Amendment to repair Constitution is in Congress!

This post was published by The Wilson Times on Aug. 3, 2019.

My July 20 column about constitutional amendments stirred up a response I had not expected. I did receive several favorable comments or suggested expansions from local readers about my suggestion for a constitutional amendment making it clear that corporations and associations are not people and are not entitled to the civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution. A series of Supreme Court decisions from the 19^th century all the way to the recent Citizens United decision had made corporations the same as people, insofar as legal protections are concerned.

My suggestion was one of several collected by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation after the foundation’s CEO asked for suggestions from readers of amendments that should be included in the Constitution.

What I didn’t expect was an email from Greg Coleridge, outreach director at the Move to Amend Coalition. MTA Coalition (movetoamend.org) had basically the same idea, reducing the power of wealthy commercial operations by not allowing corporations to claim the rights owed to individuals.

Move To Amend has already managed to get a proposed amendment (Joint House Resolution 48) introduced into the U.S. House. It is called The We the People Amendment. Section One of the proposed amendment states simply: “Artificial entities such as corporations do not have constitutional rights.”

Section Two states “Money is not free speech.” Joint House Resolution 48, introduced Feb. 22, 2019, contains additional details (all available at the MTA website), such as “The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of ‘natural persons’ only.” That’s under Section One. In Section Two, the amendment allows federal, state and local governments to regulate campaign contributions, including the candidate’s own contributions. It also requires that contributions to federal, state and local candidates be “fully disclosed.” Furthermore, spending money to influence elections shall not be construed by the judiciary to be free speech under the First Amendment.

Section Three has only one sentence: “Nothing in this amendment will be construed to abridge freedom of the press.”

This proposed amendment is a more carefully studied and drafted proposal than the concept I suggested to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. It addresses the corrosive influence of corporations as well as the lopsided influence of large political donations and limitless campaign spending. If passed and ratified, the We The People Amendment would have the greatest impact on electoral politics since the demise of the Whigs and rise of the Republican Party 150 years ago.

Imagine an election in which all candidates are evenly matched in terms of access to campaign spending. Neither wealthy individuals nor wealthy corporations would have an outsized influence in elections. Corporate lobbyists would have no more influence than individual constituents in determining the fate of bills in Congress. Individuals’ right to “petition the government for redress of grievances” would mean something. Large corporations would not be able to shove public citizens aside and get laws passed in their favor.

I find it a little exciting that a constitutional amendment that would correct several problems with the current political scene has actually been introduced in Congress, where hearings could refine any rough spots or potential unintended consequences in the proposed amendment. But then I remember that amendments to the Constitution are inherently difficult to enact with the required two-thirds majority vote in Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

This amendment makes sense. The last amendment to be ratified was the 27th Amendment (limiting congressional pay raises) in 1992. That amendment had foundered unratified for 203 years after clearing Congress until a grassroots effort revived it.

The We The People Amendment deserves a vote in Congress and consideration by the states. It won’t make it into the Constitution without pressure from “we the people.”

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