The Boston Globe

Opinion

Jim McGovern and Jeff Clements

‘We the People’ can overturn Citizens United

The first three words of the preamble of our Constitution are ”We the People.” Two years ago the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. FEC upended that promising vision. Corporations - - which do not have mouths, minds or consciences - - won a ”free speech” right to spend unlimited money to influence elections. The Court cast aside a century of law intended to prevent the biggest, richest corporations from controlling our elections and government. We now see a flood of uncontrolled and undisclosed special-interest money into our electoral system, drowning out the voices of average Americans and deepening cynicism and hopelessness about our politics. The first three words of the preamble of our Constitution are ”We the People.”

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