I have an idea for a new amendment, which I want to place on the 2014 ballot. If passed by popular vote, we do not have to rely on congress calling a constitutional congress, and it goes straight to congressional vote and ratification. The amendment in question is one that states that congress does not have the authority to raise their own salaries. That power would be left up to the people. Any time congress wants a raise, they put it to a popular vote, and the people decide.
Nope, Ballot Iniatives serve only to give politicians cover to get things passed they don't want their name on. Happens all the time in California, so don't even try to start that on a national level. There are more important things to cover with Amendments. 1) Term limits for federal judges, ending this lifetime elitist crap that hasn't protect the Constitution or the nation or the people themselves. 2) A requirement that ALL bills be published and electronically available for public review for a minimum of three months after the final amendment is added, in either House, and an additional three months wait after the bill is passed through the reconciliation conference so that all voters can see the full text of the bill and inform their legislators of how (*)(*)(*)(*)ed in the head they are for supporting it. Any bill longer than 50 double-spaced legal pages shall have two six month waiting periods instead of three months. 3) Treaty ratifications DO NOT make the treaty the "law of the land" if any provision of said treaty violates any portion of the Constitution. Which is already the case, but so many people are sooo stupid it doesn't hurt to put them in their places. 4) Valid state-issued ID MUST be presented to cast a ballot in any election for federal office. 5) State issued permits are not required to exercise any Constitutional right. 6) ALL candidates for elective office, and all members currently in elective office, must undergo a thorough background check, and the results of that check must be made available, unexpurgated, to the voting public. This would include background records checks (birth certificate, high-school files, college files, jobs held, addresses lived in, credit history, bank records, social security number, and criminal records). Yes, the Mayor knows what the word "thorough" means. 7) Repeal the current 16th Amendment, replace it with an amendment requiring a balanced budget in which the next years expenditures cannot exceed the previous years tax revenues, in which payroll withholding is illegal, in which no person is exempt from paying his equal percentage of the flat tax, and in which businesses are not taxed, since, as the liberals keep insisting, businesses aren't people.
I've always felt that laws with this degree of specificity should be kept out of the Constitution. They're great ideas, but a regular bill for a regular law, which must come up for re-ratification periodically would be more prudent.
Not that your idea is bad, but that's not how an Amendment is added to the Constitution. There is no provision for a popular vote. Without a Convention, the measure has to pass 2/3 of the House, 2/3 of the Senate, and then ratification by 3/4 of the state legislatures (38 out of 50).
I see where you going, but some of this doesn't make sense. For item 2, let's say we're attacked Pearl Harbor style and need to go to war. Are we going to wait 3-6 months? Items 4 and 5 seem contradictory. For item 7, no payroll withholding? So the flat tax is not on income, is it on purchases or what?
You mean like this one? No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Looks very specific, doesn't it? How about this one? Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Again, very specific. Then there's this one: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Quite specific. How about this for specificity: The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct. It coud have been more specific, like this: And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.' Oops, that's for using the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, not for electing Senators, but it's very specific. Three. And the vagueness of THIS Amendment has caused endless trouble: The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. So, let's stick with being as specific as possible. For example, judicial term limits: Text: 1 The number of judges on the Supreme Court shall be 9. 2 The period of service for Judges on the Supreme Court shall be 2 years times the number of judges on the court. The expiration of judicial terms shall be staggered so that a vacancy appears on the court on September 30 of each odd numbered year. ([aside: whatever the formal date is for the "End of Session" - establish it with this amendment so the exiting judge serve a full term, and the change schedule doesn't interfere with the calendar over much) 3 In the event of a justice retiring or dying before the completion of his term, the president shall appoint an interim justice to serve on the bench for the completion of his predecessor's term, pending the Senate's advice and consent. 4. Reappointment of sitting justices is permissible, following the advice and consent of the Senate. Nailing down the text of an amendment is the purpose of public debate.
Didn't want to bog the posting down with too many details. Clearly there would be some exceptions, specifically in the event of war, the war resolutions can't wait. And clearly since other typical "emergencies" are merely repeats of history, like a hurricane hitting shore or other predictable weather occurances, or earth quakes, forest fires, floods, and rains of frogs, then the laws should be already on the books. Yeah, they do. There would have to be discussion on that, since voting is so precious and voter fraud is so heinous, we have to have control over the process to ensure that only the people allowed to vote are voting. But freedom of speech? Don't need a publisher's license for that. The owner of a gun isn't infringing another's right to own guns when he buys two, three, or thirty, and nobody needs to know how many guns he owns. But voting? Voter ID is the only way to ensure the principle of One Man, One Vote. No payroll withholding means that you figure out what your tax is, and you write a check. The only reason the government gets it's hands in there first is that it believes it's claim on your money is stronger than your claim on your own money. People pay monthly rent without payroll withholding. They also pay utility bills, cable bills, cell phone bills, car payments, student loans, credit card payments, and their bookie, all without payroll withholding. The employer's obligation might be to include a statement with the paycheck defining what the recommended tax should be (how hard is it to calculate a straight percentage, when everyone is paying the same rate?) , and the citizen can write the government a tax payment the same time he's filling out his mortgage payment. If such an amendment were written, it should also include the following language: Each year the citizen shall be required to submit to the IRS a report on income earned and taxes paid, to be filed no earlier than the Monday eight days before or six days after the Congressional and Senate Elections
I do not agree with a state ID being necessary for voting. I would rather see a special ID given by the state when you register to vote. Many people, especially older people, do not have ID card, and therefore would be barred from voting if such a law were passed. A separate ID, sent to all registered voters would settle the issue without any problems. As long as republicans get their way, billionares and corporations will ALWAYS have loopholes to get out of taxes. I would love to see the 16th amendment altered. There should have to be a balance budget each year, with a minimum amount of funding for things like education, defense, and other essential programs. And the amendment should state that the salaries of government officials must always be the first thing cut, and can never be taken off of the table. If the budget is not balanced, Congress gets their salaries halved the following year.
I do kind of like the mandatory waiting period on legislation, as so often the Congress members don't even read the bills they vote on. But the amendment we really need is about "Corporations are not people and money is not speech." If the 14th Amendment gives corporations equal protection under the laws as persons, then persons should have equal protection with corporations. Here is an example for you: corporations can deduct depreciation of assets and also legal expenses from their income taxes, so should we persons have this same equal protection.
Yes, and we make it clear that any congressman and governor who does not vote to pass it is out in the next election.
"Sent" to the voter? How is the state supposed to ensure that you are you when you register? Sending them out anonymously is no different than letting someone print them up at home. There's nothing wrong with using extant ID to satisfy the identification requirements of voting. AH! That explains it. Real ID is something the DemocRATS are desperate to keep away from the ballot box, since the DemocRATS are the party of Voter Fraud. What's your name? Recorded.
People who own corporations ARE people (funny how that works), and they do have the same Constitutional freedoms as any other, including the freedom to use their money to promote their political causes. Money isn't speech, telling a person he can't use his money to advertise his message stifles his speech. It's funny how the DemocRATs suddenly got excited about deep-pocket donors running advertising only when the law forbidding Americans from using their own money to do it was rescinded by the court. They never complained about the goonions forcibly taking dues from members to run advertisements in opposition to the members' wishes. Not once did a DemocRAT complain about this.
Yes. . .as long as they don't get full pensions and benefits for the rest of their life! Can you imagine how much it would cost to carry so many losers if they changed every 2, 4, or 8 years?
