Tuscaloosa Move To Amend

I find the below three emails, and related facts, instructive about "the way things are" in the campaign finance reform movement. It would seem appropriate to make an evaluation of the impact of the "way things are" on how the movement is progressing and on its chances for success. I will, however, leave it to readers to decide their own reactions.

The first email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a summary of a meeting it held in June. The second email is a reply from me to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend, making an appeal for campaign finance reform organizations to try to be collaborative and mutually supporting. The third email is from Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to me, giving a reminder of its meeting later this month.

Tuscaloosa Move To Amend never responded to the second email below. Further there are other, earlier emails I sent to Tuscaloosa Move To Amend to which I did not receive a response.

Recently I have been bombarding the national MoveToAmend and other campaign finance organizations with tweets about various ideas, such as the campaign finance reform movement seeking synergy with the Bernie Sanders campaign. I have gotten no reaction from the national MoveToAmend. I do not know whether the national MoveToAmend sees anything about the Bernie Sanders candidacy that could be availed of by MoveToAmend to advance its program, or whether the Bernie Sanders candidacy has, in fact, affected the way MoveToAmend is pursuing its agenda.

This is part of "the way things are" in the campaign finance reform movement.

As indicated, I will leave it to readers to decide their own reactions.

From: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 25, 2015 at 3:52 PM
Subject: Meeting Notes 6-18-2015
To: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com>

MOVE TO AMEND – TUSCALOOSA SUMMARY MEETING NOTES

June 18, 2015

Jim Price welcomed those in attendance. Alice Parker facilitated the business portion of the meeting.

Secretary Report

• Nancy Price requested that the meeting notes be accepted. Notes accepted by group with no changes.

Treasurer Report

• Doug Lightfoot reported on the balance for the Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa account.  

Petitions Coordinator Report

• Patty Lightfoot gave the June report.

Media Relations Team Report

Website Administrator Report (including Affiliate Web Page, NationBuilder, Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa Calendar, and Monthly Conference Calls)

• The Move to Amend coalition call was Tue., June 16^th.  

Work Together Alabama!

• Alice Parker reported on the Work Together Alabama! meeting.

Update on Trans-Pacific Partnership

• Alice Parker reported that she attended and represented Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa along with a coalition that included members from Public Citizen, Rev. Fred Hammond, and MoveOn in lobbying Congresswoman Sewell. This group met with a trade representative from Congresswoman Terri Sewell’s office and asked her

End Citizens United

• Jim Price shared with group that an organization is emulating Move to Amend.  It is a “fraud group” seeking people to like them on Facebook, building a mailing list, asking for money, and clogs emails. Do not like.

Study Circle

Presentations from the Movement Education Program Session were provided by:

• Alice Parker                 “Real Democracy”
• Johnny Marks, Jr.        “Principles of Anti-Oppression and Anti-Oppression Practice”
• Group also viewed and discussed assigned videos and readings for Session II of the Movement Education Program.

Outreach

• No report.

July Meeting

• Group agreed not to meet in July.
• Next meeting:  Thursday, August 20, 2015, 7:00 p.m., TDOT Building. 

 This concludes the notes for the June 18, 2015 Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa meeting.

 Respectfully submitted,

Nancy Price, Secretary, Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa

Move to Amend · PO Box 610, Eureka, CA 95502, United States 
This email was sent to rdshattuck@gmail.com. To stop receiving emails, click here.

From: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com> Date: Sat, Jun 27, 2015 at 12:14 AM Subject: Re: Meeting Notes 6-18-2015 To: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org> Thanks for this report, Jim and Nancy. For some time, I have believed organizations such as MoveToAmend, Represent.Us, and MAYDAY.US, which have a common objective, should be collaborative and mutually supportive in promoting that common objective, even as the organizations have differing approaches for how to try to bring about needed change.  I have tried to push for such collaboration. Please see, for example, this blog entry: Trying for MoveToAmend. If trying to foster collaboration appeals to Tuscaloosa Move to Amend, I would very much like to work with you on it. Sincerely, Rob Shattuck Mountain Brook, AL From: Tuscaloosa Move to Amend <tuscaloosa@movetoamend.org> Date: Thu, Aug 6, 2015 at 12:48 PM Subject: Reminder: Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa Meeting 08-20-15 To: Rob Shattuck <rdshattuck@gmail.com> The National Campaign to End Corporate Personhood and Demand Real Democracy! About | Donate | Take Action Dear Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa Friends, We hope that you have had a good summer and are ready to come together on our journey for a more democratic society in the U.S. in which all of us, not just the 1%, can meaningfully participate in the decisions affecting our lives. Our next Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa meeting will be from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, August 20 at the Tuscaloosa Department of Transportation (TDOT) Building, 1000 28th Avenue, Tuscaloosa, AL (one block south of the intersection of Stillman Boulevard and 28th Avenue.  We hope that you can make it! At that meeting, following a brief business segment and a report regarding the status of the Trans-Pacific Partnership proposal, our Study Circle time will be devoted to covering Session III of Move to Amend’s Movement Education Program which focuses on the Women’s Suffrage and Abolition Movements.  After we view two short videos together, our Study Circle Chair Kiki Karatheodoris will facilitate a discussion centered on answering the questions relating to Session III.  Please use the links shown below to access the readings, videos, and questions for this session. Try to view the videos and read the articles prior to the meeting.  Any remaining time will be devoted to comparing notes on our progress regarding our outreach to other organizations and individuals.  Thanks! A synopsis of Session III is as follows: Session III: Learning from Past Movements: Women’s Suffrage and Abolition Objective:  Learn from effective past social movements, the Women’s Suffrage Movement and the Abolitionist Movement, and explore how Move to Amend can incorporate this understanding toward our strategies to win our current fight against corporate rule. Readings: 19th Amendment -- Women’s Suffrage: 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (online article) Seneca Falls 1848 Women's Rights Convention (online article) Alice Stokes Paul: the Women's Suffrage Movement (5 minute video) Abolitionists: 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments: http://www.historynet.com/abolitionist-movement (online article) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MILN_17KH6M (12 minute video) Discussion Questions What was your previous experience with the history of these amendments, and what impact did it have on you to do this reading and watch the videos?   What role did a multi-faceted, grassroots movement play in the passing of the 19th Amendment?   Discuss the implications of calling for a constitutional convention as a strategy for the passing of the 17th Amendment?   The Abolitionist article describes how many of its adherents “came to believe…. that a moral commitment to ending slavery took precedent over observing those parts of the Constitution that protected slavery and, in particular, that they refused to obey the Fugitive Slave Act.”  In the video, we watch William Lloyd Garrison burn a copy of the Constitution saying, “And this, the Constitution of the United States of America is the source and parent of all the other atrocities.  A covenant with death and an agreement with hell. So perish all compromises with tyranny.”  Discuss the implications of this radical stance for the abolition of slavery. We look forward to seeing you on August 20! Alice Parker and Jim Price Co-Chairs, Move to Amend-Tuscaloosa MOVE TO AMEND COALITION PO Box 610, Eureka CA 95502 | (707) 269-0984 | www.MoveToAmend.org    We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other related cases, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.