We Asked Vern Buchanan to Co-Sponsor We The People Amendment

Left to Right: Diane Desenberg, Arlene Sweeting, Rhana 

Bazzini, and Terry Scalzo, waiting to meet with 

Representative Buchanan

Today Manasota Move To Amend members met with our Congressional Representative, Vern Buchanan.  We asked Representative Buchanan to co-sponsor the We The People Amendment (H.J. Res. 48).  We explained that this Constitutional Amendment would clearly state that the rights protected by the Constitution are the rights of human beings only and that it is the purview of governments to regulate political campaign spending. After some discussion, we did find common ground. Congressman Buchanan told us that he is dismayed at the huge amounts of dark money that can flow in support of a candidate during the last days or weeks leading up to an election with no disclosure requirements. He voiced a clear desire for transparency regarding campaign funding. Buchanan also expressed the notion that gargantuan spending on campaigns overwhelms the free speech of ordinary people. Given the Supreme Court's rulings on these issues, a Constitutional Amendment is needed to enable our lawmakers to address these problems. Toward that end, Manasota Move To Amend encourages Congressman Buchanan to co-sponsor the We The People Amendment.

Gyrocopter Activist Welcomed Home

Gyrocopter activist, Doug Hughes, recently came home from prison. In 2015, the Ruskin resident landed his gyrocopter on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol, seeking to personally deliver individual letters to all members of Congress. His mission was to shine a light on the corruption that accompanies the large sums of money injected into our political system. Doug's letter started with a quote from John Kerry's farewell speech to the Senate in 2013,

"The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself. They know it. They know we know it. And yet, Nothing Happens!"

Rhana Bazzini, the Sarasota activist who trekked all the way to Tallahassee for similar purposes was there when Doug set off for prison, and she was there to welcome him home four months later.

Doug has garnered some recent news coverage. WFLA news interviewed Doug, who continues to feel he did the right thing. And the Tampa Bay Times reports that the federal government will be destroying the gyrocopter. Does that count as government waste?