Come Together

Most Americans Oppose United Citizens vs. Federal Election Commission

Most Americans are in opposition to United Citizens vs. Federal Election Commission. Period. And whether your reason for opposition is how this compromises the one-person-one-vote standard or are concerned that corporations are polluting our political system, we still need to make changes and that is going to take time and hard work. It is also going to take a concerted effort.

The Need to Come Together

Right now on Facebook there are no less than 20 fan pages and groups expressing outrage over this ruling with collective membership in excess of 100,000. This is roughly 100 times as many folks as have signed up in support of Citizens United. So the war of numbers is strongly in favor of a change. This battle is essentially ours to lose. What? By that I mean that if the 20 groups listed below and others do not figure out a way to band together and get organized on a broad scale and quickly, we will not be able to affect this badly needed change. We need to keep this in the public's eye and we might not get cooperation from traditional media--for obvious reasons.

Current List of Facebook Fan Pages or Groups

Move to Amend
Amending the Constitution so Corporations Can’t Buy Elections
Amend the Const. to Prevent Corp. Control of our Elections
Abolish Corporate Personhood Now
Corporations Should Stay out of Elections
Abolish Corporate Personhood
Citizens Against Corporate Influence
“We the People” not “We the Corporations”
The David Alliance - Progressive & Liberal Unity
13 FB Colonies: Amend to End Corporate Takeover of Politics
Corporations Should NOT Be Allowed to Vote
CORPORATIONS SHOULD STAY OUT OF POLITICS
If Corporations Are People, Which Restroom Should They Use?
We Want Campaign Finance Reform!!!
Campaign Finance Reform
Abolish Corporate Money in Politics
Citizens Against Corporate Money In Our Elections
Fight back against Corporations in Politics -- Support HR4431
OpenSecrets.org: Tracking Money In Politics
Citizens United Against Citizens United

Questions About Next Steps

I don't have all the answers to how all of this should play out, but I will start with some questions to the organizers of these sites and others. If an amendment is the answer to all of this and I think it is, here are some things to consider:

1. Who--what team--is going to write the 28th amendment and how will that be reconciled with the groups?
2. Which existing organization or set of organizations are going to coordinate efforts in which states.
3. What common communications vehicle will the organizers use to make sure they are all on the same page?
4. Who will research past amendment efforts to discover what worked and share that with the group?
5. Citizens United is well funded and mean, who will take them on in terms of opposition research to neutralize them?
6. Who is going to seek out and document allies in the corporate arena who would rather be just be good companies than control the political system.
7. How will the coalition communicate collectively and vet messaging to the public?
8. Who is going to identify and energize champions in Congress and the Senate?

All of the above questions and more need to be addressed if this effort is going to move forward. It is a huge task and there is room for everyone. In a very real sense this is the same situation faced by the Founding Fathers: A terrible wrong catalyzed a broad yearning for change across a broad geographic area with diverse interests. They were able to pull it off, because they united in opposition. We can do it too. Come together and amend to end!

Jeff Lincrooseisen