OntheWilderSide

We are enthusiastic to share a very exciting development for Move to Amend – Brookhaven.

On Tuesday, December 18, 2012 at 6:30pm, at the Brookhaven Town Board meeting, the Board members will have the opportunity to vote to support a resolution that calls for a 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution that states “corporations are not people and money is not speech”.  The citizens of Brookhaven will know unequivocally where each Board member stands on the issue of “Money in Politic$”.

Various Supreme Court rulings have opened the floodgates of unlimited, secret and unaccountable money in our political campaigns.  Currently, corporations, unions, non-profits, foreign companies and/or governments, (anyone or any entity) can spend as much as they want, whenever they want, to either support or disparage American political candidates, anonymously.  80% of Americans, of all political persuasions, feel that these rulings simply put our American government up for sale to the highest bidder.

This is a non-partisan issue!  At the meeting on December 18th, we encourage all supporters — Democratic, Republican, Independent, Conservative, Unaffiliated or Other — to be in attendance. [Editor’s note: The Green Party of Suffolk has supported Move to Amend Brookhaven. See post below.)

Plenty of parking is available and directions can be found at this link: http://www.brookhaven.org/Departments/OfficeoftheSupervisor/PublicInformation/Directions.aspx

We hope that many will take their allotted 3 minutes to speak, either in their own words or if desired, from talking points that we can provide.  If you want to speak to the Board, please be at the meeting to fill out public comment cards by 6:00. 

If you don’t choose to speak, your very presence will be greatly appreciated and very effective.

Please help show solid public support for this resolution. This is the moment!  If you want or have wanted to support this issue, now is the time to do it!

The thought process behind these resolutions is that if thousands of communities across the nation establish that they support this amendment then our federal and state elected officials can no longer ignore this issue. We must come together to affirm that Democracy should not be for sale!

Let us know as soon as possible if you will join us, if you can bring friends and if you need talking points.  We only have 1 day to make this important issue a reality!

This will be on top of our agenda for our monthly Brookhaven, NY, Move To Amend Affiliate Meeting, which will take place the day before the town board meeting.

Move To Amend organizational meeting:Monday, 12/17/12 at 7:30. Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at Stony Brook 380 Nicolls Rd, East Setauket, NY, 11733 UUFSB is located on the northbound side of Nicolls Road (Rt. 97), between Rt. 347 and Rt. 25a, just north of the fire station and just south of Stony Brook University.

All are welcome; if you are bringing a guest, please let us know, so we have adequate seating.

Do not hesitate to email us with any questions or concerns.  Thank you and we hope you will seriously consider getting involved!

Like us on Facebook (click here).

In Solidarity,

Steve Lupo + Lauren Carmichael
Move to Amend Brookhaven

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May 17th Green Party of Suffolk Announcement:

The Green Party of Suffolk has become a part of Move to Amend: Brookhaven (movetoamend.org/ny-brookhaven). Spearheaded by Lauren Carmichael, Brookhaven‘s division of Move to Amend, like others throughout the country, is seeking to proclaim:

• Corporations and unions are not people and are not endowed with inalienable human rights.

• Money is not speech (money is property), and therefore, regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

• Communities have the right to protect, our land, our environment, our homes, our health, and all of our citizens (children, elders, workers, the sick and the poor) against actions which overturn our democratically enacted laws.

And so, to protect our democracy, our health, our lives, our families, our communities and our futures, we move to amend the United States Constitution to affirm that only real people – human beings – are sovereign and entitled to inalienable human rights protected under the Constitution.

According to Carmichael,

We at Move to Amend Brookhaven are committed to mobilizing, educating, and involving folks in our community to join us in asking our council members to show support for the 28th Amendment movement by passing a resolution that states that money is not speech (money is property) and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not the equivalent to limiting political speech; corporations and unions are not people and are not endowed with inalienable human rights. After researching what the Greens stand for, I came to the conclusion that the Greens are the party that can move our country forward. The Greens are not bought and sold by the corporations that are driving our country into a death spiral.

Dr. Jill Stein (jillstein2012.org), who is running for the Green Party’s Presidential nomination, also recently spoke about the movement.

Since 1996, the Green Party has called for a constitutional amendment to abolish the doctrine of corporate personhood. Greens have been ahead of the curve, but today, the curve has caught up with us, and now this movement for a constitution that serves we, the people, has gathered a historic momentum.

The Green Party’s US Senate candidate, Colia Clark (coliaclark.org) addressed the issue as such:

Corporations are not individuals. They have created this present disaster. As a candidate for the US Senate, I will campaign vigorously to prevent these corporations from interfering with campaign funding and controlling our government. I will work vigorously to make sure this legal fiction is wiped out of the law. Corporations are not human beings. Corporations are businesses. And they are in the business of making sure human beings do not have access to the electoral process.

“The Green Party has been a consistent voice against corporate and government abuses“, said Roger Snyder, Green Party of Suffolk’s Chair. He went on to say that the Party is excited to join with citizen’s movements across the country, protesting corporate corruption. The Green Party of Brookhaven, a division of Suffolk County’s party, is an active Chapter that will be working closely with Lauren Carmichael, and other members and organizations that are currently part of the movement, to bring this amendment before the Town Board.

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