Co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream Ben Cohen is launching a new campaign to help his friends in the Occupy movement. No, he isn’t donating his millions of dollars to charity. He’s going to help distribute rubber stamps which can be used to deface dollar bills.
Cohen’s goal is to get “thousands of people to buy rubber stamps and stamp any currency that comes into their possession.” The stamps will include slogans like “Corporations are not people,” “Money is not speech” and “Not to be used for bribing politicians.” (Presumably, Cohen would not object if Congress acted to stop him from defacing currency, since he believes money is not speech.)
Cohen wants a Constitutional amendment that would reverse the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision that removed restrictions on corporate involvement in political speech. Cohen had already raised over $300,000 by February; he wanted to get to $1.8 million. But since February, his group, the Movement Resource Group, has only taken in $100,000.
The Ben & Jerry’s website currently contains an open letter stating that the company stands with the occupiers.