” via this amendment. Free speech could be restricted for anyone who works for a corporation. The imprecision of the language of the proposed amendment leaves it up to the states and federal government to provide definitions.
The GOP should make the Democrats put their money where their mouths are and force a vote in the Senate and the House on this, because, really, Democrats have no real intention to do anything more than talk about this proposed amendment: it’s a way of rallying the base and creating chaos.
Video available at the CNS article. Embed code doesn’t seem to work.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.
