The recent decision of the US Supreme Court to enable corporations to spend their money in US elections, on the theory that corporations are persons and therefore entitled to the protections of the 14th amendment (they can't be discriminated against--intended actually to empower former Black slaves, not concentrations of wealth and power in corporations) and the First Amendment as interpreted by this Court to mean that money itself is a form of speech and so cannot be limited in its role in elections, only extends the process already well established of corporate dominance over much of American life.

We seek to repeal that reality. So, the Network of Spiritual Progressives will work with those in Congress who are trying to pass legislation to do that, and will help connect you with those efforts. Others are preparing a limited focus Amendment to the Constittution on that same topic because they quite reasonably believe that any Congressional or state legislation that seeks to limit corporate money in politics will similarly be overturned by Supreme Court decisions. The Network of Spiritual Progressives will work with those who are trying to pass such an Amendment and will help connect you with those efforts.

But because returning to the status quo ante before the recent Supreme Court decision will not change the relative power balance in which corporate power was already shaping many aspects of American life and politics, we are seeking to ALSO (and not in place of these other efforts) popularize another version of an Amendment to the Constitution that would limit corporate power and require ethical and environmental responsibility. We are developing that through a process in which we are presenting various alternative Amendments, and getting the feedback of members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives about which one would make you most willing to engage your energies to support.

Our goal, however, is not to pass an Amendment. We are not a political action organization--we are a consciousness raising organization. Our goal is not to win this or that struggle, but to create the pre-conditions for a genuine struggle to extend democracy to our economic life and to the decisions that shape the future environmental survivability of human and animal life on the planet Earth. We believe that the Amendment campaign, if framed broadly enough, could dramatically raise the consciousness of Americans about the possibilities of a fundamental change to make American society more democratic and more aimed at promoting the values of love, caring for each other and the planet, generosity, and awe and wonder at the amazing gradeur of the universe.

The struggle for ERA (the Equal Rights Amendment) was a central part of changing the consciousness of America about the validity of feminist goals, and thus achieved much of what ERA would have achieved. Change of consciousness is what NSP is about--and if we can do that among the people we reach, that would be sufficient. So, our little organization will BOTH work with other groups that are addressing this issue with a suggested amendment that is narrowly constructed and very short, AND will work as NSP to present another Amendment which is longer, deals with more issues around corporate power, and will have some educational impact to the extent that our members learn how to explain the reasonableness of our amendment. This latter NSP amendment will be decided upon AFTER the June conference and in light of the discussion there!

For the moment, we wish to have you engage with us in the discussion about which form of the Amendment will most energize you. But we are also welcoming other suggested Amendments, so please feel free to send those to us as well. They will be posted on our website as well. Send those to RabbiLerner@Tikkun.org in the form that you wish to see us post them on our website.

For the time being, here are the versions we are working with: 

Click here to download the current petitions (in PDF / Adobe Acrobat format which you can read online and print).