Al Franken, the comedian, has proven himself to be a very well-informed and active progressive senator ~ I've signed a number of petitions to overturn Citizens United, which I still believe to be the single-worst USSC decison in my lifetime, and I was happy to sign this one too ~ the petition asks for name, email, and zip code ~ Sooz

Petition From Senator Franken – Trash Citizens United
2012/11/15
By Nathaniel Downes

Senator Al Franken may have come from the world of comedy, but he takes freedom and liberty very seriously. What can be found on his website now is this petition for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. The petition reads as follows:



Those who were pushing for Citizens United did so out of a limited scope of understanding, a focus on short-term goals without grasp of the long-term consequences. This is clear now that Karl Rove, long time Republican strategist, is looking at potential jail time due to short-sighted focus on immediate goals over long-term viability. Beyond even the woes of the man affectionately nicknamed “Turdblossom” by President George W. Bush, the Republican Party has suffered from severe fundraising shortages and many state parties are nearly bankrupt.

The laws to keep Corporations from unlimited donations were there to protect them, as much as to protect citizens and democracy. A corporation which noses its way into politics becomes covered by the mud it generates, for good or ill, and will harm the bottom line the instant it steps over that boundary. Look at the huge negative feedback caused to advertisers of conservative talk radio, who continue to flee or risk being labeled as supporting hate speech. Look at how the influence of the American Legislative Exchange Council and the huge negative feedback the donors to the group have been getting, pressures by both stockholder and consumer. That is a Citizens United result.

Corporations are not people. The judgment to make them so only harmed both citizen and corporation alike. The consequences are now that billions are being spent on elections, without the payoff, and now large numbers of corporate donors are about to be revealed, slammed, and strung up for all to see. There are countless companies about to become huge targets, by their competitors, by their consumers; by their shareholders, and there is nothing they can do about it but hold tight as the storm hits them.

With record punishments now being meted out, and social networks making bad decisions worse, the era of Citizens United will either be one filled with tragedy as corporations implode under the pressure, or relief as the bad decision is overturned.

Sign Senator Franken’s petition today. Save our nation.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/11/15/petition-from-senator-frankin-trash-citizens-united/

I'd sign it, but I'm not American. I'll limit my comment to the apparent effect online petitions can have on the political discourse from the Canadian experience.

Although the government has set rules for petitions and online petitions don't comply - MP's receiving tens of thousands of petitions in a short period of time (eg: 70,000 in two hours like Canadians did 3 weeks ago) does have an impact. Online petitions are only one of many on-line tools available to citizens when attempting to get a point across to those who govern. Twitter and Facebook are also great tools if used to maximum effect. To get an idea of how to make change happen, check out this short video:

http://vimeo.com/35381937

i signed it.