For decades, the U.S. government has been blatantly violating our Fourth Amendment rights by engaging in warrantless mass surveillance of our activities -- aided by corporations who have created an entire industry of mining and selling that data to them!

Oh, my… oh, my… April was packed with Corporate Rule News -- check out our monthly Live Report to hear all the most relevant Corporate Rule News we've been tracking!

On this International Workers Day (AKA May Day), Move to Amend stands in solidarity with all workers of the world in the ongoing struggle against corporate rule.

The #WeThePeopleAmendment is more important than ever to workers and the labor movement. Share the Move to Amend petition with your fellow workers today so we can grow the movement to end corporate constitutional rights once and for all!

Last week, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey introduced into the 117th Congress a visionary piece of legislation known as the Green New Deal.

The GND is a bold and comprehensive plan to transform our current economy -- based on fossil fuel extraction and exploitation -- into an economy of dignified jobs for all and clean energy!

We're launching #WeThePeopleWednesday!

Calling your Representative every 28th of the month to support the 28th Amendment to #EndCorporateRule is good -- but calling EVERY WEDNESDAY is better!

There's no easy way to say it -- this is a dark time for our already-hobbling labor movement.

Last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid case -- in which two agricultural corporations are challenging a California regulation that allows labor unions to talk to workers on the property (during very limited, non-work hours). Their goal is total defiance to any state law affirming any union organizing rights on corporate property.

March is almost gone, but the madness doesn’t end with it — nor does COVID 

https://youtu.be/5zEWoXmYKHg 

When Virginia L. Minor tried to register to vote in Missouri in 1872, the registrar (Reese Happersett) refused to allow it. Minor sued, on the grounds that the 14th Amendment made women citizens of the nation -- and therefore she should be able to vote.

This week marks the 149th anniversary of Minor v. Happersett -- wherein the Supreme Court ruled that a right to vote was NOT inherent to citizenship, and that the laws regarding who could and could not vote should be left to the states.

Great news! We now have 42 co-sponsors formally committed for the reintroduction of the #WeThePeopleAmendment as House Joint Resolution 48, with more expected to sign on by the end of this week!

Did you know that the Supreme Court deemed corporations as people with Constitutional rights fifty years before women achieved the right to vote? That fact gives a whole new meaning to this sentence: The US Constitution is a property rights document.

Today, March 8, is International Women's Day -- an observance established in 1911 with deep roots in the Women's Suffrage Movement. It is an expression of how hard women all over the world have had to fight to secure the same legal status, rights, and opportunities as men. It's also a reminder of the immense work is left to be done to elevate human rights over corporate privilege. Help us grow the movement to continue that work by sharing the Motion to Amend petition on your social media, or a group text/email to your friends and family!

Community Rights: Working Together for Real People
National Community Rights Network's (NCRN) presentation and discussion with Greg Coleridge, Move To Amend's (MTA) Outreach Director, 2/24/21

We're doing it, folks!

We now have 33 co-sponsors committed for the reintroduction of the #WeThePeopleAmendment as House Joint Resolution 48.  

The Move the 117th Congress to Amend campaign goal is to secure 100 co-sponsorships for the #WethePeopleAmendment by March 31, 2021.

If you aren't able to sign up for this campaign, please make a donation to help us start STRONG in the new Congress!

Perhaps the most destructive lasting impact of the previous administration's legacy is just how far the bar has been lowered -- and how any criticism of our current government can now be met with "hey, at least it's not Trump!"

The past four years were not a fluke, nor an aberration. A fascistic faux-populist rising to power is but one of the consequences of a government that has lost the trust of those they represent -- a government that systematically puts profits over people, fueling the deep inequalities that are indefensible anywhere but especially in a nation as wealthy as the United States.

And right now, the deep suffering of the American people is being ignored, in the middle of an economic and public health crisis that has NOT ended with the transfer of power. We are concerned that this cycle will continue if the Biden administration does not step it up, and quickly.

WHAT WE NEED IS AN F.D.R. MOMENT...

On this day, we celebrate the chosen birthday of great orator and abolitionist Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery, Douglass never knew his actual birthdate or age -- but he remembered his mother affectionately called him "Lil Valentine" -- and after escaping slavery, Douglass chose February 14th to observe his birthday as a free man. 

Great news!

We have already secured 25 co-sponsors for the reintroduction of the #WethePeopleAmendment as House Joint Resolution 48.  The Move the 117thCongress to Amend Campaign is in full swing!

As leaders and constituents organize around the country, now is the time for YOU to plug-in. Our campaign goal is to secure 100 co-sponsorships for the #WethePeopleAmendment by March 31, 2021.

We are pleased with the initial number of Congressional members that have already committed, considering all that is happening in Congress!

However, we are aiming much higher. For that, we need YOU!

