Take
Action: Call on Senators to Give Democracy Back to the People
Next week - on Monday, September 8 - the United States
Senate will vote on a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and return the power of political voice to the
people. As of right now, 50 out of 100 senators are on board. With just one
more, the balance will at last tilt away from Citizens United, back toward democracy.
At this historic moment, there are still some
Senators who can be convinced to vote in favor of their constituents, and not
the special interests. But they need to hear from you.
Call on Monday, September 8th, call (866) 937-7983
to reach the Capitol Switchboard and express support for the Democracy for All
Amendment. This amendment will ensure that all Americans, regardless of their
wealth, can have their voices heard in our elections and our government. The
amendment will give the power back to Congress to regulate special interest
spending in elections.
Take action today so
that the amendment gains majority support and our movement to defend democracy
builds even more momentum.
Talking points for your call:
- As a person of faith, I believe that democracy belongs in the hands of the people because we are each a special creation of God.
- I therefore urge you to support S.J.Res. 19, a constitutional amendment to establish that Congress and the states have the power to regulate and limit election spending.
- Each person has the right to raise his or her voice in public discourse, but our system today is broken and dominated by big money special interests, whose spending drowns out people’s voices and floods the media with ideological propaganda.
- The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, now bolstered by the recent McCutcheon decision, has unleashed a flood of spending on our elections that threatens the very foundation of our democracy.
- We know that corruption can take many forms, not just the quid pro quo of bribery.
- Our country faces great and serious challenges – from putting people back to work to averting catastrophic climate change to building a culture for peace and shalom around the world. But we will fall short unless we repair our democracy.
- Please support S.J.Res. 19.
More
Information:
Click here to learn more about the amendment:https://franciscanaction.org/sites/default/files/Udall%20constitutional%20amdt%20one%20pager%205.15.14.pdf
To learn more about our partner, the Franciscan
Action Network's Money in Politics campaign click here: https://franciscanaction.org/money-politics
For a theological analysis of the undue influence
of money in politics, see Lo$ing
Faith in our Democracy, published by Auburn Seminary.
This amendment, S.J.Res. 19, would overturn
Citizens United v. FEC , as well as McCutcheon v. FEC, the decision issued
earlier this year eliminating the cap on the total amount an individual can
contribution to candidates, political parties and political committees. The
amendment also would overturn the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo ruling, which
established the doctrine colloquially known as “money equals speech.”
The Supreme Court held in McCutcheon that the
only legitimate rationale for limiting campaign spending is to prevent quid pro
quo corruption – essentially, the crime of bribery. But the American people
understand quite well that corruption can take many forms and the problem with
big money dominating our elections is far more profound than the narrowly
defined crime of bribery. These activist judicial changes to the meaning of our
Constitution tilt the entire government to favor big money donors. They deny
regular people an equal say in determining the future of our country.
We do not lightly call for amending our great
Constitution. But we know that there can be no greater constitutional purpose
than ensuring the functioning of our democracy. We urge you in the strongest
terms to support S.J.Res.19, so that it quickly becomes the 28th amendment to
our Constitution.
PC(USA)
General Assembly Witness:
The 218th General Assembly (2008) of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) said,
“Large sums of money, and the time needed to
raise it, dominate our electoral and legislative processes. Money buys access
to legislators as well as to the details in legislation. If they reject special
interest money, candidates fear that their opponents will outspend them—and
spending counts: incumbents almost always raise more money than challengers,
and the candidate who spends the most money almost always wins. (For House
seats, the number is more than 90 percent.) Because the Supreme Court has ruled
[that] campaign contributions are a protected form of “speech,” the
most important reform to enhance the voice of citizens and reduce the role of
powerful special interests and big money in elections is public financing. Under
such systems, candidates or parties receive public funds to replace or augment
private money. Public funding can curb the appearance of the influence of big
money over lawmakers, encourage candidates with limited resources to run for
office, and allow politicians to spend less time raising money and more time
serving their constituents. [emphasis added]
