The Senate Vote On The Constitutional Amendment

Keep Calm and Carry On: SJR 19 Was No Panacea

The hubbub created by Washington insiders and political operatives around SJR 19 was little more than a sideshow to divert our attention, before an election, from the appalling records of both major parties on economic, environmental, and social justice issues.



“We the people” have seen our human rights shrink, along with dwindling economic opportunities and environmental desecration, while “corporate personhood” and “money as speech” have flourished under both party’s leadership.

SJR 19 failed to receive the necessary 60 votes in the Senate yesterday. It was never the magic pill to right the wrongs wrought on our Democratic Republic. The bill did not address the root of the rot infecting our democracy: Corporate Personhood.

There was a silver lining for the Democrats, who score a win (even though the bill was destined to fail) by associating their Party with campaign finance reform — right before an election.

Our democracy is in crisis; SJR 19 and the proposal to overturn Citizens United merely addressed a symptom of our diseased democracy, but left the cause of the disease — large corporations wielding Constitutional rights — untreated.

Move to Amend is the only grassroots organization building a real amendment movement in all 50 states to pass an amendment that actually solves our root problems by ending corporate Constitutional rights and money as speech.

For months DC non-profits have been raising money around SJR 19, a bill they knew was doomed to failure from the start. Move to Amend has a strategy to win and is doing everything possible, within our means, to pass the We the People Amendment, but we are nowhere near as well funded as the DC groups.

In the meantime, we need to keep calm and carry on building our movement!

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This article is taken from an email sent by Move to Amend analyzing the recent senate vote on a constitutional amendment to get money out of politics. Move to Amend is advocating for a broader constitutional amendment, the We the People Amendment, that would not only focus on campaign donation but also corporate power: “We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court‘s Citizen’s United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.” To donate to support their work Contribute here.