I hope we all learned at least one thing from this primary election – we need to get big money out of politics. About $15 million was spent on the oil tax referendum, almost all from the oil industry, and about $15 million was spent on the U.S. Senate race, most from major corporations or individuals who made their fortunes through the tax advantages provided by owning corporations. This wasn’t freedom of speech; it was freedom to propagandize. You don’t have a functional democracy when more money equals more speech.
We must address this bizarre, anti-democratic notion, espoused by the ex-corporate lawyers now sitting as judges across America that our state and federal constitutions intended for artificial persons, such as corporations, unions, etc., to possess the same constitutional rights as individual human beings. Artificial persons are property; they are bought and sold. They are not people. People have conscience and recognize their responsibility to each other and their communities. Corporations have one responsibility, to make a profit for their owners. People have rights; property should have whatever privileges people decide make sense.
Please join We The People Alaska (www. wethepeoplealaska.org) in asking the candidates in your House and Senate districts to sign the Alaska Constitution Pledge. Let them know their position on this fundamental principle of democracy will weigh heavily on your voting decision in the November election.
Gershon Cohen for We The People Alaska