Info on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Jessica Desvarieux of The Real News talks to Lori Wallach of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch about why the Trans-Pacific Partnership is not about traditional trade regulations such as tariffs, but all about expanding corporate rights and privileges. Learn about the few sections of the TPP that have been leaked to the public, why negotiations and content of the agreement are being kept secret, and what a signed agreement would mean for food safety, internet freedom, drug costs, and other basic components of public health and economic justice.

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Steps forward and back on democratizing trade

Two days ago, Corporate Europe Observatory, the Transnational Institute and the Council of Canadians warned that the proposed CETA trade pact between Canada and the EU would grant energy companies far-reaching rights to challenge franking bans and regulations. These investor-state disputes are used by multinationals to challenge and overturn democratically-enacted laws protecting labor, the environment, public health, or any other common good that gets in the way of the supposed "right" to make money. The three groups are urging the EU, member states and the Canadian government not to include an investor-state dispute settlement system in CETA.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) there already exists a precedent for legal challenges to fracking bans and regulations that could be the state of things to come in Europe. For instance, US energy firm Lone Pine Resources Inc., is challenging a moratorium on fracking in the Canadian province of Quebec, suing the Canadian government for compensation.

EU member states already have experience with investor-state disputes undermining green energy and environmental protection policies. Germany is currently being sued by energy company Vattenfall because of the country's exit from nuclear power. Vattenfall is seeking EUR3.7 billion in compensation for lost profits. EU - Canada CETA negotiations were launched at a bilateral summit in May 2009 and negotiators hope to conclude a deal before the summer.

More positively, 12 Latin American governments gathered in Guayaquil, Ecuador at the end of April to craft a common response to investor-state suits. 

As Public Citizen reported, "Ecuador, the host of [this gathering] has taken a particularly hard battering from the investor-state system enshrined in NAFTA-style Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)," including a ruling from one tribunal to hand $2.4 billion to Occidental Petroleum after Oxy broke Ecuador's hydrocarbons law, while confronting a ruling from another tribunal that the government should breach its own Constitution and block the enforcement of an $18 billion court ruling against Chevron for massive pollution of the Amazon.

"Seven of the governments present signed a declaration to coordinate efforts in seeking to replace the investor-state regime with an alternative investment framework that respects sovereignty, democracy, and public wellbeing, and announced the launch of an intergovernmental commission based in Latin America to audit investor-state tribunals, draft alternative investment agreements, and collaborate in strategies for reform…. Representatives from the remaining five governments participated as observers and are now taking the declaration back to their capitals to discuss joining the emerging Latin American coalition."

These efforts are matched around the world. Investor-state provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership are a sticking point for Australia, while India and South Africa are also eyeing changes in policy regarding investor-state disputes. Clearly, there is widespread grassroots pressure to end this egregious example of corporate rule.

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Gearing up to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership

President Obama proposed some intriguing and positive programs in the State of the Union speech--public preschool, a hike in the minimum wage, and measures to prevent gun violence. In a country where policy is democratically determined by representatives who truly act on behalf of the common good and the wishes of their constituents, those kind of ideas could really go somewhere.

Unfortunately, it would be irresponsibly optimistic to think that new laws on public safety will be determined out of reach of the gun lobby, or we'll see anything close to a national living wage when big-box retail, fast food, and other low-wage employers remain politically powerful.

That's why it was very disappointing to hear Obama call for a renewed push for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. We've written a lot about TPP and the damage it could do to local and national sovereignty and laws that protect workers' rights, the environment, public health, and jobs. That's why on either side of the Pacific, citizens' groups of all kinds are opposed to instituting this compact.

It takes some work to mine profit out of universal background checks and preschools, but TPP is one thing that multinationals can get behind in a big way. And they will. Why not? They already have a much better idea of what's in the agreement, thanks to access to the negotiating process that even members of Congress lack.

We need to stop TPP and one way to start is to get our communities informed about what's wrong with so-called "free trade." Please take a look at this latest edition of Populist Dialogues, featuring Arthur Stamoulis of the Citizens Trade Campaign, and consider sharing it with friends online and with your local community access cable station.

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A forgotten narrative from our (anti) colonial past

Before Lexington and Concord, there was Worcester, where in 1774 militia from 37 surrounding towns seized control of the county court in defiance of the British, who had revoked the Massachusetts charter, and by extension, the authority of individual town meetings, in retribution for the Boston Tea Party. What citizens in Worcester did was quickly copied in other Massachusetts shire towns, except in Boston, where British troops guarded the courthouse.

