Opportunity to overturn Citizens United decision

To the Editor:
    Right now money is considered ‘free speech’ and corporations are considered ‘persons’ for the purpose of being allowed to spend unlimited money on elections. Supreme Court decisions dating back 100 years have given corporations progressively more rights. The 2010 Citizens United decision made spending by corporations on political campaigns the same as ‘free speech’ (and thus may not be restricted). Current polls show that 80 percent of Americans oppose the Citizens United decision.

    A Supreme Court decision can only be overturned by a Constitutional amendment, which must be written either by Congress or by a Constitutional convention made up of delegates from each state. Congress has shown a lack of will to write such an amendment, so the alternative is to attempt a Constitutional Convention.
    Legislation has been submitted in Augusta which would, if passed, become an official application from the state of Maine for a Constitutional Convention to draft an amendment to the U.S. Constitution saying that “Corporations are not people” and “Money is not speech.”
    This is a prime opportunity to overturn Citizens United, to help reverse the trend toward more and more corporate domination of our government and our lives.
    For further information, see http://www.wethepeoplemaine.org/.

Bob Lodato
Charleston