timschochet
Footballguy
If you had the power to rewrite any part of the Constitution, what, if anything, would you change?
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How would you change the Constitution? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter timschochet
- Start date
dparker713
Footballguy
The Second Amendment may be the worst written sentence in the entire US Code - so I'd start there.
Absolutely not. Leave them in there as a reminder of the folly of Prohibition, so we can apply the same logic to drugs, gambling, prostitution, etc.
timschochet
Footballguy
timschochet
Footballguy
The Commish
Footballguy
Is this just for changes of existing amendments, or additions as well?
timschochet
Footballguy
The Commish
Footballguy
I believe it's the 12th amendment that is Electoral College right? And I think that's just about the election and doesn't address primaries, but it's clear to me (now) we need some major upgrading of our election processes.
St. Louis Bob
Footballguy
It would be nice to go only once day, in the morning when I wake up.
RedmondLonghorn
Footballguy
Establish a hard debt limit of 60% of GDP, except in a case of war (which must be declared by Congress formally by a two-thirds vote).
Force all current spending and future liabilities to be brought on to the books.
Limit the current budget deficit to no more than 5% of GDP in any fiscal year.
Establish term limits for both houses of Congress. Strip congress of a number of perks.
Mandate that congressional districts be re-established based on some kind of objective processs that considers several demographic factors. Re-districting would occur every 10-20 years based on Census data.
Junk the Electoral College. Change the presidential term to seven years and allow a president a single term.
Enshrine a right to privacy in a new bill of rights. Clarify and strengthen all of the individual rights currently affirmed by the Bill of Rights. Codify the concept of negative rights and liberties in the new Bill of Rights. Establish mens rea as a legal concept in the new Bill of Rights, with some limitations (gross negligence).
That is just off the top of my head.
Force all current spending and future liabilities to be brought on to the books.
Limit the current budget deficit to no more than 5% of GDP in any fiscal year.
Establish term limits for both houses of Congress. Strip congress of a number of perks.
Mandate that congressional districts be re-established based on some kind of objective processs that considers several demographic factors. Re-districting would occur every 10-20 years based on Census data.
Junk the Electoral College. Change the presidential term to seven years and allow a president a single term.
Enshrine a right to privacy in a new bill of rights. Clarify and strengthen all of the individual rights currently affirmed by the Bill of Rights. Codify the concept of negative rights and liberties in the new Bill of Rights. Establish mens rea as a legal concept in the new Bill of Rights, with some limitations (gross negligence).
That is just off the top of my head.
psychobillies
Footballguy
timschochet
Footballguy
I really disagree with a lot of this- but I wanted to point out that the 7 year single term idea was adopted by the Confederacy- actually 6 years.
Their other major change was to give the President a line item veto.
shadrap
Footballguy
Wow! Pretty good, although I'm not sure that some of these are actual constitutional changes. Regardless, very forthright post.
timschochet
Footballguy
Regarding the rest of Redmond's post I believe it would be catastrophic to place any kind of limitation on government spending in the Constitution.
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
Limit executive orders considerably.
RedmondLonghorn
Footballguy
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timschochet
Footballguy
Because the future is unpredictable. We may need huge expenditures we can't foresee. Also Keynesian theory may be right and deficit spending good for the economy.
Such arbritary restriction would cause spending cut slashing that could have extremely negative immediate consequences and be very disuptive. I think we need to always keep our options open.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
By height.
Because timschochet focuses on the short-term at the expense of the long-term. Short-term pain is unacceptable to him, even when it leads to significant long-term gains.
rockaction
Footballguy
17th Amendment might be a talk radio thing, but I truly believe that it has had such deleterious effects on the public that it should be repealed.
Also, I would make sure to rewrite both the Interstate Commerce Clause, Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 3 with more specificity, and in my own personal world, to mandate the times of Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 8, and not leave it to Congress's leisure. Sounds like Section 8 needs some re-working. (Nice pun, rock.)
And non-delegation doctrine, anybody? I would clarify, Article One, Section One. This and the ICC is probably the biggest of all.
Rock on.
Also, I would make sure to rewrite both the Interstate Commerce Clause, Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 3 with more specificity, and in my own personal world, to mandate the times of Art. I, Sec. 8, Clause 8, and not leave it to Congress's leisure. Sounds like Section 8 needs some re-working. (Nice pun, rock.)
And non-delegation doctrine, anybody? I would clarify, Article One, Section One. This and the ICC is probably the biggest of all.
Rock on.
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RedmondLonghorn
Footballguy
And I made an allowance for Keynesian theory based on allowing any deficit at all. The 5% isn't a magic number, it could be 7.5%, even 10%.
And 60% of GDP isn't magical either, but there should be an upward boundary and it should be much closer to 60% than to where we are now.
Accountability and protecting the public and the country from the worst instincts of politicians is clearly something we could use.
And you are right, the future is unpredictable. That's why the Constitution can be amended.
