[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 17139]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         TOWN OF SHARON ADOPTS RESOLUTION TO PROTECT DEMOCRACY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2012

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, the Town of Sharon, MA 
adopted a resolution calling on us to adopt a Constitutional amendment 
that would protect in the Constitution two important principles that 
have recently been undermined by narrow majorities in the Supreme 
Court. The Town of Sharon asks us to make it clear in the Constitution 
that only human beings and not corporations are to be given the rights 
of citizenship, and that unlimited election spending is not free 
speech, but rather a threat to democracy.
  Mr. Speaker, it is particularly appropriate that the Town Meeting in 
Sharon, a very democratic forum of government, adopted these two 
principles in this resolution and asked us to put them into the 
Constitution because they are both important for the protection of our 
democracy. I submit the resolution from the Town Meeting of Sharon.

                                                    Town Clerk

                                     Sharon, MA, December 3, 2012.
       Article 10.
       Voted: That the Town adopt the following resolution: To 
     call upon the United States Congress to pass and send to the 
     States for ratification an amendment to the Constitution of 
     the United States that would firmly establish two principles:
       1) Only human beings, not artificial entities such as 
     corporations, are entitled to the rights and privileges 
     guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.
       2) Election spending is not free speech guaranteed by the 
     First Amendment, and is therefore subject to regulation by 
     federal and state governments.
       A True Copy.
           Attest:
                                                Marlene B. Chused,
     Sharon Town Clerk.

                          ____________________