Our democracy has been corrupted because the United States Supreme Court decided wrongly on January 21 , 2010 in a court case called “Citizens United” that corporations are people entitled by our U.S constitution to the same rights as “We the People”.
We the people know corporations are not people! Our Constitution guarantees that all power resides with the people and we have the right to self govern.
With this “Citizens United” decision, Corporations now have the “right” to secretly contribute unlimited sums of money to influence elections. Money is not speech. Money is property.
When corporations control the power in the U.S. government with their money, the people lose their rights. American citizens have the duty and responsibility to address and correct this misguided decision of the Supreme Court.
In the spirit of direct democracy, we circulate this petition which acknowledges that protections of our inalienable rights are being denied. Corporate control of our federal government places profits over people, self interest over justice , and oppression over equality. We the people lose our right to self govern.
A constitutional amendment can overturn the Citizens United case. There are two ways to propose a constitutional amendment. Either two-thirds of Congress can agree to an amendment or there can be a constitutional amendment called by two-thirds of state legislatures (this path has never been taken). In order to ratify an amendment, three-quarters of state legislatures must agree or three-quarters of states must have individual constitutional conventions that agree. With this petition, we the people are asking our local citizens and governing leadership to restore democracy by supporting a constitutional amendment that will overturn the Citizens United case. Vermonters say corporations are not people!
