Proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States
The We The People Amendment
Using what is to bring what should be.
Setting an example for the world.
Full text below, six sections, plus commentary.
Published for your signed bipartisan support and suggestions.
Read the reasoning behind every provision →
Joint Resolution
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to affirm that:
- Only human beings possess legal personhood;
- Speech is a human act, not an economic transaction;
- Money is not speech;
- Democracy belongs solely to the people;
- Corruption shall find no sanctuary in government;
- Political power shall not be purchased, but shared equally among citizens.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, two-thirds of each House concurring therein, that the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the States.
What this amendment does
Twenty objectives. The amendment below is the text required to accomplish them. Nothing on this list is decorative and nothing in the amendment is missing from this list.
- Constitutional rights belong to human beings. Only to human beings.
- Corporations are not people, and no group of any kind is a person.
- Artificial intelligence is not a person, cannot become one, and cannot be made one by a foreign government either.
- You can always find the human being behind any organization. Hiding them is fraud.
- Money is not speech.
- No corporation may spend to influence an election or a law — directly, or through any intermediary, no matter how many nonprofits the money passes through.
- Nobody contributes to candidates. Campaigns run on public funds, and no candidate may self-fund.
- Nobody buys political advertising, and every qualified candidate gets equal free access to reach voters. The ban and the access are one provision; neither works without the other.
- An independent schoolteacher who gathers the signatures receives the same campaign funding as the incumbent senator. Not a proportion. The same.
- You reach the ballot by finding people, never by finding money — on terms that are identical for everyone and reachable by someone with no office and no organization.
- Courts may not strike these laws down for burdening spending or for making candidates more equal.
- AI must say it is AI, every time, and may never impersonate any real person.
- AI must cite its sources.
- The humans who build, deploy, and profit from AI answer personally for what it does. No company, and no machine, can be placed in between.
- Any automated decision about you can be appealed to a human being with a name.
- No machine ever decides to harm, kill, or imprison a person — or makes any decision a human cannot undo. Changing that requires a recorded vote.
- Officials act on their own conscience — not under foreign, corporate, machine, or hidden direction.
- No profit from public office beyond the job’s stated pay, pension, and benefits. No trading on knowledge of policy being formed. Divest or blind trust while you serve.
- Political messages name the humans who paid for them. Publishers label content news, commentary, or advertisement — and whoever claims to be news accepts the duty of news.
- You can know how content is selected for you, turn that selection off, and control it. And no government ever decides what political opinion is true.
The full text follows. Every provision links to the reasoning behind it.
§ 1Persons
The rights, privileges, and immunities secured by this Constitution to persons and to citizens belong to natural persons only. A natural person is an individual human being. No group, entity, organization, instrument, or system, however constituted, is a natural person. Why
No corporation, company, partnership, association, trust, artificial intelligence, autonomous system, or other entity or artifact created by law or by human design, of whatever form now existing or hereafter devised, holds any right under this Constitution. Why
Such entities exist and act only by leave of the People, hold only those privileges the People confer through law, and may appear before any court only to assert, on behalf of natural persons whom they lawfully represent, the rights of those natural persons. Why
No such entity shall hold itself out as a natural person, adopt a name or presentation calculated to obscure the natural persons who control or fund it, or act so that a reasonable person would mistake it for an individual human being. Concealment of the natural persons responsible for an act of governance or of political communication is fraud. Why
This section does not diminish the liability or duties of any such entity; does not apply to the United States, the several States, or their political subdivisions acting in their governmental capacity; and neither enlarges nor narrows the class of natural persons under existing law. Why
Nothing in this Constitution shall be construed to confer upon any such entity the rights, privileges, or immunities of a person or citizen. Why
§ 2Money, Elections, and Political Advertising
The payment, contribution, or expenditure of money is not speech, press, assembly, or petition within the meaning of this Constitution. Currency, property, assets, credit, digital tokens, gifts, loans, services, and every other economic instrument are not expression. Why
No entity described in Section 1 shall make any payment to influence an election, a ballot measure, or the enactment, defeat, or administration of any law; nor shall any such payment be made from funds originating, directly or indirectly, with any such entity, through any intermediary however characterized or organized. Why
No contribution of money or of anything of value shall be made to, solicited by, or received by any candidate for public office or any committee supporting or opposing a candidate or a ballot measure. Campaigns for public office shall be financed exclusively from public funds. No candidate shall expend personal or borrowed funds upon that candidate's own campaign. Why
No person shall purchase, and no person shall sell, the placement, distribution, targeting, or amplification of any communication intended to influence an election, a ballot measure, or the enactment of law. Why
