Liz Amsden


How I've supported Move to Amend

  • The Get Foreign Money Out of California Elections Act - Support AB 83

    Citizens United opened a loophole: Foreign governments, foreign businesses and foreign individuals can invest in U.S. corporations, and those corporations can spend unlimited amounts from their corporate treasuries on U.S. elections. 

    The clock is now ticking with less than a month to pass AB 83, The Get Foreign Money Out of California Elections Act out of the Assembly!

    AB 83, the Get Foreign Money Out of California Elections Act, (add your name below) closes the loophole that allows foreign money to pour into California campaigns, candidates, political parties, PACs, Super-PACS and ballot measures “indirectly", undermining our capacity for self-governance...

    3,218 signatures

    When the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money from their corporate treasuries in U.S. elections (Citizens United v FEC, 2010), they justified the decision by saying that U.S. corporations were “associations of citizens.”

    However, over 40% of all the shares held in US corporations are held by foreign investors, not U.S. citizens, living outside of the U.S. These corporations then spend millions in California elections, even though U.S. election law stipulates that no foreign money is allowed in U.S. elections, contributed either “directly or indirectly.”

    Citizens United opened a loophole: Foreign governments, foreign businesses and foreign individuals can invest in U.S. corporations, and those corporations can spend unlimited amounts from their corporate treasuries on U.S. elections.

     AB 83, the Get Foreign Money Out of California Elections Act, closes the loophole that allows foreign money to pour into California campaigns, candidates, political parties, PACs, Super-PACS and ballot measures “indirectly", undermining our capacity for self-governance.

    Earlier this year, Minnesota closed the loophole, prohibiting multinational corporations from spending money on state elections. We can do the same in California. Multinational influence is a threat to U.S. sovereignty and to our national security – international interests can easily, and often do, diverge from U.S. interests. There should not be any foreign money in our elections.

    Join us in support of AB 83 and urge the California Assembly to pass this legislation and close this loophole immediately.

     Sign now in support of AB 83, the Get Foreign Money Out of California Elections Act.

    Add signature

  • signed Motion 2023-10-24 11:14:16 -0700

    Motion to Amend ~ Sign the Petition

    518,488 signatures

    We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens 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.

    Add signature

  • signed up on Toward a People's Constitution 2020-10-28 10:18:24 -0700

    Toward a People's Constitution


    On October 2020 we held a participatory People's Movement Assembly (PMA) with over a hundred people from across the country who came together to discuss why and how we need to democratize the United States Constitution. 

    The 2020 People’s Movement Assembly was a catalyst -- the beginning of something big -- and we invite you to sign up below to stay up to date on all things related to this project!

    During the 2020 PMA we collectively identified that:

    • We are in a moment of converging crises - Climate collapse, global uprisings against state violence and police brutality, and a global pandemic when most are without access to healthcare.

    • What's happening now is rooted in the values defined in (or missing from) the US Constitution - An undemocratic and ultra-powerful judicial branch, lack of human rights protections, no right to vote, and a whole lot of racist language just to name a few.

    • Bold, systemic change is needed - We have to know our power and be able to think outside of what we’ve been told is possible. It’s going to take courage, audacity, and a whole lot of learning and conversations to make it happen. But the only thing we have to lose is our chains. 

    • We have to have a vision and a plan - We learned that when constitutions around the world are re-imagined (on average other countries rewrite their constitutions every 19 years!) they’re more democratic when the Movement has a clear vision of what they want in their constitution. We have been building this vision for over ten years, and we continued it this weekend. 

    • People want a constitution that protects human rights, not just property rights. We like a lot of what’s in the Bill of Rights, (with some changes and exceptions), but the rights should extend further. People want a right to healthcare, housing, rights of nature, gender equity, a right to vote, and a whole lot more. 

    • We don't have to start from scratch. We can get over American exceptionalism and take inspiration from the constitutions of other countries, the UN Declaration on Human Rights, and the 2nd Bill of Rights proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

    We have a lot of political muscle to build to be prepared to democratize the constitution. We’re not proposing Move to Amend are the ones to do it alone, nor that it should be done right now. But there are people who want to restrict rights and create room for more authoritarianism, and they’re planning for a constitutional convention. We need to have a plan too. If we don’t, things aren't going to turn out well.

    We’re moving forward on this work, we’re creating a strategy, and if you liked the 2020 PMA, there’s a lot more where that came from. Sign up below to stay up to date on the latest news and future People's Movement Assemblies and our Toward a People's Constitution program.

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Liz Amsden

Liz Amsden

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