The cities of New York and Los Angeles.  The Supreme Court of Montana.  And most Americans.  We all know that corporations are not people and do not deserve the political rights afforded to Americans.

My friends at United Republic are putting this question on the map.  They are asking our 300,000 members to suggest Citizens United as a question to the candidates this weekend at the Presidential debates.

John Bonifaz, lawyer extraordinaire, has also put out the call for action.  Here’s how you can get involved:

“Here below are suggested questions to submit:

1) On Friday, December 30, the Montana Supreme Court upheld a century-old state law banning corporate money in elections. The court ruled that the state had the right to prohibit corporate expenditures in the political process to protect democracy. Do you agree with the Montana Supreme Court?

2) In January 2010, the United States Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC stating that corporations are people and have the First Amendment right to spend their corporate general treasury funds in our elections. The ruling, which swept away a century of precedent, has led to an onslaught of hundreds of millions of corporate dollars into our political process. Do you support a constitutional amendment to overturn that ruling and to make clear that corporations are not people with constitutional rights?

3) Do you think corporations should be treated as people with the right to spend their corporate general treasury funds in our elections?

4) A narrow majority of the US Supreme Court ruled two years ago that corporations should be treated as people with that right, but just last week the Montana Supreme Court challenged that ruling and upheld a century-old state law banning corporate money in elections. Is the Montana Supreme Court right?

This is *the* critical issue facing our democracy. You can submit questions about the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling and corporate spending in elections to the
ABC-Yahoo Republican Presidential Debate here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120103093947AAlB0wn

And to the NBC-Facebook Republican Presidential Debate here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/45703786#.TwYb4TVSSrl

And you can submit questions to President Barack Obama here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments

As we enter this presidential election year, we should know where every candidate stands on this central issue of our time. Ask the presidential candidates. Let’s get them on the record. Is it we the people or we the corporations?”