[act-ma] Today, KICKOFF - amend MA constitution: corporations are NOT people! Over 8 weeks, HELP gather 90, 000 signatures

[pf soto]

Please like us at our
FACEBOOK LINK 
<https://www.facebook.com/PassMassAmendment>#PassMassAmend, 
#PassMassAmendment

UPDATE! PETITION FORMS 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/PICK-UP+PETITIONS>ARE DUE noon 
on WEDNESDAY 9/18!PETITION TEAMS FORMING all over the city/state!Or DO 
IT YOURSELF!To be on the CALL LIST to help distribute or to get a stack 
for petition forms:PassMassAmendment at gmail.com 
<mailto:wPassMassAmendment at gmail.com>



Petition Drive and Ballot Initiativeto
Amend the Constitutionof the
State of Massachusettsto declare:
"Corporations Are Not People"

"Money Is Not Speech"


"Big Money" in politics hurts our communities and small business.
Corporate dominance of Government and the political process
is placing undue burdens on the people.


Getting the signatures puts the question in front of the Supreme 
Judicial Court of Massachusetts. If the SJC rules the question "legal", 
then the question goes in front of the legislature. If 25% of the 
legislators, in 2 consecutive sessions vote to put the language on the 
ballot, the question goes to the people. It would be the first 
constitutional amendment driven by ballot initiative in decades. Whether 
the SJC agrees to allow us to move forward WE WIN in this DIRECT ACTION, 
aimed at getting mainstream media attention to the question, "Should 
Corporations be considered People"?

Last year, the Legislature passed a resolution almost unanimously 
consenting to the concept, but have done nothing to make it law. Town 
Meeting resolutions round the state are overwhelmingly endorsing the 
need for an amendment.
We believe that if the question is put on the floor of the 
legislature,that they will be forced by their constituencies to vote for 
the amendment. The intiative does just that.

We've waited long enough...
Let's take back our democracy from big business!

Photo: What do all of these corporations have in common? 
www.passmassamendment.orgAgain, it starts in Massachusetts!
Join the Battle of our Age!

Over the last century and more, the people have been losing their 
influence over our democratic process. We believe that the roots of this 
issue is the corrupting influence of money in our political process. For 
educational resources, click here. 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/Educational+Materials>

We have asked our legislators to rectify the overabundance of corporate 
dominance of our democracy. Recall the "Clean Elections Law" passed in 
1998 by a 2 to 1 majority by ballot initiative. Our legislators refused 
to fund it and then ended it by voice vote.

As a result, we believe that it's time for citizens to act to amend 
(clarify) the Massachusetts Constitution ourselves.

In 1917, a Constitutional Convention was called for in Massachusetts 
because of the concern that "invisible government" (their words) had 
taken over the General Court and citizens needed a way to "keep 
government in check". The Convention proposed the "Initiative and 
Referendum" Amendment which was subsequently passed by the public. The I 
and R Amendment makes it possible for citizens...you and I, to "reform, 
alter, or totally change" the government as stated in Article VII of our 
Constitution.

As such, we are embarking up on a BALLOT INITIATIVE to amend (clarify) 
the Constitution of Massachusetts. See this page for our legal 
discussion. 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/The+Legal+Discussion> This was 
submitted to the Attorney General's office, as part of the process to 
get the question on the ballot.

The next step is for the AG to review our language 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/The+Language>to ensure that it 
is both "allowable" by law, and that it would be binding and satisfy the 
intent, if it should be enacted by the people.

Then the next step is the "petitioning phase", whereby we have to gather 
70,000 signatures from the registered voters of Massachusetts.

Even though this is an uphill battle, we have opted to embark upon it. 
Because we feel that we are left with no other option.

Please help by signing the petition, petitioning, and/or helping us 
coordinate. There is lots to do. Everyone can help. We need drivers, 
trainers, people to help find in-kind and financial donations. If you 
are a lawyer and want to help us with administration, or have a 
constitutional law background, please let us know.

We have people from all walks of life helping. 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/Endorsements%21> We have church 
leaders, business people, union members, Tea Party members, social 
justice activists, and people who also work for employees helping. We 
may not agree on everything. But there's one thing we agree on. We 
believe that Big Money has taken over our government, and it's time to 
make sure that the rights afforded by our Constitution are for "natural 
people".

Please help... <http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/How+Can+You+Help%3F>

See here or the links to the right for more information. 
<http://passmassamendment.wikispaces.com/HOME>

Contact:

Terra Friedrichs, terraf "at" compuserve dot com, 978 808 7173 
(petitioning team coordination, press/media, etc) Acton/MetroWest
Nick Bokron, nbokron "at" gmail, 781 715 7822 (finance, legal, 
administration, etc) (Nahant/NorthShore)


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://act-ma.org/pipermail/act-ma_act-ma.org/attachments/20130918/2818b7da/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1175652_529722170436981_105838950_n.png
Type: image/png
Size: 491942 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://act-ma.org/pipermail/act-ma_act-ma.org/attachments/20130918/2818b7da/attachment.png>