David Cobb informs, inspires crowd at UK
By Joy Arnold
If money can buy a political system, should it be called a “democracy”? That was one question a crowd of nearly 100 people wrestled with last Thursday night at the University of Kentucky’s Center Theater. The crowd was there to hear attorney-activist David Cobb explain the role of corporations in American history. Cobb, spokesperson for the national organization, Move to Amend (MTA), was invited to Lexington to speak by the Central Kentucky chapter of Move to Amend (CKYMTA).
Born in San Leon, Texas, Cobb worked in construction and as a commercial shrimper before going to college. Despite growing up in what he calls “rural poverty” in a home that didn’t have a flush toilet, he graduated from the University of Houston Law School in 1993, maintained a successful private law practice in Houston for several years and ran for president on the Green Party ticket. These days, Cobb works on the law and research committee of Move to Amend. He likes it best when people refer to him as an “engaged citizen.”
The lessons we have been taught about America as a land of equal opportunity and freedom for all, Cobb’s talk emphasized, are better understood as “creation myths.” To our founding fathers, “We the people” meant white adult males who owned property—not women, not native Americans, not blacks. In 1888 the 14th amendment required due process and equal protection under the law for all people (later the courts applied it to corporations); in 1870 the 15th amendment expanded the right to vote to non-white males; in 1920 the 19th amendment gave women the right to vote; In 1971 the 26th amendment allowed 18 year-olds to vote. Each accomplishment required a movement, a struggle. We must recognize the national myths of opportunity as our dreams, Cobb asserted, and organize to bring them into being.
Sara Hicks, CKYMTA committee member, said she appreciated the way the talk “showed us that our history has been an on-going struggle to obtain freedom, justice and equal opportunity for all Americans, but that the battle is far from over. We must stand up to the injustices resulting from the influence of corporate wealth and return our government to ‘the people’ named in the first sentence of the Constitution.”
Herbert Reid, retired UK professor, author and CKYMTA committee member, echoed similar sentiments. Reid was glad to hear talk of our “historical struggle for a democratic republic…Cobb’s call for a ‘democracy movement’ is what we need.’”
Move to Amend
As expected, the gathering focused on Move to Amend’s proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution, which would declare three things: (1) a corporation is not a person and can be regulated; (2) money is not speech and can be regulated; (3) nothing contained in the amendment shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press. The MTA proposal is one of at least seven similar proposals, most of which have appeared in response to the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision granting corporations(and unions) the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money from their general funds on political action, no longer limiting them to money in their political action committees (PACs).
Cobb, who spoke to Cincinnati’s MTA affiliate the night before coming to Lexington, told those gathered that the movement to amend the Constitution is gaining momentum around the country, and welcomed President Obama’s recent acknowledgment that an amendment may be necessary. If so, count state Senator Kathy Stein, in attendance at the talk, as a political supporter. “It is crucial,” Stein says, “that the public learn that the Citizens United decision has put democracy in jeopardy of becoming like a stockyard auction.”
Ultimately, Cobb stated, if the movement continues to build, we should see an amendment within the next ten years, though what that amendment will look like is still to be determined. So far, Cobb pointed out, only the Move to Amend proposal attacks both prongs of the problem—the notion of corporations as people with numerous Constitutional rights and the concept of money as speech. These are conditions granted not by Congress, but by the courts; not by elected representatives, but by activist justices who are accountable to no one. Attacking only one piece will not get the job done.
He cautioned, however, that the Citizens United Supreme Court decision of 2010 was hardly the beginning of the loss of the American people’s hold on their government. As his talk demonstrated throughout, things go much further back, to faulty precedents starting in the 1800’s. “Just reversing Citizens United would only take us back to 2009 politics, and things were far from democratic then.”
One participant said it was encouraging to hear it recognized that this is no short term project, but a realistic one.
No short term project
CKYMTA organized as an affiliate of MTA last November and has conducted several events
to bring the issue to the attention of the public. Cobb’s appearance served as a kick off for increased activity by the group. One of these activities will be to put the Amendment issue to Lexington residents, with the goal of having the Urban-County Council vote on a resolution of support.
Geoff Young, CKYMTA member and Green Party Candidate for Fayette County’s 45th District House seat, sums up the group’s bottom-up organizing principals. “Until the Constitutional amendment proposed by MTA passes we’ll have a democracy (or republic) that money can and does buy. Let’s get the city council to pass it, then the state legislature, then ‘We the People’!”
People who want to be involved in the specific grassroots organizing work to build support for the MTA amendment proposal are urged to become involved. The group will hold a goal setting/planning session facilitated by Jim Embry, a local organizer, on September 22. Anyone interested in that level of involvement should RSVP to ckymta@gmail.com by Wednesday, September 19. There will be a $6 registration fee for materials and a light lunch. Details will be posted on the CKYMTA Facebook page and the Kentucky page of the MovetoAmend.org website.
Those just wishing to learn more about the issue should go to MovetoAmend.org; Citizens United Reporter – Magazine, http://goo.gl/5kDov, compiled by Gary Yarus of CKYMTA; and the Amendment Gazette, amendmentgazette.com
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