Resolution 14-097 Calling for an Amendment to the United States Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood

CITY OF HOMER

HOMER, ALASKA

Lewis/Burgess

RESOLUTION 14-097

A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF HOMER, ALASKA, CALLING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES TO ABOLISH CORPORATE PERSONHOOD.

WHEREAS, Government of, by, and for the people has long been a cherished American value, and We The People’s fundamental and inalienable right to self-govern, and thereby secure rights to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness is guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence; and 

WHEREAS, Free and fair elections are essential to democracy and effective self-governance; and

WHEREAS, Persons are rightfully recognized as human beings whose essential needs include clean air, clean water, safe and secure food; and

WHEREAS, Corporations are entirely human-made legal fictions created by express permission of We The People and our government; and

WHEREAS, Corporations can exist in perpetuity, can exist simultaneously in many nations at once, need only profit for survival, and exist solely through the legal charter imposed by the government of We The People; and

WHEREAS, In addition to these advantages, the great wealth of large corporations allows them to wield coercive force of law to overpower human beings and communities, thus denying We The People’s exercise of our Constitutional rights; and

WHEREAS, Corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States, and The People have never granted constitutional rights to corporations, nor have We decreed that corporations have authority that exceeds the authority of We The People of the United States; and

WHEREAS, Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by appointed Supreme Court justices to include corporations in the term ‘persons’ has long denied We The Peoples’ exercise of self- governance by endowing corporations with Constitutional protections intended for We The People; and

WHEREAS, The illegitimate judicial bestowal of civil and political rights upon corporations usurps basic human and Constitutional rights guaranteed to human persons, and also empowers corporations to sue municipal and state governments for adopting laws that violate ‘corporate rights’ even when those laws serve to protect and defend the rights of human persons and communities; and

WHEREAS, Corporations are not and have never been human beings, and therefore are rightfully subservient to human beings and governments as our legal creations; and

WHEREAS, Large corporations’ profits and survival are often in direct conflict with the essential needs and rights of human beings; and

WHEREAS, The recent Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision that rolled back the legal limits on spending in the electoral process creates an unequal playing field and allows unlimited spending by wealthy individuals, corporations and other entities to influence elections, candidate selection, policy decisions and sway votes, and forces elected officials to divert their attention from The Peoples’ business, or even vote against the interest of their human constituents, in order to ensure competitive campaign funds for their own re-election; and

WHEREAS, The judicial interpretation to construe spending money in political campaigns as speech is contrary of the notion of one person, one vote and allows those with the most money to have an unfair advantage in a political system that should be about ensuring that all citizens have equal access to the political process and to influencing the outcome of elections; and

WHEREAS, Money is property, not speech; and

WHEREAS, Large corporations own most of America’s mass media and use that media as a megaphone to express loudly their political agenda and to convince Americans that their primary role is that of consumers, rather than sovereign citizens with rights and responsibilities within our democracy, and this forces citizens to toil to discern the truth behind headlines and election campaigning; and

WHEREAS, Tens of thousands of people and municipalities across the nation are joining with the Move to Amend campaign to call for an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to Abolish Corporate Personhood and the doctrine of Money as Speech.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Homer, Alaska, hereby calls on our legislators, elected officials, mayor, commissioners, of Alaska to join the tens of thousands of citizens, grassroots organizations and local governments across the country in the Move to Amend campaign to call for an Amendment to the Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood and the doctrine of Money as Speech and return our democracy, our elections, our communities to America’s human persons and to thus claim our sovereign right to self-governance.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City of Homer, Alaska, calls on other communities and jurisdictions to join with us in this action by passing similar Resolutions. Be it further resolved that the City of Homer Alaska supports education to increase public awareness of the threats to our democracy posed by Corporate Personhood, and encourages lively discussion to build understanding and consensus to take appropriate community and municipal actions to democratically respond to these threats.

PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Homer City Council this 22nd day of September, 2014.

                                                                           CITY OF HOMER

                                                                                                                                       __                                                                                                                                                 MARY E. WYTHE, MAYOR

ATTEST:

                                                            ___

JO JOHNSON, MMC, CITY CLERK

Fiscal Note: N/A