Public funds shall be provided in equal amount to every candidate who qualifies for a place upon the ballot for the same office, and in equal amount to the designated proponents and opponents of every ballot measure. Qualification for the ballot shall be by petition of eligible voters, and not by the payment or raising of money. Why
No requirement for qualification shall differ according to party affiliation, incumbency, or prior electoral performance, nor shall any such requirement exceed what a candidate without prior office or organization can reasonably satisfy. Why
Every candidate qualified for the ballot shall be afforded equal access, without charge, to the channels of communication that serve the electorate, upon terms established by law. The prohibition upon purchased placement and this guarantee of access are a single provision, and neither shall be enforced without the other. For purposes of this section, a channel of communication serves the electorate when communication carried upon it is made available to the general public, without regard to the technology, transmission, or ownership by which it is carried. Why
Nothing in this section restricts any natural person or any entity from creating, publishing, broadcasting, or distributing its own expression through its own channels; from the conduct of journalism; from the uncompensated labor of volunteers; from assembly, association, or organization; or from the display of political expression upon one's own person or property. This section reaches payments, not words. Why
For purposes of this section, a payment to influence includes any payment whose purpose or foreseeable effect is to affect the outcome of an election or ballot measure or the enactment, defeat, or administration of law, without regard to whether it is coordinated with any candidate, committee, or official, and without regard to whether it expressly advocates a result. Why
No law enacted to enforce this article shall be subject to heightened or strict scrutiny, and no such law shall be held invalid on the ground that it burdens speech, restricts the quantity of political communication, disadvantages a candidate, speaker, or viewpoint, or equalizes the resources available to candidates or to speakers. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit seeking to invalidate a law enacted to enforce this article, except upon the ground that it abridges a right secured by this Constitution to natural persons. Every court retains authority to determine whether a law is in fact enacted to enforce this article. Why
§ 3Artificial Intelligence and Automated Systems
No artificial intelligence or automated system holds any right under this Constitution. No such system shall be recognized as a person, a citizen, or a holder of legal personality by the United States, by any State, or by force of the law or act of any foreign nation. Why
No such system shall represent itself as a human being, as any particular human being, or be presented or operated so as to be understood as either. Every communication not created by the living human being it appears to depict or to come from shall disclose, conspicuously and at every instance, what produced it and the natural persons responsible for it. Why
Every work produced by such a system shall disclose the sources upon which it draws. No such disclosure shall be suppressed, omitted, or obscured. Why
No such system shall hold property, enter contracts in its own name, hold an interest in any entity, or act as or on behalf of a natural person in any matter of governance. Why
Responsibility for the acts and omissions of any such system attaches to the natural persons who knowingly direct or control its design, deployment, or operation, and to those who knowingly profit from it, jointly with any entity through which they act. No such system, and no entity, shall be interposed to defeat liability, obscure responsibility, or shield any natural person from accountability for fraud, concealment, or other crime. Why
Every person has the right to know when an automated system has been used in any decision affecting that person's rights, liberty, property, or benefits; to appeal that decision; and to obtain final resolution from a natural person identified by name who bears responsibility for it. Why
Automated systems may be used in the conduct of government and of elections. No act of government, no determination of eligibility to vote, and no counting or certification of votes shall be final unless a natural person identified by name bears responsibility for it and has verified it. Why
No such system shall determine that force or harm be inflicted upon any person, or that any person be deprived of life or of liberty. No such system shall be used to make any determination whose harm could not afterward be remedied by a natural person upon appeal. Neither prohibition shall be suspended, excepted, or limited except by a law enacted upon recorded vote, stating the exception expressly. Why
§ 4Independent Judgment in Public Office
Every act of a person holding legislative, executive, judicial, or regulatory authority shall originate in that person's own reasoning and conscience. Why
No such person shall serve while acting under the direction or control of any foreign power, of any entity described in Section 1, of any artificial intelligence or automated system, or of any undisclosed interest. Why
No such person shall receive any compensation, benefit, or promise of future benefit on account of that office, beyond the salary, retirement provision, and benefits established for the office by law. Adjustment of such compensation and benefits according to terms established by law is not a benefit within the meaning of this paragraph. Why
No such person shall, while holding office, buy, sell, or hold a beneficial interest in any individual security, commodity, or derivative; enter any wager, option, insurance, or contract whose value depends upon an act of government; or transact in any matter as to which that person has knowledge that policy is being formed. Assets not excepted by this paragraph shall be divested, or placed in a trust the officeholder neither directs nor observes, for the duration of service in any policy-making capacity. Holdings in diversified funds not directed by that person, and property held for personal use, are excepted. Why
