Progress is being made in the efforts to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United Decision. Oregon became the 16th state to pass an amendment. We have 1/3 of the states needed to make the effort to retake our government on the behalf of the people successful.

The current language being put forward in the amendment is as follows: “Neither the First Amendment nor any of the provisions of the Constitution shall be construed to prohib the Congress or any state from imposing any reasonable limits on the amount of money that candidates for public office, or their supporters, may spend in election campaigns.”

No corporation is a person nor should they have a greater right to speech just because they have more money to spend.  Ordinary citizens can not compete in any effort to be heard above the ability of the very wealthy to be heard and to influence our representatives in Washington. In fact in the last campaign, 7 billion dollars was spent on the campaign, with 2 billion coming from outside sources such as Super Pacs and the like. 

Countries abroad now call our government a plutocracy, a government for and by the corporations. K street influences Washington more than we the people. It is essential for our system of government to return to a Republican form of government with democratic aspects. Our citizens deserve to be the ones heard and listened to, not just the ones who have the power of money. Our government needs to hear our grievances and read our petitions. The first people that our representatives should pick up the phone for are the people and not the wealthiest contributors.

Montana understands the power of money. They experienced at the turn of the 20th Century the corrupting influence of the Copper Barons and now they are one of the leading advocates for the needed reform of overturning the anti-republican and anti-democratic Citizens United decision.

Nevada needs to join in that effort to pass a Constitutional Amendment. The Nevada Constitution, for example, includes a campaign limit on expenditures, but there is a very real chance that the Supreme Court in a soon to be heard case will overturn all limits on campaign expenditures.

Already it is a statistical fact that 93% of all elections are determined by who has raised the most money in a campaign. 

Let us all renew our efforts to overturn Citizens United! Our system of government is threatened by the excessive money that is spent on elections. Return our government to where it belongs in the hands of the sovereignty of the people.