Restoring Integrity to American Democracy

Ever since the smoke cleared after the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision “Citizens United,” which enabled corporations to control our elections via unlimited spending, there has been a discussion of ever-increasing intensity as to how we can reverse this horrible blow that was inflicted against American democracy.  Though I’m an expert in none of them, I understand that there are a few legal mechanisms by which this could happen, including a 28th Amendment that would spell out how our political system can become and remain free of the enormously corruptive force of big money.

As much as we all want to see reform that cuts to the very bone of the problem, we need to grant that it will be very tricky to write such a law without doing some level of damage to the First Amendment.

Perhaps the best approach isn’t actually adding an amendment, but by a new SCOTUS decision that re-interprets “free speech” specifically so as to exclude large campaign contributions and political spending.

This approach would parallel what should be done about gun control and the Second Amendment.  We don’t need a constitutional amendment that bans the private ownership of weapons of war; we need a SCOTUS decision that provides a sane interpretation of what we already have.

How hard would that be?  Nine smart people need to interpret the idea of a “well-regulated militia,” as well as what we mean by “arms.”  No one suggests that individual citizens should be able to own missile launchers and nuclear weapons.  What’s the problem with hearing a case involving a law suit in which some person or group claims the right to own a weapon of war based on the Second Amendment?

It’s really an exercise in Occam’s Razor; we don’t need lots of amendments, we need clarity over a few simple ones.

I bring all this up so as to offer readers a path to expresses their viewpoints, just as I just did.

The good people “Writing the 28th Amendment” tell us:

The next amendment to the U.S. Constitution will be the first amendment in the digital age, and we want every American to have a role in writing it.

So we’re going online and on the road to give every American a seat at the table to have a say about the 28th Amendment to end big money corruption in politics and affirm our equal rights as citizens.

Find an event near you or sign up for updates about how you can participate online.

After nine months of debate and deliberation with top legal minds, elected officials, grassroots organizers, and citizen leaders from all across the country, American Promise has complied an online public resource library with the best available information about what an amendment would do to repair our broken republic.

Now, we’re teaming up with the American Constitution Society and other co-sponsors for our Writing the 28th Amendment national tour with stops in every region of the country to solicit feedback, input, and insight from every American through our interactive town hall-style events and online forums and polls.

Writing the 28th Amendment is not just about ‘campaign finance’ or ‘money in politics.’ It’s about our rights as equal citizens in an effective Republic.

But we can’t do it without you. Learn more about how you can participate. And we hope to hear from you on the tour.