Five months ago, two brothers - both Vietnam veterans - set out to walk across the country for democracy.  What would provoke two men in their 60's who had never considered themselves "activists" to engage in this grueling endeavor?
 
Because on January 21st the U.S. Supreme Court sided once again with the ruling elite against the interests of the American people. That was the day the Court released its opinion in Citizens United vs. FEC, overturning the flimsy federal campaign finance reform laws afforded by the McCain-Feingold law. 
 
The Court ruled that corporations were people, and could spend unlimited amounts of money to buy our elections.  The Court literally legalized corporate bribery of our elected officials, and that is exactly what is happening with the flood of corporate money in the current election cycle set to break all records for campaign spending.
 
"We were disgusted by that ruling, and could not believe that the Supreme Court had so flagrantly violated the principle of self-government," said Laird Monahan." The opinion dismayed an overwhelming majority of the American people as well. 
 
A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted a month after the decision found that 65% of respondents were "strongly opposed" to the ruling.  And the opposition cut across party lines-- 85% percent of Democrats polled were opposed to the ruling, while 76% percent of Republicans and 81% of independents said they were opposed. Even more telling, the nearly unanimous opposition crossed more than just party lines.
 
The poll showed remarkably strong agreement about the ruling across all demographic groups. Age, race and education levels had virtually no bearing on opinion.
 
For Laird and Robin Monahan, their disgust spurred them to the remarkable action of marching across the country to bring attention to the fact that "We the People" have lost control of our own government, and that only a broad and deep social movement could reclaim our sovereign right to self-rule.
 
They quickly discovered the national coalition at www.MoveToAmend.org, which is calling for a constitutional amendment to abolish "Corporate Personhood," which is the notion that a corporation can claim to be a person, and therefore entitled to basic human rights-and overturn laws that attempt to control corporate harm and abuse.
 
 
So starting in San Francisco on May 16, Robin and Laird headed east along Highway 50 taking their message to people and communities across the country that a Constitutional amendment to deny corporations "personhood" and constitutional rights is vital to restore democracy and to assert the inalienable human right of We the People.
 
The Monahans have been speaking along the way with local citizens and the media, holding demonstrations and rallies in front of state capitals, and connecting with Move to Amend supporters and allied grassroots groups in small towns and large cities across the country. You can read their blog and press accounts at www.lairdandrobin.org
 
On October 20, the Monahan Brothers end their historic walk by crossing the Arlington Memorial Bridge into Washington, D.C. 
 
If you are interested in meeting these two contemporary American patriots, please join them on the last day of this epic adventure. Here is their itinerary for Wed, Oct 20:
 
10:00 am: Meet Laird and Robin and walk with them to the Lincoln Memorial.  Starting point: The Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery near the Arlington Metro
12:00 to 1:30 pm: Rally at Lincoln Memorial and walk to the U.S. Capitol Building
3:00 pm:  Rally at the U.S. Capitol Building and the U.S. Supreme Court
6:00 to 8:00 pm: Celebration and Reception at Busboys & Poets at 5th and K Streets
 
 
After the appalling decision in Citizens United there have been calls to fight back at the legislative level.  The Monahan Brothers and the entire Move To Amend coalition agree that we need publicly financed elections, and we need laws requiring a majority of shareholders to approve corporate political contributions, and we need better campaign disclosure laws.  Those laws would be an immediate improvement, and we all support those efforts.
 
But even if every one of those laws passed, it would not be enough. Because once again, the Court relied on the illegitimate legal doctrine of "Corporate Personhood" in order to justify this profoundly undemocratic decision.
 
 As this decision clearly demonstrates, corporate personhood is not an inconsequential legal technicality. Consider this-- the Supreme Court ruled that a corporation was a "legal person" with 14th Amendment protections before they granted full personhood to African-Americans, immigrants, natives, and women.
 
Literally hundreds of laws-perhaps thousands-of local, state and federal laws that attempt to protect our environment, our elections, our safety and health, our right to organize have all been overturned as a result of this erroneous doctrine.
 
It's time that we confront the stunning reality-- the natural world is being literally destroyed, the federal government is engaged in unending war, and we live in an unjust, unsustainable and undemocratic country.
 
It's time to take ourselves seriously-- both about what is at stake and what it will require to actually assume and democratically exercise real power. We must address the reality that the federal courts have made real democracy impossible. 
 
 It's time to follow the lead of the American Revolutionaries, the abolitionists, the suffragists, the trade unionists, and the Civil Rights activists and to build a broad-based, multi-partisan democracy movement in the United States.
 It's time to amend the U.S. Constitution to make it clear that only human beings can claim to be "persons" with constitutional rights.
 
Move To Amend is broad new coalition of grassroots groups and national organizations-- representing diverse public interest, community, and local businesses-that was formed immediately following the Citizens United decision.
We are making a bold call to overrule the Supreme Court Citizens United and to amend the Constitution to restore the power of people over corporations beyond election law.  And without a single story in corporate media (often referred to euphemistically as "mainstream media") over 95,000 Americans have joined the call!
 
We are under no illusion that this approach will "fix" the legal system, the political system, the economic system.
 
 But we believe it is time we confront the entire current Constitutional framework.  It's time to make the promise of democracy a reality.
 
 Are you with us?
 
 If so, come to DC to welcome the Monahans as they march into DC.  And go to the website www.MovetoAmend.org to join the growing national movement to take our country back.
 
David Cobb was the Green Party candidate for President in 2004, and is a spokesperson for www.MoveToAmend.org He can be reached at david@duhc.org and the coalition can be reached at 707-269-0984

If you haven't heard David Cobb of Move To Amend lecture on the origins of the Constitution and Corporate personhood, you are in for a real treat. Watch his video here.

The Earth is the common heritage of humanity. It is a closed ecological system where each part is dependent upon the others for its survival.

The earth ecosystems are under tremendous stress caused by human activity, threatening collapse of the food chain.

We must move rapidly away from the consumer culture, the extensive use of plastic, and the fossil fuel economy that is destroying this earth.

Learn about the Great Pacific Garbage patch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLrVCI4N67M