Free Forum Against Corporate Personhood
by Ruth Christie
The Buncombe County Affiliate of Move to Amend will host guest speaker David Cobb, the spokesperson for the National Move to Amend Campaign, at a free public meeting Tuesday, October 21, 2014 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Jubilee! Community, 46 Wall Street in downtown Asheville. The forum is open to the public and will include a question-and-answer session.
This will be Mr. Cobb’s third visit to Asheville in conjunction with Move to Amend’s drive to eliminate the concepts of corporate personhood and money as free speech.
“Corporate personhood” is the legal doctrine that allows corporations, even foreign-owned ones, to enjoy all the rights of American citizens. The concept was enshrined in the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate spending on elections.
Mr. Cobb’s presentation will include the history behind Citizens United and how communities can work to abolish corporate personhood and reestablish a government of, by, and for the people.
The forum will focus on how to participate in the national movement. Sixteen state legislatures and more than 600 individual communities, including Asheville, Sylva, Chapel Hill, and others in NC, have formally requested that the House and Senate act to overturn Citizens United.
