TNforPaul45
01-07-2010, 11:25 PM
Hello all.
I've been tinkering with these for a few months. If this doesn't belong in this thread, Moderators, please move it as appropriate.
As a thought exercise, I would like everyone to consider the following Constitutional "amendments" which, if some or most of which were enacted, might help solve and prevent the problems facing us now.
Please feel free to praise/rip them apart. I welcome discussion.
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Proposed New Constitutional Amendments:
28: No Federal Agency, department, unit or agent shall act to deny any person of their life, liberty, or property for failure of that person to submit to any Federal Income Tax. Any person found in default on any Federal Income Tax shall only be denied access to benefits described under Federal Welfare and Entitlement programs. Failure to pay Federal Income Tax by any individual shall be only counted for three years prior, so as to not place an overdue burden on that person to remedy the default.
29: The States of the Union shall exclusively hold the right to initiate a Recall of any branch of the Federal Government, or any individual office, or departmental group thereof. A Recall by the States shall occur in this manner: Upon the collection of the signatures of six-tenths of the citizens of a state, any person, group or entity residing in that state for a period of 10 years may present to the Legislature of that state a Petition for Recall. The Legislature of that state will then be compelled to call for a vote of passage on the Petition, which shall be considered passed upon two-thirds of the State's Legislature. The vote on the passage of the Petition must take place within three-months of the submission of it to the State's Legislature. Upon the passage of similar Petitions of Recall in six-tenths of the States, then the branch of the Federal Government specified by the Petitions shall be in a state of having been recalled, and shall be deprived of the powers of that office. In the case of Recall of an entire branch of the Federal Government, those branches shall have recall carried out upon them in the following manner: The Executive Branch shall have these members removed from office: The President, The Vice President, all Cabinet Members serving as department heads at the time of the passage of the Recall Petition, the Heads of any Administrative Agencies serving at the time of the passage of the Recall Petition. The Legislative Branch shall be recalled in the following manner: The Senate may be recalled, and the House of Representatives may be recalled, but both Houses of Congress may not be recalled by the same Petition, and both shall not be able to be recalled within a period of one Year of each other. The Judicial Branch shall be recalled in the following manner: The longest serving majority of the total number of Justices shall be immediately recalled. Once an individual office, group, department or Branch of the Federal Government is recalled, it cannot be recalled by the states again for a period consisting of three years from the passage of the Petition by the States. Any person holding an office or position Recalled by the states shall not be eligible to hold any office or position in the Federal Government for a period lasting 12 years after the passage of the Petition by the States.
30: Except in cases of defense of the United States and it's citizens against an active and immediate foreign threat, or in situations of rescue, recovery, or relief of suffering due to natural disaster, no branch, agency, department, nor any unit of the United States Military, nor any unit or group of the National Guard, nor any Federal or State Militia, may be used for any Domestic Policing Activity within the borders of any territory of the United States.
31: No Agent of the Federal Government, nor any of its Agencies, nor any branch of the Military, nor any Federal or State Law enforcement agent, shall use Lethal Force upon any citizen of the United States, except when the offender shall immediately threaten the life of the agent, or shall immediately threaten the life of any other person. the burden of proof, which shall be beyond a reasonable doubt, shall be on the agent who uses lethal force, to prove the justification of it's use thereof before a jury of their peers.
32: The Primary fiscal responsibility of the Federal Government shall be to eliminate any existing debts of the Government, and to prevent the creation of new debts thereafter. The Budget of the Federal Government must be balanced every year. This amendment shall not impede the Government from defense of the country during a declared period of war as specified in this Constitution, nor in providing aid to the States during duress or disaster.
33: Any private entity, and any semi-private entity, which exists to regulate the monetary power of the United States, shall have its administrators and leaders subject to yearly Votes of Approval by the Congress, where a simple majority vote of both houses to approve the entity's administrators shall see them continuing in their positions, or otherwise removed, and replacements appointed by the Congress alone. A full and complete Audit and Reporting of the activities of the entity, shall be performed by Congress yearly, and no part of any such report shall be deemed classified or restricted from the view of the public.
