Tag Archives: First Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Tomorrow’s sad anniversary & your chance to speak out


Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of when the conservative majority in the Supreme Court, by a single vote, staged a hostile takeover of American democracy on behalf of corporations.

Citizens United v. FEC reversed more than 100 years of settled law and gave corporations the same First Amendment rights as people, saying they could spend unlimited amounts to influence elections. The day that decision was released, PFAW launched a campaign to undo the Roberts Court‘s attack on democracy by amending the U.S. Constitution to ensure that Congress has the authority to limit the influence of corporations in elections.

Americans will join together tomorrow to mark the anniversary by standing up for democracy in events in Washington, DC and around the country. PFAW will be joining with many of our friends to drop off hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to members of Congress calling on them to pass a bill to amend the Constitution.

Please make sure your signature is counted by joining our petition now.

Legal experts, members of Congress and many organizations and regular citizens are recognizing the need to counteract the Supreme Court’s devastating overhaul of laws that protect the core of our democratic system. We support legislative efforts to mitigate the damage of the Court’s decision. But a Constitutional amendment is the most complete solution to the danger of unlimited corporate spending in elections.

People For the American Way has spent many years fighting against destructive amendments to the Constitution proposed by the Right Wing around issues like flag burning, school prayer and banning gay marriage, so our decision to support an amendment to the Constitution was not taken lightly. We understand that the fight will be long, and it’s an uphill battle, but with a strong grassroots movement behind it, it’s an effort that can succeed.

Join the movement to take back our democracy from corporate special interests by signing the petition now.

Alternatives like public financing are important, but no matter how many tax payer dollars the government uses to try to offset corporate influence it will never be enough to compete with the bottomless coffers of corporations. For this reason and many more, we must amend the Constitution.

— Diallo Brooks, Director of Field Mobilization

P.S. There are grassroots events going on around the country tomorrow and this weekend to commemorate the anniversary of Citizens United.

PPS. Watch the brand new video about the Citizens United decision … click on the link below

 http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=eVmXspEJtQeDtN_dKqq6Uw..

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Take Back Democracy on Citizens United Anniversary

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Last year, the five-justice conservative majority on the Supreme Court decided to reaffirm its inclination to rule on behalf powerful corporate interests by giving corporations a gift that was not theirs to give: the People’s democracy.

January 21 will mark the one-year anniversary of the Citizens United v. FEC decision, which reinterpreted the Constitution to give corporations the same First Amendment rights as people and opened the floodgates of limitless, undisclosed spending by corporations and their shadowy front groups to influence elections.

PFAW‘s marking the anniversary by joining with our friends at the Coffee Party, Public Citizen, MoveOn and others to hold a weekend of events in Washington and promote citizen-organized local events around the country.

Please be a part of next week’s grassroots actions to take our democracy back for the People.

Find a local event near you here:

http://www.movementforthepeople.org/get-involved/organize-locally/distributed-events/find-an-event/

If you know of an event that is not on this list, please add it or contact Sergio Lopez at slopez@pfaw.org.

If there is not an event near you, and you think you can organize or hold something yourself (anything from a street protest or a small rally to a house party or a town hall-style meeting at a public venue), also please contact Sergio at slopez@pfaw.org for help doing that.

After the D.C. rally on January 21, we’ll be joining with our allies to deliver hundreds of thousands of petition signatures to Congress calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the Roberts Court‘s disastrous decision by giving lawmakers explicit authority to limit corporate spending in elections.

If you have not yet had a chance to join our petition, please do so now.

And ask others to join at http://www.pfaw.org/Amend.

Thank you for your activism to reel in the corrupting influence of unlimited corporate spending, and to take our democracy back for We the People.

— Diallo Brooks, Director of Field and Mobilization

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Help teach Sarah Palin about the First Amendment


Sarah Palin needs to learn about the true meaning of the First Amendment. And that’s just what our friends at People For the American Way are setting out to teach her.

Palin’s recent statements about the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center betray a contempt for the Freedom of Religion guaranteed by the First Amendment. And yet Palin has tried to use the First Amendment to stifle legitimate public debate that was critical of radio personality Laura Schlessinger.

Sign the petition to Palin and along with you signature People For the American Way will send Palin a copy of the First Amendment on your behalf.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action

Palin

Dear Ms. Palin,

Please take the time to read the text of the First Amendment, and try to understand it, before continuing to spread a flawed and ignorant misinterpretation of some of our most cherished constitutional principles.

petition button

Dear People For Supporter,

It is clear from her recent statements defending Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s egregious on-air racial insensitivity and attacking the so-called ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ that Sarah Palin does not know the first thing about the First Amendment.

Maybe she should read it again.

Our goal is to send tens of thousands… or hundreds of thousands… or with the help of Facebook and web users like you, maybe even a million copies of the First Amendment to Sarah Palin. If she reads it a million times, maybe the words will sink in and she might finally start to understand the concepts of Freedom of Religion and Free Speech.

Sign PFAW’s petition now and we’ll send Sarah Palin a copy of the First Amendment on your behalf!

Back when she was campaigning for vice president in 2008, Palin claimed her First Amendment rights were being violated because people criticized her rhetoric and some in the “lamestream media” questioned her scurrilous attacks on then-candidate Obama.

Now she has taken to Twitter to defend Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s repeated use of the “n-word” on her radio show in a screed about how minorities are too sensitive about race and need to have thicker skins. Palin claims that Schlessinger’s First Amendment rights are being denied because of the backlash against her remarks.

Unbelievable!

Someone needs to tell Sarah Palin that just as the First Amendment protects the right of Dr. Schlesinger to make racist, offensive comments, it protects our right to raise our voices in outrage. It’s shocking that we’d need to explain this to any political leader, much less a vice presidential candidate from the most recent election who has since been since granted major spokesperson status in the media!

Send her a copy of the First Amendment now and hopefully a basic understanding of its clauses will sink in with repetition.

But it’s not just the freedom of speech provision of the First Amendment that Sarah Palin doesn’t comprehend — she’s also unclear on the concept of freedom of religion. No one has been a more vocal critic of the planned Park51 Muslim community center in lower Manhattan. She has pointed fingers at Democrats, President Obama, “peace-loving Muslims” and others demanding that they take a position against a community center two blocks from where the Twin Towers once stood. One of the core principles expressed in the Constitution is the belief that people of all faiths, and of no faith at all, are equally welcome in public life. America betrays its deepest values when it says that minorities are welcome only if they know their place.

But Sarah Palin still doesn’t get it! Let’s help her.

Join our petition now to implore Sarah Palin to learn about this crucial piece of our Constitution which she invokes so recklessly and without understanding. We’ll send her one copy of the First Amendment for every signature.

And, please, tell your friends. Our goal for this one is to get a huge response.

Thank you for standing up for freedom of speech, expression, the press, assembly and religion — thank you for standing up for the First Amendment.

Sincerely,

Ben Betz, Online Communications Manager