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.

Despite all of the chaos, we haven't forgotten that it is a brand new Congress!

As we watch the events unfold in the wake of the January 6th riots at the Capitol, we also remain laser-focused on our immediate goal for the first quarter of 2021:

• 100 HOUSE COSPONSORS for the #WeThePeople Amendment
  
  

And we have a solid plan to get it done.

If the Senate fails to convict Donald Trump for spreading falsehoods and inciting the deadly January 6th riots at the Capitol, we won't be surprised. 

We have unfortunately grown accustomed to them not doing their jobs.

But that doesn't change the fact that it is critical that they convict him. Tell your Senators to act swiftly to convict Donald Trump before he leaves office.

From the bottom of our hearts -- thank you so much.

We are blown away at how you all came through for us. After a year like 2020 -- which was terrifying on every level, not excluding the uncertainty that our 100% grassroots-funded organization could survive the economic downturn -- we are so excited to announce that you made sure we met our fundraising goal of $25,000 and then some!!!

Which means we are 100% READY to come out swinging in this new year, to advance the #WeThePeopleAmendment in a new Congress. 

WHAT'S NEXT: Join us for two trainings we are offering in January...

We are ready to go because the fight is more important than it's ever been -- and the time is right. We recognize that this is a unique moment in history -- amid all of the confusion and suffering, movements are rising up everywhere, and coalescing around a larger set of demands for social, economic, and environmental justice. 2020 saw more people in the streets than at any other time in U.S. history. These are the moments where anything is possible, if we all rise up together.