In this TEDx talk, historian Ray Raphael asks why this early story isn't better known and asks who decides which stories are told. If we, the people, are the stewards of our own history, are we too focused on the narratives that come from established authors (Emerson, Longfellow), featuring individual and heroic leaders (Paul Revere on his midnight ride), blood and thunder (the shot heard round the world), and Davids overcoming Goliaths? What stories have we missed? What kinds of resistance might they inspire?

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Stamp out big money politics and political bribery!

Move to Amend is on a roll this fall! The Amend-O-Matic, a mobile money-stamping machine, will be crossing the country this fall, stopping to imprint your hard-earned currency with a strong call for an end to corporate personhood and political bribery.

The Amend-O-Matic is part machine and part vehicle--a public art spectacle, information center and money stamping machine. People can insert dollar bills and receive them back imprinted with messages like "Corporations Aren't People. Money Isn't Speech," "Not to Be Used for Bribing Politicians," and "The System Isn't Broken, It's Fixed." When you spend your stamped money, you send the anti-corporate personhood message out through the country.

The Stampede to Amend 2012 Tour kicks off on October 11 with a press conference in Los Angeles. From there, organizers Ashley Sanders and Renae Widdison will drive the “Amend-O-Matic” across the US. You can see the full tour here, but even better, you can help make the tour a success by hosting a stop, and helping to organize a workshop or training on building the anti-corporate personhood movement.

Hosting the Amend-O-Matic
Ashley and Renae will be driving the Amend-O-Matic to a new community each day, generally arriving around mid-day in order to spend some time in a public location, like a community park, downtown, farmer’s market, or art walk, operating the vehicle to stamp people’s cash and spreading the word about the workshop that evening. They will also be available at this time for interviews with local media. Each evening workshop starts at 6 and lasts an hour and a half. Ashley and Renae are experienced community organizers and trainers who can help your community respond to the impacts of corporate rule and join the Move to Amend campaign or engage more support for the work you are already doing.

Your local Alliance chapter or member network, Move to Amend affiliate, or community group would be responsible for helping to identify a good spot for public stamping, securing a venue for the workshop, hosting Ashley and Renae, doing community publicity and outreach for stamping and workshop, bringing in co-sponsoring groups if you can, passing the hat at the workshop to help fund the tour, and organizing a follow-up meeting about two weeks after the event to keep local organizing going.

The Alliance's Tools for Organizing page has lots of material to share with workshop participants. Other organizing material and publicity tips for mainstream and social media is available from Move to Amend. If you are interested in organizing a Move to Amend event in your community, please email stampede@movetoamend.org with your city and state in the subject.

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Blockade and balloons protest secretive TPP negotiations in Virginia

From Op-Ed News:
Two people were detained this morning after a tense stand off with police while blockading international trade negotiators from entering the Lansdowne Resort, site of the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations takingplace this week. Other activists greeted the arriving international negotiators with a 75-foot high banner suspended by weather balloons shaped like giant buttocks that read "Free Trade My Ass: Flush the TPP."

A rapidly growing movement is organizing to oppose the unprecedented lack of transparency surrounding the Obama Administrations handling of the TPP discussions. While 600 corporate lobbyists have been allowed access to and input on the draft texts from the beginning of negotiations three years ago, the public and even members of US Congress have not been allowed to see what is being proposed on their behalf.

"People need to know that the Trans Pacific Partnership is being negotiated in secret to hide the content. The TPP will redefine the terms of trade in ways that give corporations power over nations, makes them unaccountable and threatens the health of people and the future of the planet," said Baltimore native Dr. Margaret Flowers, co-director of ItsOurEconomy.us, as she dangled by a climbing harness 20 feet above the pavement and dozens of agitated police officers and sheriff's deputes. Flowers is a medical doctor and said she was moved to take action in particular because she is concerned about the likelihood that the TPP would increase drug prices by expanding corporate patent rights.

Police responded aggressively at first to the blockade, threatening to taze the metal poles suspending Flowers and to pepper spray the mother of three into compliance. Confused trade negotiators abandoned cars and attempted to walktowards the hotel complex. Stymied by how to safely remove her and open the roadway, police representatives eventually agreed to release Flowers if she lowered herself on her own accord.

