Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, April 20, 2012

Citizens United Constitutional Amendment Backed By Vermont Legislature

WASHINGTON -- Vermont has become the third U.S. state to pass a resolution calling on Congress to amend the Constitution to get money out of politics and reverse the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling that allows unlimited corporate money in politics.

The resolution passed the Vermont House 92-40 on Thursday, one week after the state Senate approved it 26-3.

Aquene Freechild, the senior organizer in Vermont for Public Citizen's Democracy Is For People campaign, called the passage of the resolution "absolutely amazing."

The resolution came after months of campaigning by local activists to win support in towns throughout the state. On Tuesday, a leading activist in the effort, Georgina Forbes of Norwich, Vt., was at the Capitol in Washington for an event promoting grassroots state efforts for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

Activists involved with Vermonters Say Corporations Are Not People got at least 65 towns to pass statements supporting a state resolution.

"People were going to the post office, to their town dump, their grocery store, and talking to their neighbors," Freechild said. "People are just disgusted by the amount of money in politics."

Vermont's legislature joins those in Hawaii and New Mexico as the only three to approve resolutions calling on Congress to pass an anti-Citizens United amendment to the Constitution. The resolutions show grassroots support for the issue and indicate that the states will ratify an amendment if Congress passes one.

Resolutions have been introduced in 20 other states and have been approved in at least one legislative chamber in Alaska, California and Iowa.

Original Article
Source: Huff
Author: Paul Blumenthal

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