34: No Person, not having been a natural born citizen of the United States, shall serve as a member of the President's Cabinet, nor shall they serve in a position of leadership or authority in any agency or administration created by either the Executive or Legislative branches. No person, having been convicted of a crime by any court in the United States, nor any person indicted for any crime for 5 years prior, shall serve in any position in the Federal Government, or be eligible for any office thereof.
35: The Congress, upon a vote of nine-tenths of it's members of both houses, shall have the power only to recall any number of units of any branch of the United States Military from any engagement upon foreign soil. This ability shall extend to any engagement by any number of forces in any Branch of the Military, and whether under a Declaration of War by the Congress or otherwise. The power to deploy forces or order the Military into any engagement shall continue to reside with the President of the United States.
36: The elections for Federal Offices shall be regulated as follows: Any candidate for the Presidency of the United States, being selected by a political party of at least two-hundred-thousands of citizens, or any unaffiliated candidate who having the signatures of support of at least two-hundred-thousands of citizens, the right of that candidate to participate in any organized debate shall not be infringed, abridged or denied by any person, group, agency of law enforcement, Federal Agency, or private enterprise, or semi-private enterprise, nor shall the right of that candidate to appear on the Election Ballot in any State or Territory of the United States be infringed or denied by the said same groups. No business, nor organized group of persons, shall have the ability to make monetary contributions towards the election of of any candidate for any Federal office or position. The right of any contribution towards a candidate shall rest solely in the hands of the individual citizen. The amount of individual contributions shall not exceed one-tenth the amount of Federal Income Taxes paid by the individual in the last year, or the full amount of Income Tax Refund received by the person in the last year, whichever amount is higher. Congress shall have the power to enforce this amendment through Legislation.
37: The ability of a person to defend themselves against harm or threat of life being a natural right equal in strength among all persons, the right to bear arms of any type and any quantity shall not be infringed or abridged by any part of any Branch of the Federal Government, nor by any State Government, nor by the agency or department or either the States or the Federal Government, nor by any Law Enforcement Agency, nor by any Branch of the Military, in any circumstance, except for the protection of other persons against immediate and imminent harm. No tax on the sale or purchase of arms of any type and quantity shall exceed one-twentieth the value of the armament to be sold.
38: The ownership of land and home being a natural right, any property once legally acquired by any citizen of the United States, and any group legally organized within the United States, may not be seized by any part of any Branch of the Federal Government, nor by any law enforcement agency, nor any Branch of the Military, due to any failure of that person or group to submit to the payment of any property tax to either the State Governments, or the Federal Government. Failure to submit to taxation shall result in the loss of rights to any State or Federal welfare or entitlement programs. The burden of remedy of the default on property tax shall only consist of the previous three years of default, and the amount to the paid only one-quarter of the total amount found to be in delinquency during that period. Once any previous delinquency has been fully remedied, any successive period of delinquency by that person or group in the payment of property tax shall result in the loss of the right of that person to buy or sell any property until the successive delinquency has been fulfilled. The tax on the land or home of any person legally owned or acquired shall not exceed one-percent of the value of the property, per year. This amendment shall not be construed as to enable the adjustment of estimates of property values by any Local, State or Federal agency to unreasonable and beyond-fair market values, as to increase the income derived from property taxes.
39: No part of the Legislative Branch shall allow its members to insert into a bill, once a bill is being considered by any part of either House of Congress, any earmark of additional funding for any reason. Any issuance of Legislation whose fulfillment requires the expenditure of any public funds or resources must be voted on individually, in the form of stand-alone legislation, and may not be inserted into any other legislative actions already under consideration by either House of Congress.
40: No person, once having served as a member of the Senate, nor as a General or higher rank in any branch of the Millitary of the United States, nor as the head of any Federal Department or Agency, shall be eligible for the office of President of the United States, for a period of five years, beginning from the time of the end of their terms in any of these Federal positions.
