Blog Mirror: The We The People Amendment.

A proposed Constitutional Amendment introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington):

Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]

The rights and privileges protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights and privileges of natural persons only.

An artificial entity, such as a corporation, limited liability company, or other for-profit entity, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign State shall have no rights under the Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law. 

The privileges of artificial entity shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech]

Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.

Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.

The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

Section 3. 

This amendment shall not be construed to abridge the privilege secured by the Constitution of the United States of the freedom of the press.”.

I like it. The concept that corporation are people is problematic in every sense, but particularly in regard to the idea that they have the same rights, or some of them, as natural-born real people.

This clearly attacks the Citizens United decision, which frankly was decided wrongly.  Indeed, early in the country's history not only was this idea completely foreign, but the formation of corporations was strictly constrained and relatively rare.

Unfortunately, of course, even in this hyper populist era, this populist idea, as it's from the populist left, is probably stillborn.  The McCarthy GOP isn't going to pass anything that a Democrat comes up with, particularly as its a minoritarian party in some significant ways that might fear the result.