Council Chambers, Cleveland Heights (Ohio) City Hall

June 4, 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vkowR5ZiyQ&t=63s

A Summary of Subjects and Themes Addressed

• US House Joint Resolution 54, the We The People Amendment to the US Constitution, has 75 cosponsors. It becomes more relevant and essential every day as the US now faces the prospect of personhood for Artificially Intelligent bots.
  
  
• Hyperscale data center threats include exponential increases in local communities' electric bills and wastewater contamination with PFAS and other "forever chemicals."
  
  
• Recent New York Times coverage of Buckley v. Valeo and Bloomberg Law coverage of an ACLU lawsuit in which the judge upheld the actual votes of corporations and other "artificial entities" in a 2024 Fenwick, Delaware election. 
  
  
• As poverty continues to increase, Americans have a responsibility to speak out against inequality and to vote.
  
  
• Corporations claiming first amendment rights and the Supreme Court classifying money as a form of "speech" has led to the destruction of water-purifying wetlands and poisonous algal blooms in Lake Erie, among many other environmental harms.
  
  
• The advantages of paying taxes confers myriad benefits on individuals and communities, including public schools, public libraries, trash collection, functioning roads, bridges and sewer systems, and many others. 
  
  
• Song performed with ukulele accompaniment: "Corporations Are Human," © Tom Neilson.
  
  
• Selected portions of President George Washington's Farewell Address were quoted, including: "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all."  
  
  
• A member of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) explained that SURJ organizes white people to join the battle against white supremacy, and stressed that white people also have much to gain in fighting to end racism.
  
  
• A recent trip to England, including a viewing of the Magna Carta, inspired one Cleveland Heights resident to an even greater appreciation of the Statue of Liberty and its timeless words "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."
  
  
• Song performed with guitar accompaniment: "How We Can Sleep at Night," © 2011 Lou & Peter Berryman
  
  
• A member of Healthcare for all Ohioans detailed several of the ways that rather than Healthcare for all Americans, we have healthcare as social murder.
  
  
• The speaker posits that debt-based money endangers democratic governance. He supports the American Monetary Reform Act of 2026, which would improve and stabilize the Nation’s economy by restoring Congress’s power to create and regulate money.
  
  
• "Happy 250th Birthday, America. What's Next?" To create a functioning democracy, Congress must use its constitutionally granted power to change the Supreme Court.
  
  
• Recent local issues illustrate the need for democratic action at the local level: the sudden, secret closure of the Cleveland State University radio station; the Heights Libraries' dismantling of the arts center in the former Coventry School; and NEORSD's actions to turn Horseshoe Lake and Lower Lake into wetland areas. 

Recording of the discussion with Greg Coleridge, featuring his monthly series of articles exploring the cultural takeaways from significant U.S. social movements over the last two and one-half centuries that are applicable for Move to Amend’s effort to enact the We the People Amendment.

Series on Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment

• January – Introduction
• February – Abolition of Slavery
• March – Women’s Suffrage Movement
• April – Environmental Movement – including rights of nature
• May – Labor Movement
• June – LGTBQ+ Movement
• July – Colonial Revolution
• August – Peace / Anti-Nuclear Movement
• September – Civil Rights Movement
• October – Populist Movement of the 19th Century
• November – Direct Election of Senators
• December – Cultural Lessons from U.S. Movements for Advancing Move to Amend & Enacting the We the People Amendment

Thom Hartmann here, progressive political commentator. Many of you know me from the #1 rated progressive nationally syndicated radio show, the Thom Hartmann Program. I’m also the author of several dozen books, including Unequal Protection: The rise of corporate dominance and theft of human rights and The Hidden History of the Supreme Court and the Betrayal of America

I'm also a long time supporter of Move to Amend!

Please support their work to end corporate personhood and the corrupting influence of billionaire money in political elections.

This effort is more important than ever before.

The Way Through: From Overwhelm, Burnout, Despair & Anger into Effective Action

The recording is available HERE

Here are 2 other links:

• A course outline summarizing each section
• A list of Key Strategies from the workshop, plus Recommended Resources

The full self-paced course is also available online at no charge:
https://learn.radical-guide.com/courses/the-way-through-from-overwhelm-burnout-despair-anger-into-effective-action/

Move to Amend’s Position on the Transparent Election Initiative
(aka “Montana Plan”)

What it is

The Transparent Election Initiative – also known as the Montana Plan – Its goal is to eliminate the currently unlimited corporate political campaign contributions made through Super PACs and “dark money” groups, a practice that became legal following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision.

