Politics

‘Real News From The Blaze’ on Citizens United and Congressional Democrats Move to Amend The Constitution

Avoiding any serious votes with a 10ft pole before the election, Democrats in the House moved on political posturing and symbolic legislation this week, as Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi joined other congressional Democrats on Wednesday in endorsing a movement to ratify an amendment to the Constitution that would allow Congress to regulate political speech when it is engaged in by corporations as opposed to individuals. The attempt to amend the Constitution is a response to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case, and is in line with putting the president’s agenda against his presumptive Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, who Democrats so enjoy criticizing for once saying “corporations are people, my friend.” 

CNS News reports on Pelosi’s latest endorsement:

Pelosi said the Democrats’ effort to amend the Constitution is part of a three-pronged strategy that also includes promoting the DISCLOSE Act, which would increase disclosure requirements for organizations running political ads, and “reducing the role of money in campaigns” (which some Democrats have said can be done through taxpayer funding of campaigns).

Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, one of several Democrats who have proposed bills that if passed would reverse the court’s decision in Citizens United, remarked at a forum with liberal adovocary groups People for the American Way and Common Cause Wednesday; ”I‘ve introduced a People’s Rights Amendment, which is very simple and straightforward.

“It would make clear that all corporate entities, for-profit and non-profit alike, are not people with constitutional rights.”

Conservative organizations have argued such an amendment would be an assault on freedom of speech.

“Real News” opened Friday to discuss the proposed amendment. Panelist Buck Sexton forwarded that this amendment would not just establish that corporations do not have speech, but rather deny that they have any rights at all.

“What about the rights of corporations to sue, or buy property?” Sexton asked. Sexton commented that the legislation was a reaction from liberals who feel like they were on the losing end of the Citizen United ruling. The legislation is simply “intended to rile people up” Sexton said, pointing out that he senses in the bill’s text “a little twint of Occupy Wall Street.”

Moderator Amy Holmes questioned though whether the bill may be on to something, considering that some polls show that Citizens United ruling is not too popular. Panelist Will Cain retorted that polls do not trump principles.

The Washington Times’s Emily Miller sees the symbolic legislation pushed by Democrats against “corporate personhood,” just the latest in the president’s tangles with the Supreme Court. From calling out the court in the midst of the State of the Union, to crying judicial activism when anyone questions Obamacare, to the latest legislation pushed from Nancy Pelosi; whose “full-time job is to carry  Obama’s water,” Miller believes all the pandering is simply aimed at riling up the liberal base.

Comments (49)

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  • RightPolitically
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:13pm

    Romney probably meant to say, or should have said, corporations are made up of people, not “are” people.

    Report Post » RightPolitically  
    • Smoovious
      Posted on April 23, 2012 at 7:07am

      No, I think he was right.

      Corporations are people.

      True, they’re made up of people, sure, but take away the people, and you don’t have a corporation. It isn’t this separately existing entity.

      Whenever the gov’t people talk about taxing corporations, or that something should be provided free from them, it doesn’t just come out of the ether. The costs have to come from somewhere, which end up coming from the people.

      When they rail against corporations increasing prices to pay for something, well, what did they expect?

      It all counts against the cost of doing business, and the price of an item, is directly proportional to how much it costs to produce that item, including all of the gov’t taxes, fees, etc.

      When they talk about taxing corporations more, what they mean, is taxing the corp’s people more, as well as all of their customers. Just another shell game.

      They keep treating the great unwashed masses of non-rich, non-polical, people, as if we’re all stupid.

      And, collectively? On many issues? I‘m not entirely sure they aren’t right.

      – Smoov

      Report Post » Smoovious  
    • auhunter
      Posted on April 23, 2012 at 4:51pm

      I agree with Smoovious. In addition Business/Corporation owners are taxed twice, once for their personal income and then again based on the Business/Corporate income.

      Report Post »  
  • Spokane Armory
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:27pm

    And this is why I sell guns. The second amendment protects the first, and all the other for that matter.

    Report Post » Spokane Armory  
  • The Third Archon
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:08pm

    OH, I get it now–the story about Pelosi wanting to amend the 1st Amendment with regards to corporations makes sense now. Yeah, I guess amending the constitution is ONE strategy to dealing with citizen’s united (hardly the most pressing constitutional reform in my opinion but it’s A way of doing campaign finance reform I suppose)–I would have gone for the more direct and obvious route, however, of simply fixing the mistakes of the judiciary WITH the judiciary and merely OVERTURNING a poor ruling.

    Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • Elena2010
      Posted on April 21, 2012 at 3:51pm

      Or better yet, fix the legislation at the legislative level.

      Report Post » Elena2010  
    • Bikkiboo
      Posted on April 21, 2012 at 6:32pm

      An amendment seems kind of radical. How about a law that just says if you can’t vote for a candidate, you can’t contribute any money to them period. That would eliminate unions, corporations, PACs, outsiders, etc. Records should be open as to who contributes and how much, so it could be traced. I’m tired of outside influences on local and state elections. Only the actual constituents should contribute.

