An ingenious method of protesting corporate money in politics

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The Lockn' Festival:  http://www.locknfestival.com/
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Political-message movement to have presence at Lockn'
By Rachael Smith, August 29, 2014

Messages stamped on the dollars read: “Not to Be Used for Bribing Politicians,” “The System Isn’t Broken, It’s Fixed,” “Corporations are Not People” and “Not To Be Used for Buying Elections.”

Ben and Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has little to do with the multimillion-dollar ice cream franchise now but is still on the radar with a new movement that will be showcased at this year’s Lockn’ Festival, coming up next week, Sept. 4 through 7, at Oak Ridge Estate in Arrington.

In 2012, Cohen launched the Stamp Stampede campaign, and its key component is the Amend-O-Matic Stamp Mobile. The colorful Rube Goldberg-like machine stamps a message onto dollar bills as part of a political campaign.

Cohen said the campaign is part of a large movement working to get money out of politics in the United States.

“It’s based on a growing understanding in people’s minds that the root cause of most of the problems in terms of how our country is run is because of some recent Supreme Court decisions,” he said. “The Supreme Court has said that corporations are people and they are entitled to all the Bill of Rights.”

But is it legal? Cohen says yes, this is just “decorating your dollars.”

“The way the law reads, you cannot cut or punch holes, glue, staple, mutilate, cannot change the denomination or advertise business, other than that its free speech,” he said.

In 1974, Congress passed amendments to the Federal Election Act that allowed the federal government to regulate campaign contributions and spending. However, in the 1976 case Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court struck down many of those provisions, ruling that spending money to influence elections is a form of free speech and is constitutionally protected. In Buckley, justices also ruled there would be no limitations on candidate spending by campaigns or individuals.

Cohen believes these rulings have led to money drowning out the voices of the people and claims that money is not speech and corporations are not people.

In the 2010 case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court upheld the First Amendment, stating that political spending is a form of free speech and the government has no right to stop corporations from spending money to support or oppose candidates during elections. However, those corporations cannot give money directly to campaigns but can support them through advertising.

“Federal law prohibits corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures ... for speech expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate,” Justice Anthony Kennedy stated in his 2010 opinion.

Cohen believes the movement is important because unlike traditional protests that happen once and then are over, the Stamp Mobile is capable of producing a long-lasting movement that potentially could be seen by millions of people as the stamped bills return to circulation.

“The Stampede is one small part of that movement,” he said. “We’re building the movement by stamping messages on paper currencies, and essentially it’s one way that people can make their voice heard. Usually in our democracy, people sign onto a petition, hoping the target of the petition will see it. This, on the other hand, is a very public petition stating what you want and stating it very loudly.”

While at Burning Man Festival in Nevada, Cohen heard of Lockn’ and someone mentioned to him that the Stamp Mobile should be at the festival.

Lockn’ attendees can try the free Amend-O-Matic and watch their dollar go through a roller-coaster-like machine until a message is stamped onto their bill.
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