The Initiative has the potential to immediately address the root of corporate political influence by focusing on corporate charters. In the United States, corporations are legal entities (often referred to as “Artificial Persons”) created by government authority, primarily by states, to grant individuals certain powers and protections, including limited liability. Historically, corporate entities were intended to remain subordinate to the public through state legislation that defined the specific privileges and conditions necessary for conducting business, such as the ability to enter into contracts or to sue and be sued. Early corporate business charters were granted individually by state legislatures and later through general incorporation laws based on the business type. If a corporation failed to comply with the terms of its charter, the charter could be revoked, effectively dissolving the business.

Sign the Petition in support and start organizing in your state.

What it does

It takes a Social Movement, Stupid! Lessons on how to amend the Constitution and how they apply to today’s constitutional crisis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SItZbnIat8w&t=4s

Listen to the dynamic presentation and engaging discussion.

Professor Codrington is co-author of The People’s Constitution: 200 Years, 27 Amendments, and the Promise of a More Perfect Union.   

Please share near and far.

Move to Amend
https://www.movetoamend.org/

Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment

eleventh in the series

'The Bosses of the Senate' (23 January 1889). Joseph Keppler

Many U.S. constitutional amendments have addressed adding rights that were not included in the original document, revised elections for the President or changed the balance of power between the states and the federal government. The 17th Amendment is the only Amendment that deals with the structure of Congress.

The U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 3, states: “The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.” 

The effort to allow voters to directly elect U.S. senators was initially proposed during the constitutional convention by James Wilson, a lawyer from Pennsylvania who would later become one of the original Supreme Court Justices. He was the lone supporter. The framers thought that senators chosen by state legislatures would create legislators who would, supposedly, be more deliberate and independent when considering issues.

The issue resurfaced decades later as several U.S. Representatives introduced the Amendment in the early 1850’s. Future President Andrew Johnson, while serving as a Congressperson, proposed the Amendment in 1857.  

The momentum for the popular vote for senators increased during the next half-century over two issues: electoral deadlocks and corruption.

Our Right and Duty to Create an Equitable Democracy & Constitution

Move to Amend
https://www.movetoamend.org/

Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment

tenth in the series

The Populist movement of the late 19th century was the largest democratic mass movement in U.S. history. The movement included several parallel but independent organizations of farmers in the South, Midwest and High Plains. The movement later included urban working people across the country

Among the social movements covered in this series, the Populist movement is the least recognized (dare I say “popular”) and understood. Few can name any of its organizers, strategists or speakers (William Jennings Bryan doesn’t count, as explained below). There are no Populist movement holidays, postage stamps, detailed descriptions of its activities in high school history books, or even legitimate recognition of its lessons (positive or negative) incorporated in democratic activist organizations.  

The movement’s relative invisibility can be explained by several factors. First, it was largely a rural movement that was the most active in a part of the country (i.e. the Midwest and South) not associated with the mass social movements. Second, it occurred during a period of U.S. history that was dominated by the rapid rise of industrialization and urbanization.  And maybe, most significantly, its goals of creating an authentic bottom up democracy and bringing the corporate state under popular control through democratic politics, a democratic society grounded in mass dignity, was not going to see the light of day in our dominant corporate culture, which includes reformist non-profit democracy organizations.

Move to Amend supporter Patrick McKercher has produced an important and timely documentary:

American Oligarchy: Five Fights

https://vimeo.com/1129606502

Narrated by Peter Coyote, the 39 minute documentary tells the story of the five times We the People have organized to defeat attempts to end our democracy, and what we can learn to meet the current crisis.  It uses the playbook of Hungary's Victor Orban to understand Trump’s second term – the sixth crisis we face. 

The 5 previous threats and the current one are

Watch the excellent program at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnrbyYaH6yU

Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment

ninth in the series

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the South was a continuation of the earlier Abolitionist Movement. Its major achievements were the enactment of the post-Civil War 13th, 14th, and 15th “Reconstruction Amendments” to the U.S. Constitution which abolished slavery, established equal protection and due process under the law, and guaranteed voting rights for Black men.

