From the Buncombe County Move to Amend:
The Buncombe County Chapter of Move to Amend will host a community forum on “Creating Democracy and Challenging Corporate Rule” with guest speaker David Cobb, the spokesperson for the National Move to Amend Campaign. The event will take place from July 7 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, One Edwin Place at Charlotte Street.
The 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United V. FEC opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections. More recently, on June 25 the Court ruled in a summary judgment (American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock) that, in light of Citizens United, Montana may no longer enforce its own century-own anticorruption law.
Mr. Cobb will lead a presentation on the history behind Citizens United and how communities can work to abolish corporate personhood and reestablish a government of, by, and for the people. “Corporate personhood” is the legal doctrine that allows corporations to enjoy the rights of people including the right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. “Corporate personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality. The Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a ‘legal person’ with 14th Amendment protections before they granted full personhood to African Americans, immigrants, natives, or women”, states Mr. Cobb.
Representative Patsy Keever recently introduced a resolution to the North Carolina House of Representatives in support of this constitutional amendment.
The forum will focus on how the community can join the national movement against corporate personhood. The first of a series of actions and rallies planned for Asheville and Buncombe County, the forum is open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session.
For more information, contact Ruth Christie at 828-232-2883.
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