by Shreya Barot, American Sustainable Business Council

The American democratic principles of “government of the people, by the people, for the people” are now being endangered by an overreaching Supreme Court ruling – Citizens United v. FEC. The Story of Citizens United, by the famous maker of The Story of Stuff, illustrates beautifully how the ruling enables corporations to spend unlimited money on public elections.

Many business leaders believe that citizens should be the lead participants in our government and that a few large corporations will use the decision to shift the political outcomes in their favor. There are a number of businesses and organizations that oppose Citizens United and are taking action to put an end to this corrupting challenge to our democracy.

The American Sustainable Business Council and Ben & Jerry, of ice cream fame, have launched the Business for Democracy Campaign. Business for Democracy is an initiative of business leaders who have joined forces to stop pay-to-play politics. The Campaign supports a constitutional amendment which would clarify that citizens, not corporations have Constitutional rights to speak in elections. There are countless small companies that do not benefit from the Citizens United decision because they can’t afford to make contributions or they prefer to use available funds to grow their business.

Read the entire article, Here.

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