On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in the infamous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission case, the U.S. Supreme Court gave rights to corporations that were once reserved for natural, human persons.
This dangerous and unthinkable ruling allows artificial entities, such as corporations and limited liability companies, to donate UNLIMITED funds to political campaigns as a form of Constitutionally-protected free speech. It sets the stage for the auctioning of our representatives to the highest bidder and is the most open and direct attack on America's most prominent founding principle: Democracy.
The fight to reclaim our sovereign right to self-governance begins in your backyard. By signing this petition, we are sending a clear message that:
We, the People of the State of Nevada, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and hereby instruct our elected representatives to enact resolutions that firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.
Amending the Constitution will take a tremendous amount of work from all corners of the nation. So far, New York City, Los Angeles, Albany, Portland, Boulder and many other cities have passed city council resolutions against corporate personhood. The state of Vermont introduced a measure that calls on Congress to create a constitutional amendment separating the rights of individuals from those of corporations. California is expected to be next.
It has now become necessary that we, the People of the State of Nevada, exercise our First Amendment rights and petition Nevada's Congressional Representatives to dismantle the corporate political power that has usurped our governance.
Together we can, and must, put an end to the corporate electioneering of OUR Representatives and build a more perfect union that serves the true will of the governed.
We, the People of the Great State of Nevada, are determined to defend democracy from the corrupting effects of undue corporate power by demanding legislative actions, including an amendment to the United States Constitution if necessary, to establish that:
1. Only human beings, not corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, are endowed with constitutional rights, and
2. Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the People of the Great State of Nevada hereby instruct you, as an elected representative of We the People, to enact resolutions that advance this effort.
