Area Residents Will Have Unique Election Experience in November
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Dear Editor,
Residents of the area villages of Mount Horeb and New Glarus and the towns of Springdale, New Glarus and Decatur will have a unique election experience in November. They will have the opportunity to vote for themselves, the human race. Thanks to a group of civic-minded individuals and like-minded municipal officials, the following referendum to amend the U.S. Constitution will be on the ballots:
“1. Only human beings are endowed with constitutional rights — not corporations, unions, nonprofits or other artificial entities, and
2. Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.”
The results from the referendum will send a powerful message to legislators. They will add to the chorus of hundreds of municipalities across the country that have already voted to restore power to real flesh and blood people and shake off the tremendous political privileges that have been handed to nonhuman entities.
Presently, thanks to horrific SCOTUS decisions such as Citizens United and McCutcheon v. FEC, corporate and nonhuman forces have completely reshaped America’s political landscape. The purchasing power of corporations dwarfs that of natural persons. It has created a system of government by, and for the profit of, a privileged few. It has not been hard to see the results of that political purchasing power. We can see direct links between mega donations and legislation generous to the donors. Pay to play has run roughshod in statehouses and the halls of Congress. What we are left with is government by and for the rich and powerful elites, while the commoners who make up the vast majority of the population are marginalized.
Money buys privilege! The megaphone handed to the rich and powerful makes a deafening noise, while the average citizen’s voice is but a muted whisper. Our political system is drastically out of kilter. We need to amend the Constitution to reflect the interests of those with birth certificates, not corporate charters. We need to declare that money does not equal speech and that responsible campaign finance laws are essential to the health of a democracy.
Sincerely, Tim and Karen White
Springdale Citizens United to Amend
