New Frontiers: Building a Grassroots Movement for Community Rights & the Rights of Nature – Explaining the Problem & Outlining the Solution.
An introductory 13-minute slideshow produced by Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.
Regulatory Agencies Have Failed Us – Let’s Fail Them: Out of the Agencies & Into the Legislatures
This article by Jane Anne Morris was published on her website, DemocracyThemePark.org, on October 15, 2012. Regulatory agencies are not, and never were, the Great Protectors of the public interest that hazy origin myths suggest.1Understanding regulatory failure entails accepting this inconvenient truth and then moving on. Are we ready to go beyond the usual ritualistic laments about how [...]
Presentation by Ben Price on the purpose and creation of a Rights Based Ban that addresses environmental concerns – at the Youngstown (Ohio) City Council Public Utilities Committee Informational Meeting.
The Youngstown City Council's Public Utilities Committee (PUC) held an informational meeting with Ben Price on July 22, 2012. Ben presented on the purpose and creation of a Rights Based Ban that addresses environmental concerns by banning fracking within the city of Youngstown, Ohio. Ben answered questions from the PUC members and members of the audience [...]
Statement on Efforts to Amend the U.S. Constitution following Citizens United.
This document was published online in January 2012 by Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. A great deal of activism has emerged in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC. In that case, the Court declared that corporate First Amendment “free speech” rights were violated by federal law which [...]
Montana High Court Says ‘Citizens United’ Does Not Apply In Big Sky State
State Supreme Court Issues Remarkable Ruling Against Corporate Speech This article by Steven Rosenfeld appeared on AlterNet, January 1, 2012. We the People are used to acting more as a servant class than as The Sovereign, with authority to govern ourselves. Recently, the Montana Supreme Court reminded us what political backbone looks like. Just as [...]
The Corporate State Ascends: Municipal Corporations Become Its Colonies.
An original essay written by Ben Price, of Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund. (Date unknown.) The sleight of hand that slipped the rights of property into a superior relationship to the sovereignty of the people where they live was almost imperceptible. While the local charter could supply the privileges of the rights of property, the [...]
“Free Trade’s” Footprint a Decade after Seattle
This article by Jane Anne Morris (DemocracyThemePark.org) was originally published in the Spring 2010 edition of Synthesis/Regeneration. On this Tenth Anniversary of the “Battle for Seattle,” we could celebrate, we should commemorate, but we must evaluate. Right, then. What seemed so important at the time? It is difficult to even see back to 1999 without becoming [...]
Why a Green Future is “Unconstitutional” and What to Do About It
This article by Jane Anne Morris (DemocracyThemePark.org) was originally published in the Spring 2009 edition of Synthesis/Regeneration, and was based on remarks made at Synthesis/Regeneration’s “Surviving Climate Change: Producing Less and Enjoying It More” Roundtable, in St. Louis, Missouri in June 2008. Working in tandem with a cooperative Supreme Court, corporate lawyers have insinuated themselves into [...]
Devolution and Preemption
This short article on the history and background of devolution and preemption was published by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) on, November 25th, 2008. What level of government should exercise what kinds of authority? That question has been vigorously debated throughout U.S. history. Indeed, the U.S. Constitution itself represented a radical departure from the [...]
Institute for Local Self-Reliance: Local Preemption Constitutional Amendment – Michigan
This article was posted on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance's website, November 25th, 2008. Fed up with repeated state preemption of local laws, Michigan cities have spearheaded a campaign to require a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, rather than a simple majority, to pass any law dealing with an issue that could be addressed by [...]