CWA Statement on the "Democracy for All" Constitutional Amendment

Following is a statement by the Communications Workers of America on the Senate’s action today regarding S.J. Resolution 19, the Democracy for All Amendment: 

Washington, D.C. – Senate consideration on the “Democracy for All” Constitutional Amendment is an important step in taking on the issue of big money in our politics.

We commend the Senators showing support for a fair election process, not one controlled by a flood of corporate and big money contributions. Majority support in the Senate demonstrates change is possible. 

“Money isn’t speech and corporations aren’t people.  But over the past few years, working and middle class Americans have seen the billions of dollars spent by corporations and the wealthy result in special access, special tax breaks and special treatment. That’s not what democracy looks like,” said CWA President Larry Cohen.  

S.J. Resolution 19 is a Constitutional Amendment to enable Congress and the states to set reasonable limits on political spending and get big money out of politics. It would repair the damage to our democracy caused by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United, McCutcheon and other rulings, which determined that contributions by corporations and the richest Americans were actually free speech and entitled to protections.  Those decisions warped our political process, allowing virtually unlimited political spending and giving the richest one-tenth of 1 percent the ability to control our elections and drown out the voices of ordinary citizens. 

Add the Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby decision on voting rights into the mix, and suddenly it’s more difficult for ordinary Americans to vote but much easier for the super-rich to influence elections. 

A new study documents that democracy in the U.S. has been hijacked by “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests,” leaving average citizens with “little or no independent influence." ¹   

Getting big money out of politics is an issue that deserves full debate. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called this effort “the act of true radicalism.”  If that’s so, millions of ordinary Americans are a growing army of radicals, determined to take back their political voice. CWA and our partners in the Democracy Initiative will keep working to restore our democracy and make this amendment a reality. 

¹ Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens” Martin Gilens, Benjamin Page, Forthcoming Fall, 2014, Perspectives on Politics 

The Communications Workers of America represents 700,000 workers in telecommunications, media, airlines, public service, health care and education, and manufacturing. CWA, with the Sierra Club, GreenPeace and NAACP, founded the Democracy Initiative, to break through the barriers to democracy of big money in politics, broken Senate rules and the attack on voting rights.  

Contact: CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, Michael Allen, mallen@cwa-union.org or Kendra Chaikind, kchaikind@cwa-union.org.