The Oregon Progressive Party commends Oregon U.S. Representatives Earl Blumenauer and Peter DeFazio for recently signing on as co-sponsors of the “We the People” proposed U.S. 28th Constitutional Amendment (HJR 48).

Since the January 2010 U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision much interest has been expressed in Congress and by citizens working at the local and state level in amending the Constitution to address the granting to corporations of the right to freely spend corporate funds on elections campaigns.  The Court did so by concluding that corporations have constitutional rights--that they are in effect human beings with constitutional rights.  

Oregon and 15 other states have now called for a constitutional amendment to at least overturn Citizens United.  The “We the People” proposed amendment would go further by amending the U.S. Constitution to say that corporations are not people and money is not speech. Such an amendment would overturn court decisions going back to Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad (1886), which gave 14th Amendment human rights to corporations, and would include more recent decisions like Buckley v Valeo, First National Bank of Boston v Bellotti, and others.

The Oregon Progressive Party's candidates performed well in the 2012 general election.

Minor parties in Oregon are required to run at least one statewide candidate earning 1% or more of the vote. We ran 3 statewide candidates, and all of them exceeded 1%.

Our candidates for U.S. Representative did even better, earning from 3.1% to 4.2%. We cross-nominated the Democrat, Peter DeFazio, in the 4th Congressional District, and he won with 59% of the vote.

Also, the candidates we endorsed in non-partisan races did well.  Brad Avakian won the statewide Labor Commissioner race.  Amanda Fritz won re-election to the Portland City Council.

The Oregon Progressive Party has nominated these 7 candidates for the November 2012 Election:

The Party has also adopted this Oregon Progressive Party Statement for the Oregon Voters's Pamphlet.  Here is the Statement of Robert Wolfe.

The Rocky Anderson ticket includes Luis Gonzalez for Vice-President of the United States.  Robert Wolfe, Cameron Whitten, and Chris Henry are exclusively the candidates of the Oregon Progressive Party.  Steven Reynolds has been cross-nominated by the Pacific Green Party and the Libertarian Party of Oregon.  Woody Broadnax has been cross-nominated by the Pacific Green Party.  Peter DeFazio has been cross-nominated by the Democratic Party and by the Working Families Party of Oregon.

In what was not a surprise, Congress passed the So. Korea, Panama, and Colombia "Free" trade agreements today in what is being described as a victory for bi-partisanship and the White House.

The votes, in part, were 278 - 151 in the House on the So Korea agreement. In the Senate, the votes were 83-15 So. Korea, 77-22 Panama, and 66-33 Columbia.

Even so, the votes among Democrats in the House was lopsided in opposition. From The Hill, "All three agreements had broad Republican support, while they divided House Democrats. Only 31 Democrats supported the deal with Colombia, while 59 Democrats backed the deal with South Korea and 66 supported the Panama agreement."

The U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Caucus today adopted a resolution by Rep. Peter DeFazio that will stop the Obama tax giveaway bill from going to the floor of the House for a vote. DeFazio appeared on the Oregon ballot this year as the candidate of both the Progressive and Democratic parties. According to The Hill magazine:

"We have tremendous concerns about what was given away by the White House," DeFazio told reporters in the Capitol basement after the vote.

DeFazio said the voice vote was "virtually unanimous," with only one or two members expressing dissent.

"We have given our leadership license to force the Senate and the White House back to the table to get a better deal for the American people," he said.

The full article from The Hill is here: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/132885-house-dems-vote-to-reject-tax-c...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy