Overturn Citizens United with an Amendment

  • Corporations are not people

If you’re like me, and of course there is no reason to assume you are except that most of us are not fools, then you are highly skeptical when it comes to believing that if someone contributes tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to a candidate’s political campaign, they expect nothing in return.

If you too find that hard to believe, take action. Petitions are being circulated in our communities to ask the state of Wisconsin to place a referendum on the ballot to create a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution that overturns the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, which defines money as a form of free speech and says that corporation have the same rights as individuals like you and me.

Conservative justices on the Supreme Court who believe themselves to be “strict constructionist” somehow believe that the Founding Fathers considered a business to be equal to a citizen. What next: Do we ask them to register for the draft? Do we give them a vote during elections?

Equally as preposterous is the notion that founding fathers ever would have considered throwing as much money at a candidate as you can afford, no matter how wealthy, as an exercise in free speech. More than likely, they would have considered that to be more like a bribe than free speech. Do you really believe that when the Koch brothers, the Bradleys, or George Soros throw large sums of money at a politician they don’t expect something in return?

Soon, individuals who feel there is too much influence peddling and corporate pressure in our election process will be visiting with you to ask you to sign a petition asking your local governments to include in their ballots a resolution that would be the first step toward a new Constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court decision known as Citizens United.

Corporations are not people, and money is not speech and certainly not free with no strings attached.

Mark Holbrook,

Wisconsin Rapids