[Peace-discuss] [cchcc-l] TAKE ACTION on Citizens United and the Wall Street Tax!

Thu Feb 16 09:25:06 CST 2012

Yet another worthy cause. I LOVE the Ben & Jerry quote!

--- On Tue, 2/14/12, Champaign County Health Care Consumers <cchcc at healthcareconsumers.org> wrote:

Dear Friends,

CCHCC's Campaign for the American Dream needs your help! Stand with
thousands of individuals and organizations across the country as we
organize to overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. Corporations
are not people and should not have the same constitutional rights as real
people! 

If you would like more information on Citizens United and the proposed
amendment, please continue reading after the TAKE ACTION section. Following
that, there is an update on the Wall Street Tax, as well as other pieces of
legislation we are following right now.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

TAKE ACTION!

Add your name to Senator Bernie Sanders' petition if you support a
constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision.
Sanders introduced "The Saving American Democracy Amendment" to
legislatively reverse that decision.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=f1c2660f-54b9-4193-86a4-ec2c39342c6c

CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE!

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, co-owners of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream,
speaking about Citizens United:

"I'm Ben, I'm a person." "I'm Jerry, I'm a person." "Ben & Jerry's ice
cream? Not a person."

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

CITIZENS UNITED AND THE SAVING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AMENDMENT:

Two years ago, on January 21, 2010, the US Supreme Court handed down one
of the most misguided decisions, undermining the democracy our country is
built on. The Citizens United decision allows corporations to now spend,
without disclosure, unlimited sums of money on political advertising. And
we are seeing the results of that ruling right now with big money interests
and Super PACs spending huge sums on television and radio advertising.
Unless WE change it, that situation will only get worse in future years.

The good news is that people are working hard to reclaim our democracy and
defeat Citizens United. Sen. Sanders has put forward "The Saving American
Democracy Amendment" to effectively reverse the Citizens United decision.

"The Saving American Democracy Amendment" states that:
   - Corporations are not persons with constitutional rights equal to real
people.
   - Corporations are subject to regulation by the people.
   - Corporations may not make campaign contributions or any election
expenditures.
   - Congress and states have the power to regulate campaign finances.

Check out Sen. Bernie Sanders introducing "The Saving American Democracy
Amendment" on the Senate floor:

http://youtu.be/G9qZZVqSQdo

Senators Durbin, Udall, Bennett, Harkin, Schumer, and Merkeley have
introduced a similar piece of legislation called "A Constitutional
Amendment to Reform Campaign Finance." Both amendments have an arduous
journey to go through to be implemented. Constitutional amendments must be
passed by a two-thirds vote in Congress to be presented to states. Those
proposed amendments must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

UPDATE: Wall Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act

In early December, CCHCC's Campaign for the American Dream called on
supporters to TAKE ACTION to pressure Congress to pass the Wall Street
Trading and Speculators Tax Act sponsored by Senator Harkin and
Representative DeFazio. While the legislation is still being reviewed in
subcommittees in both the Senate and House, five Representatives have
cosponsored the House version of the Act since our Call to Action.

You can still TAKE ACTION to keep pressure on Congress to pass the Wall
Street Tax by adding your name to Rebuild the Dream's petition:

http://www.civic.moveon.org/rebuildpetition/taxwallstreet/?id=32718-19303982-yVWvqGx&t=3

We will keep you updated as we expect to see some movement on the Wall
Street Trading and Speculators Tax Act legislation this spring!

* * * * * * * * * * * * 

OTHER LEGISLATION THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM IS FOLLOWING:

There are several other pieces of legislation that advance the principles
of the Campaign for the American Dream, so please stay tuned for updates
and calls to action around:

   - Ensuring economic security and stability for aging Americans, through
the:
     * Consumer Price for the Elderly Consumers Act of 2011 (HR 456 & S
1876) by Rep. Gonzalez and Sen. Brown, respectively.
     * Older Americans Acts Amendment of 2012 (S 2037) by Sen. Sanders.

   - Creating a fairer tax structure, by instituting the Buffett Rule,
through the:
     * Pay A Fair Share Act by Sen. Whitehouse.

   - Job creation, through the:
     * Act for the 99% (HR 3638) by Rep. Grijalva.

CCHCC's Campaign for the American Dream will of course continue to fight
to protect and advance vital social programs, including Social Security,
Veteran's Benefits, Medicare and Medicaid. In conjunction with other
campaigns at Champaign County Health Care Consumers, we will also be
actively following the US Supreme Court's hearing of the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act's (PPACA/health reform) Individual Mandate in late
March.

We hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday season and are ready to
kick off the New Year fighting to rebuild the American Dream!

In solidarity,

CCHCC's Campaign for the American Dream

---

Follow CCHCC on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/healthcareconsumers

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Champaign County Health Care Consumers
44 E. Main Street  Suite 208
Champaign, IL 61820

Phone: (217) 352-6533
Fax:   (217) 352-9745
E-mail: cchcc at healthcareconsumers.org
Web:    www.healthcareconsumers.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support health care justice - donate to CCHCC today! Visit our website to make a tax-deductible contribution today.
http://www.healthcareconsumers.org/index.php?action=Donation
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