Laurel Sutherlin of Rainforest Action Network, one of the organizations supporting this week's demonstrations, said "The TPP is called a 'trade agreement,' but in actuality it is a long-dreamed-of template for implementing a binding system of global corporate governance. It is outrageous that civil disobedience like this is necessary to ensure the public's voice is included in these discussions. The stakes are just too high for the world's environment as well as for farmers, workers and internet freedom for these decisions to be made behind closed doors."

Today's actions follow a colorful rally on Sunday at the same location that was  endorsed by dozens of regional and national environmental, labor and social justice organizations . Members of this diverse coalition, upset by the TPP's complete lack of transparency, have orchestrated a series of demonstrations throughout the week of negotiations.

In 2008, candidate Obama promised that as president he would renegotiate NAFTA with Canada and Mexico with new terms favorable to the United States. Now his administration is negotiating one of the largest corporate trade agreements in history, that would outsource jobs, lower wages and undermine environmental, consumer and labor laws.

Many predict the Trans-Pacific Partnership would do even more harm to U.S. employment than NAFTA. The TPP is being negotiated in secret by the United States, Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. It contains an  unusual provision, a docking agreement, which allows  other countries to join. This October, Canada and Mexico are expected join the TPP. Later, Japan and China will likely join but it will almost certainly not stop there. The TPP could set the standard for worldwide trade--a major reshuffling of our social contract with almost no public participation.

photo courtesy Rainforest Action Network

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Busy summer for Monterey County AfD

Monterey County Alliance for Democracy didn't take much time off this summer. At the end of June, they organized a CommUnity Rally, which brought more than seventy people out to meet with organizations in the area that challenge corporate power in various ways. The event featured speakers, a vigil featuring a corporate Frankenstein which got a lot of attention from passers-by, and a potluck. It was a good opportunity for like minded people to network and find out what others were doing, said chapter organizer Susan Hubbard.

The chapter also joined with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom to march in the Monterey 4th July parade. The theme of their entry was "exercise your freedom" so marchers wore exercise clothes and had signs about our freedoms, adding, of course, that those freedoms should be for people, and not for corporations.

Two chapter members also attending the Move to Amend regional convergence in Oakland at the end of July--these convergences are happening all over the country, so check here to see if there's one scheduled near you.

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Sample letter to the editor on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

Letter to the editor are one of the most-read sections of the paper, and an excellent way to get the public informed and interested in issues that might not make it into the mainstream media.

Here's a model letter to the editor on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, written by a member of the Alliance's North Bridge (Concord, MA) chapter--a timely issue since Round 14 of negotiations are underway through September 15 in Leesburg, Virginia.

Feel free to adapt this letter to local concerns--job losses overseas? A congress member who's bad (or good) on fair trade issues? Strong local support for labor or environmental regulations that might be undercut by this agreement?

If you get your letter published, let us know and we'll link to it here and on our Facebook page.

For the past two years, the nations of the Pacific Rim (including the United States) have been negotiating a massive "trade" agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The proceedings have been kept secret from Congress and the public, but representatives of the major multi-national corporations are primary participants. They are developing a new world order that will raise corporate rights above those of people and governments. Leaks reveal it to be a wish list of corporate giveaways like those from NAFTA and the World Trade Organization, only much more so. Its effects would be to:

1. Severely limit the ability of governments at all levels to regulate foreign corporations operating within the United States. Indeed, it would give them greater rights than domestic firms.

2. Provide American companies with even greater incentives to ship jobs overseas to countries with low wages and weak environmental laws.

3. Allow foreign corporations to sue governments for any laws that reduce potential future profits. These include laws for consumer, labor, or environmental protection and that give buy-local preferences. These would be tried in special international trade tribunals whose judges are the same attorneys that work for the multi-national corporations. History so far has shown that the corporations always win these cases in these biased courts.

Just as with similar agreements, the plan is to present it to Congress for a rapid vote before its full implications can be digested and debated. This massive usurpation of our rights to the altar of corporate profits and power must be stopped. Congress and citizens must insist that these negotiating sessions for the TPP be opened up to full public scrutiny and exposed as the giant corporate giveaway that they are.

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Justice Rising: Corporate Power or the Common Good?

Due out in October, the final issue of Justice Rising's series on "Money in Politics" will look at who runs US government. Is it the American people looking out for our common good or a corporate elite exerting control over public policy to benefit their private ends? Taking historic research by Gustavus Meyers, Thortstein Veblen and C. Wright Mills, this issue of Justice Rising will apply their analysis of "money power" to the twenty-first century. It will lay bare the disaster of a public policy driven by corporate allies in a time when the externalities of their market-driven rationales are causing extreme climate change as well as species and resource depletion-threatening life as we know it.

This important issue of Justice Rising will expose how the revolving door between corporate America and our government's top decision makers facilitates the monied elite's domination over Supreme Court decisions, our imperial foreign policy, and the daily workings of the regulatory system. It will also illuminate how our legislatures have been turned into training camps for corporate lobbyists.

In the tradition of Justice Rising, this issue will also promote the growing drive of the American people to exert democratic control over corporate power. From ending corporate personhood to creating a public service corps solidly loyal to the common good of the people, citizens are uniting to guarantee a future of liberty and justice for all.

A subscription to Justice Rising is free with Alliance for Democracy membership. For a free copy of this issue, email us in the Alliance office. Back issues of Justice Rising are available online, both as complete issues and individual articles.

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A new book by Doris "Granny D" Haddock details a full-tilt citizen's "American Century."

Here's a book you should check out...thanks to Carol Wyndham, who works on public funding for elections and other democracy issues in New Hampshire, for sending us the good news about its publication.

Those of us who felt close to Doris "Granny D" Haddock wondered what the world would be like without the stunning moral clarity of her voice and her brave efforts to represent our highest values during politically dark times. Remarkably, we can put off for awhile that idea of being without her voice. In the last few winters of her life, she worked on a book to help us keep going. She has always helped us feel young and able to make a meaningful difference in the world, and this new book, released this week, "Granny D's American Century," gives us that gift again.

It is not a book of political speeches or essays, but a wild, colorful telling of stories from her life as a young drama student in Boston during the Depression, with a fast forward to her final years after her long walk across America––final years that included taking over the jobs of water park mermaids and alligator feeders and New Orleans bartenders long enough for those women to go register to vote. Her final act was to run for the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire, not because she thought she could win (or even wanted to), but so that she could bring her home state back into the blue, which she helped to do that year.

When the Citizens United ruling by the Supreme Court came down just before her death, she saw it as an opportunity for truer, deeper reform, once the evils of the coming flood of money horrified a majority of Americans. By seeing ahead, by thinking wisely, she saw how every turn of fortune can be a victory, if we use it well.

The book, published by University Press of New England (which includes Dartmouth, Univ. of N.H., Univ. of Vermont, Brandeis and Northeastern), is available on Amazon, or, (please) your local bookstore, including the Toadstool.

“Democracy is not something we have, it’s something we do.” --Granny D.

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"The occupation is not self-preoccupied"

AfD national council members Lou and Pat Hammann recently took part in the Occupy Wall Street action in Zuccotti Park. Here's Lou's take on the scene, the participants, and what radical new social forms can grow out of this movement.

by Lou Hammann

Patricia and I visited the “Occupation of Wall Street,” October 17th and 18. We were not especially interested in getting a head count as we were in getting in on the conversations. However many bodies were in Zuccotti Park, as we ambled through the crowd, the most conspicuous experience was the courtesy that everyone showed to everyone. There was a lot of necessary jostling and casual nudging but the sense of being part of a community of like-minded folks was quite conspicuous. Then, when we took some time to engage strangers in conversation, what was clear was the friendliness, optimism and sincerity of the talk. And people knew what they were talking about. The conversations were both knowledgeable and personal.

One of our motives for the trip to Zuccotti Park was to show our white/gray hair in a conspicuously youthful crowd. Oh, there were other elders besides us, but no one seemed especially interested in the age distribution. The focus of concern was money: its unfair distribution and its bullying intrusion into the political process at every level. There was, of course, interest in the healthcare crisis, global warming, the cost of education and the other worries that currently affect most citizens. The people in the Park had a consistently broad vision of what kind of world they are NOT living in, and the personal/human responsibility that we all need to take on.

The media were conspicuously present, gathered together and sharing observations and information. These folks, however, were not representing the “corporate media” so much as smaller operations and free-lancers. And they were as willing to talk as to listen. In short this was a futuristic snap shot of the kind of world the folks, young and old, are hoping for—a time when a sense of community will define our world.

