On Monday (April 22), the Supreme Court of the United States will hear the case of Johnson v. Grants Pass -- in which a lower court decided that it is cruel and unusual punishment to criminalize people for sleeping outside with blankets and pillows -- particularly when there is absolutely nowhere else for them to go. Now this decision could be overturned, rolling back years of related cases that granted some basic rights and protections for people living outside.

This will be the most significant ruling in decades about the rights of homeless people in the United States -- as the housing crisis rises to unprecedented levels across the nation, against a backdrop of skyrocketing rents, erosion of already-weak tenant rights and protections, and a housing market that is increasingly owned and controlled by giant shadowy corporations -- often the very same corporations that spend untold millions fighting the very policies that would lower housing costs, create more public housing, protect renters, and keep people in their homes.

What kind of court would allow fictional entities like corporations to have an "inalienable right" to harm individuals and communities and evade accountability -- while the actual real, living human beings it is allegedly meant to protect can be arrested or fined for simply existing, or using a blanket to stay warm?

A Call to Take Public Action on May 10 in your Community

May 10th is the anniversary of the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company Supreme Court decision of 1886. The case first established under the 14th Amendment that corporations are considered “persons.” The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S, included former enslaved human beings, and provided all citizens with “equal protection” and other rights under the law. It was not intended to apply to corporations.

The Supreme Court granted corporations other constitutional rights since then, including the 4th Amendment search and seizure rights, 5th Amendment takings rights and 1st Amendment free speech rights to spend money corrupting politics. The 2010 Citizens United decision expanded corporate 1st Amendment free speech rights.

It’s a common belief that the corporations first acquired corporate constitutional rights (“corporate personhood”) in the Citizen United decision. They did not. Corporate power to hijack democracy precedes Citizens United and corporate spending money in elections by nearly a century. 

Armed with constitutional rights, corporations have “railroaded” people, communities and elected officials  – overturning democratically-passed laws ensuring safe food and products, protecting workers and workplaces, and ensuring a livable world – in ways that have nothing to do with Citizens United or corporate “free speech” rights. 

Ending ALL corporate constitutional rights – not just overturning Citizens United and corporate “free speech” rights – is what makes Move to Amend unique. It is why we call for enactment of the We the People Amendment. And it is why May 10 is such a very important date.

You are invited to organize a public action in your community on Friday, May 10  –  a vigil, rally, press conference, picket, or march – at a Congressional office, court building, corporate headquarters or other symbolic location

• To educate the community on why ending corporate rule is so much more than simply reversing Citizens United and corporate money spent in elections
• To advocate for passage of the We the People Amendment, HJR54
• To organize people and allied organizations to make the direct link between furthering the issues and solutions they care about and abolishing “corporate personhood.”

Contact us HERE to indicate your interest. We will contact you to offer assistance, including materials.

Thanks for considering.

We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes.
       - Leona Helmsley, billionaire real estate tax dodger

                                                        Source: Ralph Nader images

Happy Tax Day! Only kidding.

The very rich and corporations try harder and are more effective in general in avoiding paying taxes than the rest of us. Here are a few numbers reflecting current tax priorities, legislative responses to promote tax fairness and economic and political equality, and how we, "the little people," can become more active in promoting tax fairness and beyond.

Is your Representative a We the People Champion? Find out and call them urging them to support the We the People Amendment! 

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D___uoeIa2w

People are drowning in debt and suffering from inadequate health care, rising inflation, and endless wars. We must degrow the destructive economic system that enriches a financial elite at the expense of people, planet and peace. The privatized money system is unstable and wreaks havoc as it grows exponentially. The Green Party's "Greening the Dollar" initiative outlines how to scrap the Fed for a Constitutional system that circulates permanent, stable, and debt-free sovereign public money. This will allow us to grow a caring economy that nurtures what we hold dear. Hear from:

As millions of people across the country gaze skyward today at the rare astronomical event, let us compare it to a growing human condition. 

Just as the moon blocks out the sun during a total eclipse, oppression blocks out authentic democracy.

Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.

                                 -Martin Luther King Jr. (the anniversary of his 1968 assassination was April 4th)

Welcome to our April newsletter!

We're excited to share updates and stories from our movement as we continue to strive for a more just and equitable society.

This quote appears at the very beginning of our documentary Legalize Democracy.

Economic and political inequality are directly connected. The science of “political economy,” pioneered by Adam Smith, addresses the relationship between power and wealth. For more than a century, however, it's been intentionally separated in academia and culture to prevent widespread understanding of the links.