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
Not a fan of term limits. I think it undermines the basic principle of choosing our voice in government. If a member of congress is representing his/her constituents the way they want why shouldn't they be allowed to be reelected?
rockaction
Footballguy
I agree and have always agreed. The problem is the entrenchment of money, politics, careerism of politicians, and peoples' love of the familiar. There are always checks on the democratic impulse; perhaps this would be better explored in limits, is what I think people think.
Some see the system as so ####ed that this check is needed.
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
Who's the worst Congressman / Senator you've ever had represent you and how long did they serve?
rockaction
Footballguy
Oh, and Article III and II need to leapfrog Article I if we're to have meaningful debate about how our system actually works today.
Cjw_55106
Footballguy
Flat Tax
Everything is legal unless it directly infringes on the liberty of another person. For those, harsh penalties will exist.
Free health care for all. I'm not a fan of Obamacare at all, but if we were starting over, I would include healthcare.
Free contraception for all. If you opt not to use it, you will not receive government assistance for raising your child.
Change the fifth amendment. You are required to take the stand in your own trial.
Controversial: You have to pass a test to be eligible to vote. Seriously.
Everything is legal unless it directly infringes on the liberty of another person. For those, harsh penalties will exist.
Free health care for all. I'm not a fan of Obamacare at all, but if we were starting over, I would include healthcare.
Free contraception for all. If you opt not to use it, you will not receive government assistance for raising your child.
Change the fifth amendment. You are required to take the stand in your own trial.
Controversial: You have to pass a test to be eligible to vote. Seriously.
MattFancy
Footballguy
I go back and forth on this one. On one hand, I can see some of the people that have been in there for so long losing touch with their constituents. But on the other hand, they're up for re-election every 2 years, so if they aren't doing a good job, they can be voted out.
RedmondLonghorn
Footballguy
That's a reasonable counterpoint. And generally I am sympathetic to any argument that is based on maximizing individual freedom and the right to self-determination. Being able to elect who you want certainly falls under that.
Perhaps if districting were de-politicized, term limits would be much less necessary.
What I think is destructive to the political process and a net negative for the common good is career politicians with entrenched fiefdoms.
Maybe if committee positions weren't solely based on seniority (and gerrymandering was mandated away) then we could enjoy most of the major the benefits of term limits without actually enacting them.
rockaction
Footballguy
And in inherent in the committee positions is also the promise of funds flowing back to the state, which also goes to your spending propositions.
Yankee23Fan
Fair Tax!
I disagree with 90% of the ideas here. But I have a hard time writing really long posts about politics and the Constitution.
RedmondLonghorn
Footballguy
I was definitely thinking about that MFer Ted Stevens when I was writing both posts.
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
It would help if the leadership and chairmanships were more parliamentarian. Lots of reasons behind the rise of the imperial presidency but one that rarely gets mentioned is the lack of real national leaders in Congress. If the parties ran as a ticket with a proposed leader that people actually like that could change things.
Chadstroma
Footballguy
Enact FairTax as the Federal system of taxation.
Congress shall not be exempt from any law it passes.
Congressman and women shall not be paid their salary if the budget is not balanced.
Congress shall have term limits. 2 terms for Senate and 4 for house.
Congressional districts would be determined by a basic computer program that is only fed population and geographic information.
All voting requires a government issued ID but every US citizen is entitled to a free form of ID.
Being born on US soil does not make you a US citizen. You must have at least one parent a US citizen, permanent resident alien or service member. Automatic citizenship for any service member after 4 years of service or honorable discharge.
Sunset for all Federal laws and agency regulations have no longer than a 20 year sunset provision.
Congress shall not be exempt from any law it passes.
Congressman and women shall not be paid their salary if the budget is not balanced.
Congress shall have term limits. 2 terms for Senate and 4 for house.
Congressional districts would be determined by a basic computer program that is only fed population and geographic information.
All voting requires a government issued ID but every US citizen is entitled to a free form of ID.
Being born on US soil does not make you a US citizen. You must have at least one parent a US citizen, permanent resident alien or service member. Automatic citizenship for any service member after 4 years of service or honorable discharge.
Sunset for all Federal laws and agency regulations have no longer than a 20 year sunset provision.
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
Officer Pete Malloy
Footballguy
I live in one of the safest districts in the damn country...for the OTHER PARTY. Same guy got elected something like 14 times in a row before retiring. Current rep is about to go 6-for-6. I might as well through my vote out the window. It's pretty simple: the voters around here determined that they wanted these guys in office term after term. Why should their ability to choose their representatives be limited?
SaintsInDome2006
Footballguy
When I say 'worst' I don't mean someone you don't like or disagree with. I mean someone who doesn't do anything, does a terrible job, or has actually gone to jail. Just asking, it's a matter of perspective.
It's pretty simple: the voters around here determined that they wanted these guys in office term after term. Why should their ability to choose their representatives be limited?
Chadstroma
Footballguy
How do you stop people from exercising their free speech to support the candidate of their choice?
PIK95
Footballguy
Chadstroma
Footballguy
timschochet
Footballguy
Pragmatically it can't.
One of the problems that I see with the Constitution is that it's too difficult to amend. Not that it should be easy. But realistically in today's world it seems almost impossible.
