To the editor:
Mr. Coppock in his letter of March 12 suggests that the We The People Act currently in committee at the State House and a topic at the upcoming Town Meeting is an effort to “amend the first amendment.” It is not.
Mr. Coppock also says that the We The People Act is opposed by the ACLU. In fact, there is apparently a “deep rift” at the ACLU over its “official” position on the Citizens United decision, according to a Roll Call report this past fall: “’There is a very, very significant divide within the ACLU on this’, said New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, one of six prominent former ACLU officials who wrote to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 4 to publicly denounce the national ACLU’s campaign finance position.” See also “The ACLU Gets It Wrong,” an editorial in the Amendment Gazette.
The ACLU opposes any restrictions on free speech. So do I, when it comes to citizens. But the Supreme Court’s decisions in the cases of Citizens United and McCutcheon amplify the voices of corporations and billionaires, drowning out the voices of ordinary citizens, and the ACLU is wrong in supporting them.
What the ACLU, and the Supreme Court, do not seem to recognize is how far these two decisions have gone in replacing a democratic government of, by and for the people with an oligarchy corrupted by the influence of big money in politics. Money is not equal to free speech; it should be “one person, one vote,” not “one dollar. one vote.” Corporations are political constructs whose sole goal is to make money in any way they can; they should not have the rights in the U.S. Constitution reserved specifically for natural persons.
Sincerely,
Jean Palmer
Tower Road
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