From Paul W. Voegeli
Monroe
To the editor:
This letter is in response to a recent letter from an officer of a group called the Green County United to Amend. That organization is proposing that the United States Constitution be amended solely for the purpose of nullifying the decision of the United States Supreme Court in "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).
Constitutional amendments are a very rare thing. Since its ratification in 1787, the Constitution has only been amended 27 times. Of those, one, the 21st, repealed the 18th (prohibition). The first 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified all at the same time in 1791. Thus there have in effect been only 15 amendments in 229 years.
Critics of the "Citizens United" decision have characterized it as holding that "corporations are people" and "that the money they donate . . . is free speech." That is incorrect. At no place in the Citizens United decision did the court make either of those statements or anything similar.
What the court did hold is that entities such as corporations and unions enjoy certain Constitutional protections. One of those is the right to engage in political speech (which is not the same as saying that corporations are people) and to expend money for that purpose.
The proposed amendment goes much farther than its proponents admit. It provides, among other things, that "artificial entities . . . shall have no rights under this Constitution." Do the proponents of the amendment understand the scope and implications of that language? Many Constitutional rights, such as the right to trial by jury and freedom from unreasonable searches, protect corporations and unions as well as individuals.
The vast majority of corporations in the United States are not large stock exchange companies but rather relatively small local businesses. Many businesses around the Square are corporations or LLC's. Do the proponents of the amendment understand that their proposed amendment would strip those local businesses of all of their valuable Constitutional protections? That is what leads to tyranny in the form of an all powerful government. Aversion and reaction to tyranny is what led to the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in the first place.
Monroe
To the editor:
This letter is in response to a recent letter from an officer of a group called the Green County United to Amend. That organization is proposing that the United States Constitution be amended solely for the purpose of nullifying the decision of the United States Supreme Court in "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).
Constitutional amendments are a very rare thing. Since its ratification in 1787, the Constitution has only been amended 27 times. Of those, one, the 21st, repealed the 18th (prohibition). The first 10 amendments, the Bill of Rights, were ratified all at the same time in 1791. Thus there have in effect been only 15 amendments in 229 years.
Critics of the "Citizens United" decision have characterized it as holding that "corporations are people" and "that the money they donate . . . is free speech." That is incorrect. At no place in the Citizens United decision did the court make either of those statements or anything similar.
What the court did hold is that entities such as corporations and unions enjoy certain Constitutional protections. One of those is the right to engage in political speech (which is not the same as saying that corporations are people) and to expend money for that purpose.
The proposed amendment goes much farther than its proponents admit. It provides, among other things, that "artificial entities . . . shall have no rights under this Constitution." Do the proponents of the amendment understand the scope and implications of that language? Many Constitutional rights, such as the right to trial by jury and freedom from unreasonable searches, protect corporations and unions as well as individuals.
The vast majority of corporations in the United States are not large stock exchange companies but rather relatively small local businesses. Many businesses around the Square are corporations or LLC's. Do the proponents of the amendment understand that their proposed amendment would strip those local businesses of all of their valuable Constitutional protections? That is what leads to tyranny in the form of an all powerful government. Aversion and reaction to tyranny is what led to the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in the first place.
