Is it possible to overturn Citizens United? Could this video from We the People be the start of something?

Will this We the People video lay the groundwork for the overturning of Citizens United? After all, it's got a cute (though arguably not cute enough) baby and giant-lizard-luring sausage-headgear and an erupting-geyser soda bottle and a piano-playing (or piano-playing-ish) cat -- bunches of stuff that we know people just love to see in videos. Sandwiched in between it's also got Katrina vanden Heuvel and Laura Flanders and Jim Hightower and Ben & Jerry and Cenk Uygur (and Lee Camp, who wrote the thing, as the pretend director), but of course, who's going to click through for them?

by Ken

It seems overwhelmingly likely to me that anyone who's found his/her way to DWT registers proper horror upon hearing the words "Citizens United." The timing of the dreadful Supreme Court decision that has bid fair to make American elections straight purchase operations by them what's got the most to spend couldn't have been much worse, but then probably wasn't coincidental. The groundwork had been laid; the necessary justices were in place; and the rich were damned tired of having to struggle so mightily to make their clout felt electorally.

At the time, I remember some super-smart progressives pooh-poohing the panic that most of us were feeling, insisting that no, it was hardly going to change things at all. And I suppose if what you mean is that the Money People would have found other ways to make their dollars count, there's a point in there somewhere. Not an important point, but a point.

Of course the people who would have to take action to in some fashion overturn Citizens United -- legislatively, for example -- tend to be people who can see its potential personal benefits to them. Still, with the anniversary of the ruling coming up, a bunch of progressive organizations have banded together (you can see a list on the United for the People webpage, United4thepeople.org.) and will launch a "national week of action" on January 16.

As the webpage says: SPREAD THE WORD!

Protest Citizens United on Its January Anniversary

STATEMENT OF COMMON PURPOSE

The Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC has focused America's attention on the dangerous influence of corporate power in our democracy and the urgency of taking all necessary measures to undo that influence, including amending the Constitution.

Generations of Americans have amended the Constitution over the years to ensure that "We the People" means all the people, not just the privileged few. The Citizens United case, which opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending to influence elections at all levels of government, has brought home the importance of amending the Constitution to ensure that "We the People" does not mean we the corporations.

We believe that America works best when our government is of, by and for the people. Although we have differences in scope and tactics, all of us are united in the understanding that the Court's decision in Citizens United must be remedied by amending the Constitution in order to restore the democratic promise of America.

HERE'S ANOTHER WE THE PEOPLE CAMPAIGN VIDEO --

What Will It Take to Overturn 'Citizens United'?



Is overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC decision even possible? And how can progressives and those who value clean politics stop money from running our elections? In this video by the We the People Campaign, experts, including The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel, weigh in on the many ways Citizens United has left our democracy in the hands of corporations.

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