We the People ~ Move To Amend ~ the US Constitution ~ to Restore American Democracy

Preamble Petition Form (long version):  

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In accordance with the principles of the Preamble, 
We the People Move To Amend the US Constitution to Assert:

1.  Our Freedom and Independence:  All of We The People are human beings with unalienable and equal rights and among these rights are Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness.

2.  Our Inherent Human Rights:   Our State and Federal Constitutions protect the rights of We The People - they neither create nor grant our inherent human rights. 

3.  Corporations Are Not People:  Corporations and other commercial entities, money, property and other things are not people and therefore can not have human rights. 

4.  Money Is Not Speech:  Expenditure of money, goods or property by commercial entities is part of commerce. In particular, any advertising paid for by business entities is commercial in nature and neither Constitutionally protected Free Speech nor Free Expression.   Business speech is commercial advertising.

5.  Our Right to Democratic Government:  Congress has the power and duty to regulate campaigns, campaign expenditures and elections to protect the right of the people to vote, the right of equal participation and an open and accurate count of the vote in order to preserve and promote a democratic form of government of, by and for We The People. 

6.  The Supremacy of We the People:  All government action shall give the greatest consideration to preserving and increasing equality, liberty and justice for all.   Where federal, state and local governments, laws or regulations are in conflict, the greater consideration shall be given to maintaining or increasing equality, liberty and justice for all of We The People. 

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Top of the Petition Form (short version):

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1.  All of We The People are human beings with inalienable human rights.
2.  Our inherent rights are protected by the Constitution, not given or created by it.   
3.  Corporations are not people. Corporations are legal fictions created by people.
4.  Money is not speech. Business speech is commercial advertising.
5A.  We have a right to self-government: a right to vote and an honest count of the vote.
5B.  Congress has the power to regulate campaigns and campaign spending.
6.  We have a right to a government of, by and for all of the people:  Federal, state and local government action shall maintain or increase the liberty, equality and justice for all.
 
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The motion was written and re-written via email and in meetings of Central NM Move to Amend in July.  It was written to meet the criteria of the current national Move To Amend petition and to be as direct and as positive as possible.  Includes core words from the Pledge of Allegiance, the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address (Jefferson and Lincoln) that most people think are either in the Constitution or should be in it.  

As a rejuvenation of the Ninth Amendment it intends to create supremacy of the people: always increase equality and liberty.   It  is meant to modify, not abolish, Federal supremacy to allow states to experiment with systems of greater liberty (ending drug war/prohibition), equality (single-payer) and justice for all (full employment programs).  Change will yet come to America.   Intent is to allow different state laws to exist without being struck down as long as they are increasing equality or liberty or ...  In short, it prevents Jim Crow and allows state-by-state opt out of the nihilist/racist Drug War.  This posting is intended as a contribution from Central NM Move To Amend to the Democracy Convention in Madison August 2011 (this month).

Please discuss the amendment provisions above as numbered for convenience.  The order was meant to be generative: flowing from basic rights of each person to the actions of, and interactions between levels of government.  This post is intended to spark discussion - not end it.  

Please contribute assertions that are missing from this formulation.  Maybe we need some more of the obvious stuff because the current Supreme Court majority can't get past the first three words of the US Constitution without getting totally lost.  For example, the New Mexico constitution contains this little gem of distinction:  

Please refrain from discussions of whether or not we need a government as occurred on Heed Lincoln's Warning.  Let's see... Which is better, naked corporatism without government or corporatism grappling with a sometimes unwilling gov't like we used to have?  What we have now is purposefully unclear but is sliding into military madness and corporate corruption.  Lets see ... the tub is the outmoded limits persisting long after the gold standard, the bath water is the deficits piling up inside the false limit to a deep debt and the corporate party is forcing the government under.  As long as the military is excluded, what gets cut is the EPA, FDA, CPSC, FCC, SEC and the rest of the regulations there to protect the people from corporate misbehavior.  

Entitlements are still self financing - that's why they are called entitlements: they have already been paid for by the people.  Social Security is the biggest holder of the supposedly fearsome debt - it is a major creditor to the government and should not be treated as the debtor.  Clearly things have gone horribly wrong.  We have a government that is supposed to be ours, and it is the only thing that we have access to that could possibly stand up to transnational corporations and financiers.  We, the people, need to take back our government from the corporations and other money powers while we still can.  

Please help this or something like it happen before some TPed Congress makes government illegal or repeals the 20th Century.  

What you can do:

Remember the Ninth!  

Sign the national Move To Amend petition online at:  http://movetoamend.org/motion-to-amend

Find a nearby affiliate of Move To Amend (or start a local group).  There are other ways to get involved!

Comment on, expand or criticize the proposed assertions above.  The floor is yours. 

Please do offer here any questions or discoveries that turn up in taking the actions above.