If you want verification of the cliché that “Everybody has a story,” this was the place to be. Still, the folks in Zuccotti Park were neither heroes nor idealists; somewhat naïve occasionally, but not idle dreamers. The “battle” has just begun and how long this movement can keep its momentum is uncertain. But the theme is, sooner or later, there must come a fairer, more honest distribution of the society’s resources. To put is simply: Money must be redefined and wealth redistributed. Not only money, of course, but also power must be redistributed so human community becomes the “life style” of the immediate and the long-term future.

It is also encouraging how some of the celebrity pundits at least try to take the side of the “Occupation.” If some such folks can set aside their reflex skepticism, the movement may continue indefinitely. This is not simply a repetition of Woodstock. The “Occupation” is not only an effort to redefine popular culture. The stakes are much higher, the motives more sophisticated, having to do with human rights and the economy. The values played out at Zuccotti Park are communal not selfish. If on-lookers suspect that there are no well-defined goals or strategies, they may be right. But what we will see if we look for it is a new perspective on personal existence and our national life emerging. Is it possible that Darwin is actually watching a stage in human evolution, when the Law of the Jungle is giving way to the Law of the Commons?

I remember a cartoon in a recent New Yorker: Two plutocrats sitting next to each other in a private jet; one says to the other, “I’d be willing to pay higher taxes if some one would make me.” The visionaries of the “Occupation” are perhaps getting ready to do just that. How remains to be seen.

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Solidarity on the bridges!

Alliance for Democracy Downeast (ME) and Hancock County (ME) Towns in Transition co-sponsored two Occupy Wall Street solidarity rallies last weekend. Organizers write, "there was such an enthusiastic response to the two local democracy rallies last weekend that a group of us intend to do this every weekend. We had 50 attend the rally in Blue Hill and 52 in Ellsworth with very short notice. Our goal is to line both bridges and then extend into town. The weekly rallies are as follows:

• Blue Hill on the bridge- Every Saturday 12-1 PM
• Ellsworth on the bridge - Every Sunday 12-1 PM

"If you want to join us,  bring a sign and a smile and we’ll send a message to New York and DC that we are standing in solidarity with them. If you don't have a sign, come anyway. It's a fun way to connect with like minded individuals who believe we need to reclaim America.

"Tips for new sign makers and rally attenders: Make signs with big dark letters and not too many words--individuals are reading them while driving. Point the signs toward the drivers. Smile and wave to them."

Ellsworth and Blue Hill are just two of the 1,300 occupations that have formed across the US in the last three weeks. Some are actual encampments, some are regular solidarity rallies. If there's not one near you, hit the streets! Downloadable posters, fliers, etc. are here, suggestions for street theater here!

You can see some pictures from Blue Hill on our Facebook page. AfD'ers are involved with occupations in Portland, Davis, Wall Street, Washington and Boston as well.

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So now what?

Mitt Romney's "corporations are people" gaffe spotlights a pervasive political mindset based on expediency: candidates claim that corporations are people because the Supreme Court said so, but mostly because the people who own and manage certain very large corporations give certain candidates a great deal of money with which to campaign and win elected office. And, of course, with the Citizens United decision, a corporation can mount a campaign for a favored candidate on their own, although it's more discrete to funnel the money into a SuperPAC.

So what do real people do?

Why not a flashmob action? Get some friends together. Hold up a sign or pick a well-known local spot so people know where you are. Make noise and chant... "Who Are the People, We are the People, Move to Amend that corporations are not people!"

Post the video online and send us the link, and we'll post it here and on our Facebook page. Or see some of the other street theater action ideas here.

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Mitt Romney: "Corporations are people, my friend"

Open mouth, remove silver spoon, insert foot. Regardless of whether Mitt Romney was speaking from the heart or got jittery and shot from the hip, his Iowa State Fair quip that "corporations are people" set a lot of teeth on edge. For Romney, perhaps, it was a glib critique of tax increases. But it was also a sign of how closely political fortune is tied to corporate rule and corporate cash.

Romney might be correct in that the money corporations make eventually get paid out to some individuals--employees or stockholders. But to say that corporations are people, and especially to endow corporations with constitutional personhood rights, as court decisions have steadily done, endangers our nation and our democracy. Corporations have no loyalties to any concept other than making a profit. If the good of an individual, a family, a community, or even the nation gets in the way of a strong bottom line at the end of the quarter, there's no question that real people--you and me--will take a back seat to profit.

