Maryland says: Don’t let corporations buy our elections!

Democracy in America and Maryland is being corrupted by big moneyed interests. Legislative leaders should help create a more level political playing field for all Americans, rich and poor, by allowing a floor vote in the Maryland General Assembly on the Democracy Amendment. This proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution would declare that:

• Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights. They do not have First Amendment rights such as free speech.
• Money is not speech. The right to spend vast sums of money on elections is not protected as freedom of speech.
• Federal, state and local governments have the right to regulate campaign finance, to assure free and fair elections. That should include how money is raised, how money is spent, public disclosure and public financing.
• Natural persons who are U.S. citizens have the right to vote and to have their vote counted.

The amendment this resolution supports will overturn the deeply flawed Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. FEC, and similar court decisions.

Why do we call for a constitutional amendment, given how hard it is to pass an amendment? Because it’s the only way to reverse the Supreme Court when it goes in the wrong direction.

For example, after the Supreme Court in the 1857 Dred Scott case declared that slaves are property who cannot become citizens and have virtually no rights, the United States in 1865-66 passed the Thirteenth and Fourteenth amendments. These abolished slavery and gave former slaves full citizenship rights.