(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries and letters to the Editor of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers.)

Most readers of the Times will have noticed that Ayanna Pressley, Somerville’s Representative in U.S. Congress, has been thrust into the media spotlight lately as a result of personal attacks by the President. However, Times readers and Representative Pressley’s constituents in general may not be aware that Representative Pressley recently took a major step in defense of American democracy, which has received too little attention: she signed on as a cosponsor of H.J. Res. 48, also known as the “We the People Amendment,” which if enacted would amend the U.S. Constitution to affirm that (1) money spent to influence elections shall be regulated by Congress and the states and is not considered protected free speech under the First Amendment, and (2) rights granted under the United States Constitution are the rights of natural persons, and are not the rights of artificial incorporated entities.

This proposed amendment is necessary to save American democracy. The Supreme Court’s infamous 2010 decision Citizens United v. FEC opened the floodgates of special interest money buying America’s elections and controlling public policy. Furthermore, judicial activism extending constitutional rights to corporations and other artificial entities has resulted in America’s courts overturning hundreds of democratically enacted laws intended to protect the American people against corporate domination and abuse.

In 2018, the citizens of Massachusetts voted 71%-29% in favor of creating an advisory commission for amendments to the U.S. Constitution regarding political spending and corporate personhood. H.J. Res. 48 is the only existing amendment proposal would address both of these concerns.

In May, a delegation consisting of members of Indivisible Somerville and several other grassroots pro-democracy groups visited Representative Pressley’s district office to advocate for the value of this amendment to her constituents, and to all Americans. Representative Pressley formally signed on a cosponsor of H.J. Res. 48 later that week, and since then, three more Massachusetts U.S. Representatives have followed her, bringing the Massachusetts delegation’s co-sponsorship to seven of our state’s nine Representatives.

At a time when the noise of a constantly churning news cycle drowns out so many truly important goings-on in the nation, Representative Pressley deserves her constituents’ gratitude for taking this critical step in reclaiming American democracy from corporations and the wealthy, and putting it back into the hands of We the People. We hope that others will join us in thanking Representative Pressley for doing her part to restore the full American promise of government of, by, and for the people.

Ulysses Lateiner and Larry Yu
on behalf of the Indivisible Somerville Steering Committee