You don't have to look much further than Romney's own business career to see this concept in action, courtesy of leading political commentator (sadly, we're not being ironic) Stephen Colbert:

“You see, Romney made a Mittload of cash using what’s known as a leveraged buyout. He’d buy a company with ‘money borrowed against their assets, groomed them to be sold off and in the interim collect huge management fees.’ Once Mitt had control of the company, he’d cut frivolous spending like ‘jobs,’ ‘workers,’ ‘employees,’ and ‘jobs.’ […] “Because Mitt Romney knows just how to trim the fat. He rescued businesses like Dade Behring, Stage Stories, American Pad and Paper, and GS Industries, then his company sold them for a profit of $578 million after which all of those firms declared bankruptcy. Which sounds bad, but don’t worry, almost no one worked there anymore."

Romney's rep as a job killer led to his Senate campaign being bird-dogged by a "truth squad" ‘of striking workers from a Marion, Indiana, paper plant who had lost jobs, wages, health care, and pensions after Ampad, a Bain subsidiary, took control. Ampad eventually went bankrupt, but Bain walked away with $100 million for its $5 million investment.

The threat of profit-before-people corporate deeds are why in the early days of this country corporations were kept under tight legal restraint: chartered for a specific public purpose, dissolved when that purpose was accomplished, their books subject to inspection, and conglomerates of corporations owning other corporations forbidden. But thanks to a slew of court decisions, we've swung the other way, to where corporations are legally immortal, dedicated only to profit, and "human" enough to have the same free speech rights as individuals, although their "voice" is amplified a thousand-fold by the money they have on hand to buy, bribe, or influence the candidates of their choice.

So while the Democrats have jumped all over Romney's remark, don't believe their hype. For DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse, for instance, Romney's remarks amount to little more than a lack of sympathy: "There's a great message for people struggling to get by and trying to make ends meet. Don't complain -- corporations are people too!"

Here's news for both parties: it's not just the folks who are struggling who are mightily ticked off at the attitude that Romney's quip represents. It's everyone who questions whether our elected officials are more loyal to their funders than to their constituents. It's everyone who sees elections as a public good that should be publicly funded, just as our police, fire, and libraries are, to ensure every voice and every vote counts. It's everyone who sees the Citizens United decision as the ultimate auction of constitutional personhood rights to the highest bidders. We're the majority, we're the citizens, we're the voters, we're the people, and we want our democracy back.

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On July 4, declare independence from corporate rule!

What are you doing this July 4th? Need inspiration?

On July 4, 1997, AfD founder Ronnie Dugger and Al Krebs, a former AfD national council member and a great defender of family farms, stood side by side in front of the Liberty Bell. Each read his own version of a "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule."

Now, nearly 15 years later, we are still trying to keep "the big corporations and the centimillionaires and billionaires" from turning the halls of government into their private clubhouse, and still building the real democracy we need.

Do your bit! It's not too late to get together with fellow activists and plan your own July 4 action. Check out the ideas sent in by groups and individuals and posted here on the Move to Amend website. Dress as a Supreme Court "In-Justice." Be as outrageous as the idea that corporations are entitled to the same constitutional rights as real people.

Bring along copies of this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule" that Nancy Price, AfD liaison to Move to Amend, helped to write. You can print out a large version or a two-to-a-sheet flier from the Move to Amend's organizing resources, or a four-to-a-sheet version on our "Tools for Organizing" page.

Thanks for all you do for democracy, and have a great 4th!

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July 4: Declare your independence from corporate rule

As a member of the Move to Amend coalition, we're passing on this alert and we strongly urge our members and supporters to get out and organize actions for Independence Day. And, of course, let us know what you're planning and we'll help publicize it--and send us pictures afterwards!

Join Move to Amend this 4th of July as we Declare Our Independence from Corporate Rule in communities across the nation! Let's educate our fellow citizens about the corporate threat to our democracy, and get them engaged in the movement to take back our country!

View yesterday's Take Action Webinar for details and tips to organize the creative ideas listed below, and more! Need some  inspiration for what to do? How about... an I Miss Democracy pageant, complete with swimsuits, tiaras and sashes, and a talent competition showcasing all the things that corporate persons are really good at. Or pick another way to be visible--and don't be afraid to be as outrageous as the idea that corporations have the same kind of constitutional rights as human beings!

