Join the First Amendment debate

To get started with debate whether the First Amendment should be amended, I recommend you take a look at this statement on the Get Money Out website that argues the case for amending the First Amendment and also the listing on this webpage of the various amendments that have been proposed. For those favoring an amendment, the basic choices seems to be (i) limiting First Amendment to human beings and allowing Congress to regulate speech by others, (ii) limiting the First Amendment to human beings and also prohibiting election related expenditures (speech) by others, and (iii) going to public financing and/or limiting human beings in their contributions. I favor the first choice.

For talking purposes, I set forth below H.J.Res.90 that provides as follows:

Section 1. The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons and do not extend to for-profit corporations, limited liability companies, or other private entities established for business purposes or to promote business interests under the laws of any state, the United States, or any foreign state.
Section 2. Such corporate and other private entities established under law are subject to regulation by the people through the legislative process so long as such regulations are consistent with the powers of Congress and the States and do not limit the freedom of the press.
Section 3. Such corporate and other private entities shall be prohibited from making contributions or expenditures in any election of any candidate for public office or the vote upon any ballot measure submitted to the people.
Section 4. Congress and the States shall have the power to regulate and set limits on all election contributions and expenditures, including a candidate’s own spending, and to authorize the establishment of political committees to receive, spend, and publicly disclose the sources of those contributions and expenditures.

I am in the process of contacting and soliciting the views of a number Alabama persons and organizations and others.  These include or will include: the Alabama Republican Party, the Alabama Democratic Party, the Over The Mountain Democrats, the Rainy Day Patriots, the Conservative Party Alabama, the Alabama Libertarian Party, the Reform Party, Spencer Bachus, Richard Shelby, and Jeff Sessions.  I hope to report the reactions and views I receive in this entry or in links posted in this entry.

I have now solicited the views of the Alabama Democratic Party, the Alabama Republican Party, Representative Bachus, Senator Shelby, Senator Sessions and Alabama Senator Scott Beason.  You may find my solicitation and responses that I receive at these links respectively: Alabama Democratic Party, Alabama Republican Party, Representative Bachus, Senator Shelby, Senator Sessions, and Senator Beason.