Home/Community/Alternatives to Political Systems/Unanimous Decision by L.A. Council Makes the City First to Vote Against Corporate Personhood Alternatives to Political SystemsEconomicsSociety Unanimous Decision by L.A. Council Makes the City First to Vote Against Corporate Personhood Craig Mackintosh Send an email December 9, 20116 Less than a minute Hey, here’s some good news to brighten your day. The Los Angeles Council has made L.A. the first U.S. city to officially vote for a constitutional amendment to overturn <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission" target="_blank">the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling</a> that effectively <a href="https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/02/02/democracy-for-sale-by-the-corporate-citizen/">granted corporate entities the same rights as individual citizens</a>. (The ruling allowed unlimited funding of media campaigns for and against politicians and presidential candidates — legalising profit-motivated media brainwashing by powerful industry interests.) </p> <p align="left">The L.A. Council’s vote is an excellent step towards <a href="https://www.permaculturenews.org/2011/11/04/take-the-money-out-of-politics/">taking the money out of politics</a>.</p> <p><span id="more-6737"></span></p> <blockquote> <p align="left">Thanks to ground work by the U.S. Green Party, the wave of Occupy Wall Street empowerment and Human Rights Alert, today, Los Angeles became the first major U.S. city to vote against corporate personhood and call for a Constitutional Amendment asserting corporations are not entitled to constitutional rights and that money is not free speech. The vote was unanimous.</p> <p>The unanimous vote was witnessed in Council chambers packed by a standing room only crowd of hundreds of people as well as an overflow room filled to capacity by enthusiastic supporters. — <em><a href="https://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/no-more-corporate-personhood-la-unanimous" target="_blank">Examiner</a></em></p> </blockquote> <p align="left">Council President Eric Garcetti said:</p><div class="g g-3"><div class="g-dyn a-34 c-1"><style> @media (min-width: 350px) { .infeed { height: 90px; margin:auto; } @media (min-width: 500px) { .infeed { height: 90px; margin:auto; } } @media (min-width: 800px) { .infeed { max-width:729px; margin:auto; height: 90px; } } </style> <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script> <ins class="adsbygoogle infeed" style="display:block;" data-ad-format="fluid" data-ad-layout="image-top" data-ad-layout-key="xxxxxxxx" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4709140704829756" data-ad-slot="5264186828"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></div></div> <blockquote> <p align="left">These are how American amendments move forward from the grassroots when Americans say enough is enough. We’re very proud to come together and send a message but more than that, this becomes the official position of the City of Los Angeles, we will officially lobby for this. I also chair a group which oversees all the Democratic mayors and council members in the country and we’re going to share this with all our 3,000 members and we hope to see this start here in the west and sweep the nation until one day we do have a constitutional amendment which will return the power to the people. — <em><a href="https://www.examiner.com/human-rights-in-national/no-more-corporate-personhood-la-unanimous" target="_blank">Examiner</a></em></p> </blockquote> <p align="left">From the city’s own L.A. Times:</p> <blockquote> <p align="left">“The flood of money since Citizens United is literally drowning out our voices,” said Garcetti, who is running for mayor in 2013. “If we’re going to be moving forward in this country, we need less special interest money in the political process.”</p> <p align="left">Councilman Richard Alarcon, who also supported the resolution, said corporations are “trying to take over every aspect of our lives.”</p> <p>“Corporations are at the wheel of America,” Alarcon said. “And they are driving us to destruction.” — <em><a href="https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/12/corporate-personhood-la-constitutional-amendment.html" target="_blank">L.A. Times</a></em></p> </blockquote> <p> Craig Mackintosh Send an email December 9, 20116 Less than a minute Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Tumblr Pinterest Reddit VKontakte Share via Email Print
Wow! I applaud this. This is so incredibly real. I wonder how any judge could have ever dreamed this up in the United States of all places. Reply
This is excellent news. Hopefully a host of other US cities follow suit and achieve their goal in Washington. Reply
This is great news! Surely now they will do something about all of the union money being used to get politicians elected as well. Hooray!! Reply
Hooray for L.A. The chaos we call American politics is in dire need of this dose of sanity.
That IS great news. Hopefully not too little too late,
Christine
wow! This is great!
Wow! I applaud this. This is so incredibly real. I wonder how any judge could have ever dreamed this up in the United States of all places.
This is excellent news. Hopefully a host of other US cities follow suit and achieve their goal in Washington.
This is great news! Surely now they will do something about all of the union money being used to get politicians elected as well. Hooray!!