      Report Post » Bikkiboo  
    • The Third Archon
      Posted on April 21, 2012 at 8:57pm

      @ELENA
      I’m not exactly sure what you are proposing then, because a constitutional amendment IS the legislative response–Citizen‘s United wasn’t a law passed by the legislature, it was a ruling on a law, and it was the RULING (which we refer to as the “Citizen’s United” case) which established the interpretation of the 1st amendment that protects corporate political donations.

      Report Post » The Third Archon  
    • jerimiah41
      Posted on April 23, 2012 at 3:06pm

      you have me confused. I believe the supreme court has the last word on constituionality. It cannot just have the legislature go in and overrule there rulings. It is all another policital move to spur on their OWS ignorant puppets of theirs. You watch you will see it rolled out by OWS just like all of the other talking points that come from the left to the puppets like the media that all support OWS which is a joke when they try to tell you they came out of norwhere like the Tea Party. These people are being paid and watch after school how many take these protest rallies for the handouts they will get in lieu of the democrats creating any jobs they could get for the summer. This will be their jobs.

      Report Post »  
  • car253
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 2:27pm

    Does the move to amend include stopping the free of speech for churches as well as companies and/or organizations?

    Report Post »  
  • lynnissmart
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 11:34am

    A tracking device in cars, controlling all oceans, controlling all speech…..looks like they are trying to get everything done before November! POS’

    Report Post »  
  • ACACIA
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 11:11am

    since all news media are all corportations the goverment will be able to control all news reguardless of who generates it. just what we need a communist dictorship !!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Richalu
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 11:03am

    It’s obvious, isn’t it? This is just one more step on the road toward socialism. First, silence corporations because they aren’t individuals. Next, silence non-corporate groups because they aren’t individuals.

    Then … silence individuals.

    I read on another site, someone stating the silent majority wasn’t going to remain silent. When will the voices of the individuals be raised? What will it finally take to get us in the streets? OWS is making plans all over America for their campaigns this spring/summer. When are the Tea Party groups going to start marching? Where? All I hear is the rap tap of keyboards on sites like this.

    Or are we going to wait for things to get so bad that we play into the ‘bottom up, top down‘ gameplan that’s being executed as we speak (type). For when that day comes, it’ll be to late. And I fear that day will come before Nov. Many are hoping that Nov. 2 will solve all our problems. Are you sure there will be an election?

    Report Post » Richalu  
    • Wibbins
      Posted on April 22, 2012 at 12:40pm

      The Tea Party can’t be out in the streets 24/7 like the OWS people can, because we have jobs that require us to actually work.

      Report Post »  
  • The Troll
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 10:53am

    you need to put ALL VID CLIPS in the youtube format, the other methods can’t be shared on all platforms

    Report Post »  
  • rckirby
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 10:08am

    We can only hope that morons like Pelosi and Reid keep flapping their yaps……they are proudly trumpeting their evil intentions ….. hopefully more and more people are waking up. I know the ones around me are!! We need more brave souls in Congress like Colonel West to STAND UP!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Atilla
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 9:50am

    FYI the crux of this amendment, as most Marxist led legislation, is not just about corporate money. It is about the elimination of free speech of talk radio of all right wing TV shows that engage in poitical dialogue. It is an evil and insidious amendment to limit freedom of speech throughout coporate America. It is a blatant attempt to limit freedom of expression created by a Marxist congress.

    Report Post »  
  • htnkd5
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:12am

    They are afraid of something- they must have heard something that the republicans must be doing for the election–

    Report Post »  
  • Deepdiver58
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 7:08am

    Another attempt at absolute government control of our lives.

    Report Post » Deepdiver58  
  • Timely Renewed
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:54am

    When the government can ban people joining together collectively to speak through corporate entities (which include unions for that matter, since they are just another form of corporation) then the only large entity left able to speak will be the government. This is what statists like the Dem sponsors of this proposal really want. We need amendments to the Constitution, but ones which reduce the power of the federal government and restore the Constitution’s original limits on federal power. It is the federal government which is the real threat to rule by the people. See http://www.timelyrenewed.com.

    Report Post »  
  • Timely Renewed
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:52am

    If the government can ban people joining together collectively to speak through corporate entities (which include unions for that matter, since they are just another form of corporation) then the only large entity left able to speak will be the government. This is what statists like Rep. Pelosi really want. We need amendments to the Constitution, but ones which reduce the power of the federal government and restore the Constitution’s original limits on federal power. It is the federal government which is the real threat to rule by the people. See http://www.timelyrenewed.com.

    Report Post »  
  • mingfurecon
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:39am

    Nice try. It must be incredibly frustrating knowing that you just don’t have what it takes.

    Report Post »  
  • mr.goodvibe
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:29am

    What conservatives have tried to take over privately owned companies. ( Facism )? Thanks for admitting Beck was right too, now back under the bridge.

    Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
  • freedomcatcher
    Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:12am

    The issues involved in the citizens united case go deeper than just free speech or corporate personhood. I fear the court, ruling as it did, has awakened the sleeping dogs of war.

    Report Post »  
  • suedstate
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:43pm

    I’m not a constitutional expert (but a little better than Pukeface) doesn’t any amendment to the Constitution have to be ratified by all 50 states (or is it 57 per the Constitutional brain sugeon we have in the WH) ???????

