But I have a new congressman now- Steve Stockman. Yes, that Steve Stockman. I've tried putting this in as conservative and freedom-loving a way as I can, so we'll see if this gets any response.
Feel free to write your own Congressperson, who may be more inclined to the anti-corporate point of view.
The Honorable Representative Mr.
Steve Stockman
326 Cannon Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Sir;
I write to you today urging your
support for House Joint Resolutions 20 and 21, two proposed amendments to the
Constitution of the United
States to provide for proper regulation of
campaign finance and corporate speech.
By the laws and traditions which we
live under, I have one vote, just like any other citizen of the United States
of the age of eighteen or older. Likewise George Soros, Bill Gates, Sheldon
Adelson, Art Pope, and other billionaires each have one vote, the same as you
or I. Likewise, under the First Amendment, we are each guaranteed full freedom
of conscience- to believe, to say, to print and to make public what we believe
without fear of persecution under the law.
Yet thanks to Supreme Court rulings
made over the past forty years, and especially in the past five years, any one
of the billionaires I just mentioned has a vastly greater control over
government than people like myself. In any given year I can afford to donate to
political causes no more than perhaps $100. The billionaires, on the other
hand, can donate a million dollars, or ten million dollars, or (in Adelson’s
case) over one hundred million dollars. This money is spent to influence not
just the voters, but also the candidates who are being voted for, making it
appear that those candidates, to be blunt, are bought and paid for by the
billionaires.
The use of corporations and
anonymous donations to political action committees is even more egregious. When
I say something, or when I donate to a candidate, it is perforce a public act,
and my name and identity are associated with my speech. Corporations and
political action committees allow the speakers to remain anonymous. This
enables them to advance false and misleading arguments which, if the names of
the actual people involved were revealed, would disgrace and shame those
people. This anonymity violates the basic principle that rights have
responsibilities; just as, as a gun owner, I have the responsibility to use my
gun responsibly and with due caution for the safety of others, just so does
must a speaker take responsibility for his or her speech.
Corporate abuse of anonymous speech
is even more outrageous when one considers the origin of corporations.
Corporations were originally instituted by government for the purpose of
accomplishing great tasks for the universal good of the people. They were given
limited liability under the law in exchange for the social benefits they
provided. That purpose has been lost. Today corporations exist for the sole
purpose of bringing profit to their shareholders and executives, with no concern
for the good of the people; and yet they retain all of the rights and powers of
people, with none of the responsibility.
For these reasons I ask you to
support the proposed constitutional amendments proposed by the Hon. Jim
McGovern of Massachusetts.
HJ Res 20 would, if ratified, grant Congress the power to regulate campaign
spending, thus ensuring a greater equality of political influence among all
Americans. HJ Res 21 would draw clear and distinct differences between the
rights of individual human beings (which remain sacrosanct) and corporations
(which are creations of the government and not actual people), and grant
Congress the power to regulate the rights of corporations to restrict the
chronic abuse of their power.
By supporting HJ Res 20 and HJ Res
21 you would take a stand for the freedom and equality of all Americans, rich
and poor alike. You would severely reduce the corruption currently endemic in
our political system. You would preserve the rights of the individual from
abuse by the wealthy few who, under the present system, can buy immunity from
their responsibility as American citizens. For these reasons I ask you to lend
these amendments your support.
Sincerely yours,
No comments:
Post a Comment