It is time again to consider why we need to amend the U.S. Constitution to clarify that money is not speech and corporations are not people.
In a Feb. 21 story, “Union retirees fear deep pension cuts,” we read about the bipartisan attack on pension payouts. While the article focused mainly on the pain inflicted by cuts, the story did not cover how all pension funds were damaged by Wall Street fraud facilitated by repeal of Glass-Steagall regulation. Laws regulating Wall Street behavior are supposed to protect the vulnerable; however, since the Supreme Court’s Buckley, Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions, politicians in both parties mostly answer to people with the deepest pockets and public protection from corporate predatory practices gets little attention.
Do not think we have seen the worst of it, either. If the secretly negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership “trade agreement” passes, all corporations anywhere will be able to sue any level of government anywhere that they believe has passed laws or regulations that curtail profits. President Barack Obama, our two Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and many Republicans support that legislation. National sovereignty, and everyone’s well-being, are at risk if it passes.
Go to www.wamend.org (The Washington Coalition to Amend the Constitution) to get involved.