    Report Post »  
  • bullcrapbuster
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:42pm

    Oh yes,“the peoples rights amendment” that would fit right into their dreams of forming, the peoples democratic republic of America.

    Report Post » bullcrapbuster  
  • republitarian
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:53pm

    That is just so cute! They are learning about the constitutional process. This must be a class project.

    Report Post » republitarian  
  • barber2
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:38pm

    The current Far Left, anti-capitalist, Democrat Party has had corporations in their gun sights ever since Obama stated Occupying the White House. Think that was part of the Soros pre-packaged Center For American Progress ( just as big a lie as the Democrats’ Affordable Housing Act ) agenda which came within the Obama Surprise Package. I remember the famous “ you lie” State of the Union speech where the Arrogant -in-Chief excoriated the Supreme Court in front of America about their Citizen’s United decision. ( Just a sign of the jack-booted Democrats actions to come. ) It was an early signal of his War on Capitalism policies to come. This administration is in bed with their big financial supporters, the SEIU- type labor unions. Their policies are all for the unions/ none for the businesses. And these arrogant , but clueless Democrats, do not seem to realize that when they harm corporations, they harm jobs and employment. BUT our Democrats are poster children for the adage that ” Hate Kills.“ They are so wrapped up in their ” social justice / aka revenge , ” that they are killing the goose that laid the golden eggs.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:01pm

      Under Communism… the Bank(s) is the State… and the State creates Business… and directs Labour! Sorry… you are thinking alike an American!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • lukerw
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:28pm

    This is not going to end up… without a Civil War! The Radicals will never accept losing… even to a Majority!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • mr.goodvibe
      Posted on April 21, 2012 at 1:32am

      Will be a short war since they don’t like guns, what will they do when they are out of power and have no army at their command?

      Report Post » mr.goodvibe  
  • VoteRightDammit
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:27pm

    This is what soooooooooo pizzes me off.

    The ultra left come up with insane, idiotic ideas and talking points and then CHARGE FORWARD with them, repeating the slogans over and over and drumming up support. Examples: Catholic mandated birth control = war on women. Paul Ryan balanced budget proposal = eat babies.

    Yet the impotent and pathetic GOP – even when handed sensible, clear and pragmatic ideas, can’t mount more than a peep.

    Where is the Amendment mandating voter ID?
    Where is the Amendment firing Senators if a budget is not passed?
    Where is the Amendment halting the money printing?
    Where is the Amendment stopping the Czars?

    Even worse, when Obama steps up to the mike and claims, “All Republicans want to eat babies”, the most Boehner can manage is “Well, I’m not sure EVERY Republican really wants to eat babies … but we will study the matter.”

    God, these GOP establishment idiots do not DESERVE to win in November!

    Report Post » VoteRightDammit  
    • barber2
      Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:00pm

      See your point. A good offense if the best defense. Do think that Republicans need to retain the decorum that is missing in the nasty Left BUT the Republicans do need to operate from a position of strength with valid and direct responses to each and every one of the many allegations that the Democrats will , no doubt, lob daily in this mud fest head which used to be called a campaign. Issues ? Stick to the issues. The Democrats have no issues so they will deal in distractions and mud. ( ( someone does need to ferret out the hidden Obama issues.. the Democrats get way too much power from their ability to hide information – especially since the media is in the pocket of the Left – talk about an unaddressed issue : The Lefty Lap Dog press is a major one. Where are the conservative Woodwards and Bernsteins ? Where is the conservative Deep Throat ? Where is the conservative community organizer ? Where is the conservative Great Communicator ?

      Report Post »  
    • VoteRightDammit
      Posted on April 20, 2012 at 9:42pm

      Barber: How about, when Obama get up and says something like, “All Repubs. want to eat babies” Boehner gets the nutz to simply say, “OBAMA IS A LIAR.”

      JUST GET SOME GUMPTION AND CALL IT FOR WHAT IT IS.

      Report Post » VoteRightDammit  
  • Marci
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:24pm

    Demwits are complete idiots as they are the ones who would actually lose campaign donations under this thought process-that is if they were being honest on where they came from. But the way they have ALWAYS gone around it is bundling. Any moron who is still steaming over Citizens v. United needs to wake up and realize that it leveled the playing field somewhat when it comes to the party of voter fraud and foreign donations.

    Report Post » Marci  
  • 2gether
    Posted on April 20, 2012 at 8:22pm

    I have an idea. Rather than have the taxpayers FUND campaigns why doesn’ t the press make itself useful and sponsor four debates; 1 a week for four weeks between the presidential candidates prior to the presidential election and only ask questions that are pertinent to the future of our country instead of what someone did with their damn dog or what if a state chooses to prohibit BC…seriously. Then senators should only be chosen by representatives from the state. NO out of state money should be allowed because what the hell does California have to do with the problems of NYS….NONE!!!!! This has got to stop. Americans are dangerously close to losing every remedy they have to address our national and state issues. Please America think about what is happening in our country and stop it before it is too late

    Report Post »  
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