• Dress as corporate judges and corporate "persons" and dance and sing about the takeover of our democracy in your local 4th of July parade
• Host a Corporate Personhood picnic
• Stage a human-corporate mock wedding
• Organize a birthday party for Democracy. Read this "Declaration of Independence from Corporate Rule".

And more!

Find tips and ideas for these events and more on our website... or invent your own creative ways to educate your community about Corporate Personhood and the Move to Amend campaign.

Don't have a Move to Amend affiliate group in your community yet? Start one up! The 4th of July is a great time to spread the word and expand the movement.

Help us collect signatures and grow the number of local Move to Amend groups across the country. Americans of all political persuasions are fed up! Let's offer them an opportunity to join our cause.

Yours for democracy,
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap
Move to Amend Executive Committee & Field Organizing Coordinator

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Hey, Colorado!

The Colorado Move To Amend group's e-newsletter is online here. Highlights include info on monthly meetings in Arvada starting June 9, a screening of "The Corporation" part II in Denver, a possible public bank for Colorado, and links to good videos.

Check it out here.

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Today's news and views

● A group of more than 80 business groups have told President Obama to "abandon" a draft executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose political contributions. Groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Retail Federation and the National Association of Manufacturers claimed the disclosure requirement would "chill their free speech rights" according to The Hill.

● Federal contributions are down 30 percent to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Clean Water State Revolving Fund, the two federal programs that offer no- or low-cost loans to upgrade municipal drinking water systems, and small towns are feeling the pinch.

● Five Republican Senators—Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Pat Roberts (Kan.) John Cornyn (Texas), John Thune (S.D.) and Richard Burr (N.C.)—have signed on to a letter to IRS commissioner Douglas H. Shulman asking why the agency has begun investigating potential tax liability in large donations to 501(c)4 groups after decades of looking the other way, and asking whether following the rules represents a violation of donors' constitutional rights.

● Scott McLarty looks for a language to describe a radical ideology for the 21st century.

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Fixing democracy: the newsbeat

● Alan Simpson, a Republican who represented Wyoming in the US Senate for almost 20 years and is now co-chair of Americans for Campaign Reform, explains why the GOP should get behind publicly funded campaigns: "Even a cursory glance at campaign finance disclosures shows that the lion’s share of campaign money comes from individuals and groups with vested tax-and-spending interests before Congress."

● Shareholder meetings provide a spotlight for those who have been victimized by corporate practice to confront boards of directors, as foreclosure victims did to Wells Fargo last week. And this year in particular, more shareholder proposals ask boards of directors to report on corporate spending and contributions. In fact, according to ProxyMonitor's Findings page report that among Fortune 100 companies, “the share of social policy proposals focusing on political spending has increased 84% in 2011 from the three previous years (2008-2010)” One of the most ambitious proposals will be heard at Home Depot's stockholder meeting on June 2, where a vote will consider asking the corporation to submit political expenditures to a shareholder advisory vote.

● The coalition Campaign Accountability Watch is asking US attorneys to prosecute outside groups for using nonprofits to take anonymous donations in what it says is a violation of election laws that require transparency. Forty US attorneys have received letters from the coalition.

● Nevada's secretary of state is seeking to beef up that state's campaign finance laws, including passage of a bill that would require earlier and on-line filing of campaign contributions, to allow voters to see who or what was funding a candidate's campaign before election day. Other reforms include restriction of creation of multiple PACs to get around donation limits, online voter registration, a "cooling off" period between lawmaking and lobbying gigs, and disclosure of entities or individuals spending more than $100 for or against a candidate.

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Today's the day to check out War is a Lie

David Swanson's new book, War is a Lie, is out today and there is a campaign to bump it up the Amazon sales lists to #1.Why not support a worthy author and the common wealth by buying a copy for your local library? You can read all about it at www.warisalie.org.

From the website: War is a Lie is a thorough refutation of every major argument used to justify wars, drawing on evidence from numerous past wars, with a focus on those wars that have been most widely defended as just and good. This is a handbook of sorts, a manual to be used in debunking future lies before future wars have a chance to begin.

“David Swanson despises war and lying, and unmasks them both with rare intelligence. I learn something new on every page.” — Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR and author of Cable News Confidential.

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