Panel presentation and discussion at the
Next Systems Studies Convergence

September 4, 2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtsy91iCGKM&list=PLrFE8GFuZltEcMb0JntddjsEpMqS10ozd&index=14 
 

This panel includes John Mulkins, Luke Pickrell, and Greg Coleridge as they discuss democratizing the U.S. constitution, with background on our history as a democracy, the undemocratic features of the constitution, what can be done to democratize our constitution, and what can participants do to further the conversation.

Presented by Move To Amend

See all the Convergence sessions at   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUT4Q3RTbFE&list=PLrFE8GFuZltEcMb0JntddjsEpMqS10ozd&index=1

In solidarity, 

Greg, Margaret, Katie, Alfonso, Jessica, Jason, Tara, Cole, Shelly, George, Daniel, Kelsey, Jennie, Keyan, Michael & Alfonso.

P.S.  We are living through a constitutional crisis. Every generation has the opportunity to define history. Together, we must act and do our part to create a Constitution that affirms justice, a livable world and an authentically democracy Your support makes this vision real. Join us with a gift today!

Constitution Day is next Wednesday, September 17. 

The United States Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787 by 39 delegates at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It replaced the Articles of Confederation as the document defining the new government. Educational programs are provided by publicly funded educational institutions and federal agencies to celebrate the day.

Those programs provide only superficial and slanted views. While there were many elements of the original U.S. Constitution that were indeed revolutionary and democratic, many others affirmed top down control, ingrained property rights over human rights and excluded a majority of the population. We, the People did not – and still do not – include ALL the People.

Social movements for more than two centuries have forced the adoption of amendments and established a culture that led to Supreme Court decisions that included some rights of groups who should have been originally included in the founding document.

Cultural Change for the We the People Amendment

[eighth in a series]

The United States. has been involved in 11 wars and 175 non colonial military conflicts (and counting) in its 249 year history since claiming independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776. Today, the U.S maintains roughly 750 military bases and installation in 80 countries worldwide. There are very few years in U.S. history when its military was not engaged in armed conflict somewhere in the world.

Perpetual state-sponsored violence from the colonial era to the present day has been responded with perpetual organized movements of people for peace and against wars and colonization. This history is too exhaustive to examine in detail. Thus, this examination will focus on cultural lessons learned from peace, anti-war and anti-nuclear weapons movements beginning in the early 20th century. 

📣 Billionaires have the megaphones. We have the people — but we need to be LOUDER.

Move to Amend has a bold mission: pass the We the People Amendment (HJR 54) to end corporate constitutional rights and the false doctrine that money equals speech. Right now, we need to break through to a much bigger audience.

Many issues will never be fully resolved until this one is. We’re fighting dozens of battles: climate collapse, authoritarianism, income inequality, safe food, preserving social and economic safety net programs, gun safety – but none of these can be fully won while corporations have constitutional rights and unlimited money buys political power.

If you’ve lucky enough to have a 401k retirement plan offered by your employer, beware. Private equity and cryptocurrency interests want a big piece of it.

SUMMARY

What are we talking about?

Private equity (PE) refers to firms that make monetary investments from wealthy individuals, pension funds and university endowments in companies that are not publicly traded.

Cryptocurrencies are a form of digital currency (also called “digital assets”) that allows people to make payments directly to each other through an online system that is not controlled by any one person, organization or nation state.

What happened? 

Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on August 7 that would allow 401k workplace retirement funds totalling $12 trillion to invest in private equity firms and cryptos.

How did this happen?

Private equity corporations and cryptocurrency exchanges and their respective billionaire owners and investors donated massive sums in the 2024 political election - targeting Trump and pro-crypto Congressional candidates.

Why did this happen?

Private equity and cryptocurrencies pushed hard for these changes, to be sure, to increase their profits, but in the case of cryptos, to gain credibility. 

What can we do about it?.

If you have a 401k, communicate to your employer that you don’t want a nickel of your hard earned retirement fund invested in risky, opaque and expensive ventures.

Support enacting  HJR54, the We the People Amendment.

Labor is the only organized group that has consistently stood for worker's rights over corporate rule. Scores of economic, social and political justices have been championed by individual workers and organized working people who are members of labor unions -- sometimes working alone and other times in coalition with other organizations representing those who have been historically oppressed.