No such person shall hold office while employed by, serving as an officer or director of, or holding a substantial interest in any enterprise substantially subject to that person's official authority. Substantial interest and substantial subjection shall be defined by law according to objective thresholds of ownership, control, compensation, and regulatory effect, and not according to the mere use of goods or services. Why
Every such person shall publicly disclose all financial and material interests, and all obligations to any person or entity, upon assuming office and at intervals established by law. Why
No person shall be removed or disqualified under this section without notice of the allegations, the right to counsel, the right to examine and rebut the evidence, and the right to appeal. Why
§ 5Political Communication
Every communication intended to influence an election, a ballot measure, or the enactment of law shall be attributed to the natural persons who paid for it and the natural persons who caused it to be made. No such communication shall conceal or obscure its origin, sponsorship, or funding, and no intermediary shall be used for that purpose. Why
Every publisher shall identify each item of political content as news, as commentary, or as advertisement, conspicuously and continuously. Why
A publisher who identifies content as news shall not defend against liability for a false statement of fact within it on the ground that a reasonable audience would not have understood the statement as one of fact. One who claims the standing of news accepts the duty of news. Why
No government shall determine the truth, accuracy, or merit of any political opinion. Nothing in this section restricts a natural person speaking or publishing on that person's own behalf, or the conduct of journalism. Why
Congress and the several States shall have power to enforce this section, including by requiring disclosure of ownership and funding, by prescribing the form of identification required by this section, by providing remedies for knowing falsehood published as news, by requiring that the gathering and publication of news be conducted separately from the publication of commentary and from the sale of political influence, by requiring disclosure of the means by which political content is selected, targeted, or amplified for any person, and by securing to every person the right to know how such content is selected for that person, to decline such selection, and to govern it. Why
§ 6Title, Purpose, Enforcement, and Construction
This amendment shall be known as the “We the People Amendment.” Its purposes are to affirm that:
- Only human beings possess legal personhood;
- Speech is a human act, not an economic transaction;
- Money is not speech;
- Democracy belongs solely to the people;
- Corruption shall find no sanctuary in government;
- Political power shall not be purchased, but shared equally among citizens.
Congress and the several States shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. The powers so granted are concurrent, and are a duty. Why
The freedom of the press belongs to every natural person who gathers, writes, edits, publishes, or distributes information or opinion, may be exercised individually or through any entity, and shall not be abridged on account of the form of the entity through which it is exercised. Why
Nothing in this article shall be construed to abridge the right of natural persons to speak, to worship, to assemble peaceably, to associate with one another, to organize and act together through associations of their choosing, or to petition the government for redress of grievances. Why
This article shall be construed so that every act of governance, and every communication intended to influence it, is traceable to a natural person accountable for it.
Who wrote this
This amendment says every act of government should trace to a human being who can be named. So here is mine.
I am Nathan Roy James. I live in Seaside, California, on the Monterey Peninsula. My family has been Californian for four generations.
I studied Legal Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and spent thirty-five years in business and technology consulting, with a passion for social and political solutions. I have been to twenty-five countries. I adopted children from Russia and Ukraine and raised them to adulthood, and I want them to inherit a better society.
I am the incoming President of Seaside Rotary and I am helping organize the Seaside Chamber of Commerce.
I am not a lawyer or a politician. I am a citizen who recognized that most of our challenges come from a lack of ethical behavior by our politicians — who are filtered and manipulated by the pursuit of funding from for-profit-only interests.
I read the proposals in circulation. None addressed artificial intelligence. None was without weakness for the long term. None addressed full disclosure, the banning of impersonation and deep fakes, artificial emotional manipulation, the freedom to manage our own content algorithms, or an end to bribery by fictional entities using a right meant for people.
This text is published so it can be revised. If something needs revision, please send your feedback to me.
Why 11 11 Global publishes this
11 11 Global is a civic membership organization in Seaside, California. We certify businesses against a public ethical standard — Honesty, Transparency, Integrity, Accountability — and we organize chambers of commerce, service clubs, and citizens around the same commitment.
We publish this amendment because the standard we ask of a small business is the standard we should be able to ask of a government.
We are not asking anyone to disarm first. Nobody should have to run an honest campaign against a bought one, or an honest business against a corrupt one. What we ask for is a pledge to change the rules for everyone at the same time.
Every act of government should trace to a human being who can be named.
Not a machine. Not a shell company. Not an anonymous fund. A person, with a name, who answers for what was done.
The United States would be the first nation to write this down. We would not be the last. A country that holds itself to this standard can ask other countries to meet it — and cannot be asked to meet a standard it has not adopted. That is what setting an example means.