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Deb Hogshead rsvped for 📚Gaveling Down the Rabble book discussion - Session 4 2023-11-16 07:17:53 -0800
📚Gaveling Down the Rabble book discussion - Session 4
How 'Free Trade' is Stealing Our Democracy
Tuesday, December 5
5pm PT | 8 pm ET
Facilitated by Greg Coleridge, Move to Amend Co-Director
[Dec 5 Discussion: Chapters 7 & 8 -- 26 pages]
Purchase the book HERE
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Synopsis
In Gaveling Down the Rabble, author/activist Jane Anne Morris explores a century and a half of efforts by corporations and the courts to undermine local democracy in the United States via the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution as a “free trade” model – later adopted globally by corporations to subvert local attempts at protecting the environment and citizen and worker health.
Gaveling Down the Rabble is essential reading for understanding the background of the current struggle for U.S. democracy — local, state and national — against growing corporate power and how we can challenge it.
The U.S. Supreme Court has been cutting our local, state and national democracy off at the knees — in the name of "free trade" — by usurping the power to make public policy from our elected representatives in the Congress and the state legislatures and by giving power to corporations over citizens.
By erecting a "free trade" zone in the U.S., corporations and their champions on the Supreme Court have seen to it that "we do not have a chance of building a democracy." Morris looks at what substantive democracy should look like, and how far from that ideal the Supreme Court — without consent of Congress — has moved us.
What other people are saying about Gaveling Down the Rabble
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WHENDecember 05, 2023 at 5:00pmrsvpWHEREvirtual
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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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- 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.
Move to Amend Volunteer Since 2014
Will you join me in recruiting our Congress member to co-sponsor the #WeThePeople Amendment?
I'LL JOIN YOUWhy I support Move to Amend
I support Move to Amend because it addresses a root cause of so many problems—the excessive influence of big money and corporate power in the halls of government. In addition to volunteering, I support MTA with a monthly donation. You can help by donating today. Thank you.
Move to Amend seeks a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that makes clear constitutional rights belong to human beings only—not corporate entities—and money spent on elections is not protected speech and shall be regulated.
I've been involved with MTA since 2014. An interest in economic justice and peace prompted me to join the Greater Dayton MTA affiliate. I want to see people thrive and prosper, and that takes living wages and safe communities. What I learned after getting involved with MTA is that large corporations influence policies that allow them to profit from low-wage workers and from war.
Whatever our cause—economic justice, racial justice, environmental justice—you can pretty much bet that big money and corporate power get in the way of solving the problems we're trying to solve. It's not just that the ultrawealthy and large corporations have the money to bankroll the campaigns of politicians who will return the favor. It's also about so-called "constitutional rights" that the U.S. Supreme Court has granted to corporations over the course of many, many years.
I'm not against corporations. They play an important role in society and should be protected from government overreach. But they are state-chartered entities, not human beings. They warrant statutory protections, but they should never be on equal footing with you and me—and they sure shouldn't have greater power over you and me than we have over them. Early in our nation's history (and in Ohio's history), people had sovereignty over corporations. But today, corporations have sovereignty over people because the Supreme Court has given them not only 1st Amendment rights, but also 4th, 5th and even 14th Amendment rights. Without a constitutional amendment that makes clear corporations are not people with constitutional rights, the Supreme Court may very well continue to rule in favor of corporations when they raise objections to legislation designed to remove injustices.
Another reason I support MTA is its emphasis on solidarity organizing, that is, standing with groups that have been marginalized or oppressed and working together to move our nation in the direction of an authentic democracy, one that values human rights and gives voice to those who have gone unheard for far too long.
I continue to volunteer with Greater Dayton MTA, and I'm also active in an ad hoc working group called We The People Miami County, based in Troy, Ohio.
I hope you will join me in supporting MTA by making a donation today. Thank you.
How I've supported Move to Amend
