Statement by APWU President Dimondstein on the ‘Democracy for All’ Constitutional Amendment

For Immediate Release
09/09/2014 – Since 2010, it’s gotten harder for minorities, young people, senior citizens and working people to vote, but easier for the super-rich to buy elections. Corporate money is drowning out the voice of the people.

The Senate vote on Sept. 8 to allow consideration of the “Democracy for All” Constitutional Amendment presents a good opportunity to address the issue, as do other measures.

The Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for billionaires, corporations and private special interests to dominate our politics. In 2012, almost 60 percent of super PAC donations came from just 159 donors. More than 93 percent came from 3,318 donors – just 0.0011 percent of the U.S. population.

Since then, there’s been an epidemic of legislation designed to suppress the vote. Voter identifications laws and limits on early voting are restricting access to the polls, and the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

At our recent national convention, APWU members declared, “Money isn’t speech and corporations aren’t people,” and voted to endorse efforts to overturn Citizens United.

We call on Congress and the people to take action.

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via Statement by APWU President Mark Dimondstein on the ‘Democracy for All’ Constitutional Amendment | APWU.

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