US President Barack Obama: Pass the 28th Amendment to enshrine the separation of State and Corporation

The First Amendment of the US Constitution and Thomas Jefferson’s words explaining it, said that there needed to be a “wall of separation between church and state.” Whilst there is separation of powers between the five branches of US government and checks and balances to make sure no one branch of government becomes too powerful, the ongoing war of deregulation fought by corporations against we-the-people has ensured that no such wall exists between state and corporation.

The churches and robber barons of Jefferson’s time have been replaced by today’s corporations which work ceaselessly to strangle genuine American democracy at every turn. Pick any contentious issue, and follow the money. Behind the ‘citizens united’ front groups are P.R. companies writing the narratives of endless economic growth; marketing teams re-creating the American Dream in the corporate image; lobbyists press-ganging our legislators; and lawyers deployed to sue anyone who gets in the way of corporate access to government. It is not rocket science. On the un-level playing field that grants corporations “personhood” and first amendment rights, and sets no limits on bribes, big money buys and subverts democracy almost every time.

Thus I have launched the Campaign for the 28th Amendment of the US Constitution: to enshrine the separation of state and corporation. And in so doing I am actively participating, as is my right and duty as a US citizen to defend the true character of American democracy.

As a father of twins, I do it for my children, so that the so that the corporate pillage of the planet might be halted and so that they may actually inherit a habitable world that we of all nationalities call home.