41: In the event of the removal of the President of the United States from office due to assassination, no current or previous member of the removed President's cabinet, shall be eligible to hold the office of President at any time. If the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House are also removed in this manner at the same time as the President, then the House of Representatives shall vote to fill the office of President from among their members. The Senate must then confirm the person chosen for President by a three-fourths vote. If the person chosen by the House is not confirmed by the Senate, then the person who next received the most number of votes by the House will then be considered by the Senate in the same manner. This shall continue until a President is chosen. If by catastrophe the Congress is removed from office and unable to convene a quorum of representatives from among the people, then the Legislatures of the several states shall communicate a general list of nominees between them, and shall vote on a President. The person receiving the highest number of votes by State Legislatures shall be President. When a President is chosen in this manner, then shall a General Election be held among the People six months afterwards to choose a new President voted from the People.
42: Any person seeking any Federal Office, who for five years prior has held the position of a major stakeholder in any business entity who has entered into a contract for any member of the Federal Government, or any branch of the Millitary, shall be in-eligible for the Office sought. For the purposes of this amendment, Stakeholder shall be considered as the owner of said business, any member of the immediate family of the business owner, any member of the top management of the business, or Board of Directors, or any person holding a share of stock 10% or greater, and any previous owner of the business for a period of ten years prior, or any member of the Top Management of the business for ten years prior.
43: Only persons whose Mother and Father both were natural born citizens of the United States, and whose parents have lived in the United States for a period of fifteen years prior, shall be eligible for the Office of President or Vice-President of the United States. Only those persons naturally born in the United States shall serve in any Office of any Branch of the United States.
44: The power of the President of the United States to nominate positions for the Supreme Court of the United States, and the power of the Senate to confirm positions for the Supreme Court of the United States, is hereby rescinded. Every 6 years from the date of the ratification of this amendment, the terms of the longest serving Justices shall end, and these persons shall not be eligible to hold the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States again. The number of positions whose term ends shall be an even number consisting of roughly half the Justices, preserving an odd number of positions still serving. The positions thus vacant shall then be filled in the next General Election by the People. The power of the Congress to impeach a Justice of the Supreme Court shall be preserved.
I've been tinkering with these for a few months. If this doesn't belong in this thread, Moderators, please move it as appropriate.
As a thought exercise, I would like everyone to consider the following Constitutional "amendments" which, if some or most of which were enacted, might help solve and prevent the problems facing us now.
Please feel free to praise/rip them apart. I welcome discussion.
----------------------------
Proposed New Constitutional Amendments:
28: No Federal Agency, department, unit or agent shall act to deny any person of their life, liberty, or property for failure of that person to submit to any Federal Income Tax. Any person found in default on any Federal Income Tax shall only be denied access to benefits described under Federal Welfare and Entitlement programs. Failure to pay Federal Income Tax by any individual shall be only counted for three years prior, so as to not place an overdue burden on that person to remedy the default.
29: The States of the Union shall exclusively hold the right to initiate a Recall of any branch of the Federal Government, or any individual office, or departmental group thereof. A Recall by the States shall occur in this manner: Upon the collection of the signatures of six-tenths of the citizens of a state, any person, group or entity residing in that state for a period of 10 years may present to the Legislature of that state a Petition for Recall. The Legislature of that state will then be compelled to call for a vote of passage on the Petition, which shall be considered passed upon two-thirds of the State's Legislature. The vote on the passage of the Petition must take place within three-months of the submission of it to the State's Legislature. Upon the passage of similar Petitions of Recall in six-tenths of the States, then the branch of the Federal Government specified by the Petitions shall be in a state of having been recalled, and shall be deprived of the powers of that office. In the case of Recall of an entire branch of the Federal Government, those branches shall have recall carried out upon them in the following manner: The Executive Branch shall have these members removed from office: The President, The Vice President, all Cabinet Members serving as department heads at the time of the passage of the Recall Petition, the Heads of any Administrative Agencies serving at the time of the passage of the Recall Petition. The Legislative Branch shall be recalled in the following manner: The Senate may be recalled, and the House of Representatives may be recalled, but both Houses of Congress may not be recalled by the same Petition, and both shall not be able to be recalled within a period of one Year of each other. The Judicial Branch shall be recalled in the following manner: The longest serving majority of the total number of Justices shall be immediately recalled. Once an individual office, group, department or Branch of the Federal Government is recalled, it cannot be recalled by the states again for a period consisting of three years from the passage of the Petition by the States. Any person holding an office or position Recalled by the states shall not be eligible to hold any office or position in the Federal Government for a period lasting 12 years after the passage of the Petition by the States.
