January 21, 2019 at 4:25 p.m.
Enacting change: United to Amend calls for constitutional amendment
Penn: 'We are going to clarify what the Supreme Court has misinterpreted'
Enacting change: United to Amend calls for constitutional amendment
By Kayla Houp-
George Penn of Wisconsin United to Amend spoke to an audience at the Minocqua Public Library about the purposes and intentions of the movement to change the attitudes of the people to enact change in politicians.
"I believe we have a system of legal bribery and the Supreme Court has reinterpreted the Constitution to be valid to corporations at our expense," Penn said. "We are collateral damage to a system that supports itself and politicians and those with the money, and we have to change it back to the way it was."
Though Penn criticized the amount of money funneled into political campaigns from corporations, he insisted the issues reside with the politicians, rather than the government itself. He also asserted the issue isn't necessarily with corporations themselves.
"I don't know anybody I work with across the state, that says we have to get rid of corporations. Corporations are necessary today, they will be necessary forever. We have a problem with corporations owning our political system," Penn said. "Nothing more."
Penn then referred to a list of three Supreme Court cases that altered the definition of corporations as endowed with personhood rights, such as freedom of speech and expression, including money as part of that expression. Penn argued that granting corporations the rights of personhood, including money as free speech, created a problem in that corporations were no longer limited in how much they could spend in campaign financing and contributions.
"They (Supreme Court) said that corporations are persons under the Constitution, money is free speech, therefore you cannot limit their free speech because they are persons under the Constitution. And what do we have today? Super PACS," Penn explained.
Penn then presented a chart showing the amount spent on elections in recent years illustrating the disparity between how much was spent prior to the McCain-Feingold Act (a campaign finance reform measure) being overturned and afterward.
Between 2008 to 2018, in one presidential cycle, the money that went into politics tripled, Penn said.
While it may be tempting to assign blame to one particular party, Penn assured the group the issue isn't partisan in nature and both parties are guilty of using big money to fund political campaigns. He said both Sen. Mitt Romney (a former presidential candidate) and former President Barack Obama have almost $1 billion in their respective campaigns.
Penn argued the excessive amount of money funded into political campaigns, will cause a misrepresentation of the people.
"Who are they going to represent? They're going to represent what keeps them in office," Penn said. "Money in politics is a form of corruption."
Penn also said both liberal and conservatives citizens view big money in politics as an issue that needs to fixed.
According to Penn, only a small amount of people believe the issue can be fixed through smaller laws passed here and there, similarly to the McCain-Feingold Act, whereas an overwhelming amount say the issue warrants a larger, more direct approach.
Penn said the interests of politicians are no longer in representing the people, but in issues that are profitable.
"If the people are not represented, there is a crisis of democracy, and I believe we are in a crisis of democracy. We're in trouble because it will continue this way unless we do something," Penn said.
The solution to the broken system? United to Amend. Since 2012, the group has endeavored to build a movement to get big money out of politics.
Penn then directed the conversation to the impact Wisconsin United to Amend has had within the state. According to Penn, 144 resolutions have already done what he's asked Oneida County to do.
"In November 2016, we had a record 19 communities had this on their ballot. One of those communities, just southwest of here, was the town of Lake Tomahawk," Penn said. The town, according to Penn, achieved a 91 percent "yes" vote.
The movement has achieved national support, with 800 resolutions passed around the country. Of those 800 resolutions, Wisconsin accounts for 18 percent. United to Amend has also seen 19 of the required 34 states call for a constitutional amendment.
"We are going to clarify what the Supreme Court has misinterpreted," Penn said.
Penn closed the discussion with a call to action for attendees, imploring them to reach out and talk about the issue within the community.
Kayla Houp may be reached via email at [email protected].
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