Last week marked the 151st anniversary of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which declares “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

While the 15th Amendment was objectively good and greatly expanded and protected voting for Black men and other previously excluded groups, there is a common misconception that it grants a universal right to vote.

It does not. There is no universal right to vote in the U.S. Constitution. 

Reformist legislation like H.R.1. are good in that they mitigate corruption and protect and expand voting access in the short term. But it's still playing defense. We need a long game too -- that is why it's critical that we continue to push hard for HJR48, the #WeThePeopleAmendment, in order to have genuine DEMOCRATIC POWER FOR THE PEOPLE.

Forty-five years ago today, the Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo (1976) that restrictions on campaign spending were a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

They really said that MONEY, which is PROPERTY, is the same as FREE SPEECH.

Most of us learned about the absurd Supreme Court doctrines of "money = speech" and "corporations are people" in 2010, when the Citizens United ruling came down.

But the Buckley v. Valeo (1976) case that set the "money = speech" precedent was not about corporations -- it was about one individual's belief that campaign finance laws were a violation of his first amendment rights to express himself.

It's important to understand that these two ridiculous doctrines existed long before Citizens United.

Citizens United is a symptom -- it is not the disease.

Our campaign goal is to secure 100 co-sponsorships for the #WeThePeopleAmendment (House Joint Resolution 48) by April 30, 2021.

To achieve this goal we have identified 135 priority targets based on the previous co-sponsorship of the amendment, Pledge to Amend signers, caucus membership, location (districts where Move to Amend has passed initiatives), and voting record/time in Congress.

If your Representative is not on the list below you can definitely still target them, but we suggest starting with the closest Rep to you and recruiting constituents in that District to hold a meeting with their target Representative (or their legislative staff). Either way, we will help you!

Here's what you'll need to do:

1. Choose which Representative you're focusing on (see below for the target list, or if your Rep isn't on the campaign target list you can elect to lobby them instead)
2. Recruit 3-5 constituents to join you for the meeting
3. Schedule the meeting (a Move to Amend national organizer will join you for this meeting)
4. Organize a prep call to prepare
5. Hold the meeting and ask your Representative to co-sponsor HJR48
6. Follow up
7. If they don't sign on, time to escalate your tactics! We will help you plan an appropriate action from bombarding their office with phone calls, to organizing a letter-writing campaign to dropping in at their house with Move to Amend petitions! We will work together to decide an appropriate escalation. 

We'll provide you with all the tools and resources needed as well as organizing support. You can expect that this effort will take 2-5 hours a week. 

Sign up below to get started!

Kickoff Call

Campaign Targets

--> View targets on spreadsheet (Google doc, opens in new window)

Sign up below to get started!

Campaign Resources

***Click on each task for related templates and instructions.

STEP 1 -- SIGN UP FIRST!

• Sign up to organize or participate in a lobby meeting on our website.
• We will follow up to connect you to our Slack organizing space and get you plugged in to the campaign

STEP 2 -- Recruit 3-5 Constituents to Commit to Join a Meeting with the Representative

• Send an email blast to the Move to Amend list asking people to sign up for the meeting
• Recruit your friends and neighbors through social media, email or text messaging
• Phonebank or text bank the Move to Amend list to ask people to commit to joining the meeting

STEP 3 -- Schedule the Meeting

• Contact your Representative's office and ask for a Zoom meeting

STEP 4 -- Prepare for the Meeting

• Post the meeting date and time to the Move to Amend website to help promote
• Review background information about the #WeThePeopleAmendment
• Line up a Move to Amend national organizer to join you for the meeting
• Hold a prep call to review meeting roles and make sure you are each clear on what you'll say and how to make sure to get to the ask
• Send a blast to constituents on the Move to Amend list a few days in advance to ensure the office gets calls to put the #WeThePeopleAmendment on their radar before your meeting

STEP 5 -- Hold the Meeting

• Follow an agenda because you'll only have 20-30 minutes
• Take good notes, keep track of any questions you get that you can't answer on the spot and commit to follow up with the answer(s)
• Enter the details and notes to Move to Amend's national database
• Make a clear ask: Will you co-sponsor the #WeThePeopleAmendment (HJR48)?

STEP 6 -- Follow up!

• Send a thank you email with any info requests to the staffer(s) and mail a thank you note to the Representative
• Send email blasts to constituents on the Move to Amend list asking them to call each week to keep the pressure up
• In 2 weeks send an email and/or call the office and ask for response. Be persistent! Keep trying every 2-3 days until you get a response

STEP 7 -- Celebrate or Escalate!

• Often this is all it takes, especially for Representatives who agree with our goals. But if you don't have a commitment yet it is time to escalate your tactics. We will work with you to determine how to escalate appropriately, from stepping up the phone calls, to organizing a letter-writing campaign, to car parades around their office, to delivering Move to Amend petitions to their home, and more!

Ready to Sign Up?