30: Except in cases of defense of the United States and it's citizens against an active and immediate foreign threat, or in situations of rescue, recovery, or relief of suffering due to natural disaster, no branch, agency, department, nor any unit of the United States Military, nor any unit or group of the National Guard, nor any Federal or State Militia, may be used for any Domestic Policing Activity within the borders of any territory of the United States.
31: No Agent of the Federal Government, nor any of its Agencies, nor any branch of the Military, nor any Federal or State Law enforcement agent, shall use Lethal Force upon any citizen of the United States, except when the offender shall immediately threaten the life of the agent, or shall immediately threaten the life of any other person. the burden of proof, which shall be beyond a reasonable doubt, shall be on the agent who uses lethal force, to prove the justification of it's use thereof before a jury of their peers.
32: The Primary fiscal responsibility of the Federal Government shall be to eliminate any existing debts of the Government, and to prevent the creation of new debts thereafter. The Budget of the Federal Government must be balanced every year. This amendment shall not impede the Government from defense of the country during a declared period of war as specified in this Constitution, nor in providing aid to the States during duress or disaster.
33: Any private entity, and any semi-private entity, which exists to regulate the monetary power of the United States, shall have its administrators and leaders subject to yearly Votes of Approval by the Congress, where a simple majority vote of both houses to approve the entity's administrators shall see them continuing in their positions, or otherwise removed, and replacements appointed by the Congress alone. A full and complete Audit and Reporting of the activities of the entity, shall be performed by Congress yearly, and no part of any such report shall be deemed classified or restricted from the view of the public.
34: No Person, not having been a natural born citizen of the United States, shall serve as a member of the President's Cabinet, nor shall they serve in a position of leadership or authority in any agency or administration created by either the Executive or Legislative branches. No person, having been convicted of a crime by any court in the United States, nor any person indicted for any crime for 5 years prior, shall serve in any position in the Federal Government, or be eligible for any office thereof.
35: The Congress, upon a vote of nine-tenths of it's members of both houses, shall have the power only to recall any number of units of any branch of the United States Military from any engagement upon foreign soil. This ability shall extend to any engagement by any number of forces in any Branch of the Military, and whether under a Declaration of War by the Congress or otherwise. The power to deploy forces or order the Military into any engagement shall continue to reside with the President of the United States.
36: The elections for Federal Offices shall be regulated as follows: Any candidate for the Presidency of the United States, being selected by a political party of at least two-hundred-thousands of citizens, or any unaffiliated candidate who having the signatures of support of at least two-hundred-thousands of citizens, the right of that candidate to participate in any organized debate shall not be infringed, abridged or denied by any person, group, agency of law enforcement, Federal Agency, or private enterprise, or semi-private enterprise, nor shall the right of that candidate to appear on the Election Ballot in any State or Territory of the United States be infringed or denied by the said same groups. No business, nor organized group of persons, shall have the ability to make monetary contributions towards the election of of any candidate for any Federal office or position. The right of any contribution towards a candidate shall rest solely in the hands of the individual citizen. The amount of individual contributions shall not exceed one-tenth the amount of Federal Income Taxes paid by the individual in the last year, or the full amount of Income Tax Refund received by the person in the last year, whichever amount is higher. Congress shall have the power to enforce this amendment through Legislation.
37: The ability of a person to defend themselves against harm or threat of life being a natural right equal in strength among all persons, the right to bear arms of any type and any quantity shall not be infringed or abridged by any part of any Branch of the Federal Government, nor by any State Government, nor by the agency or department or either the States or the Federal Government, nor by any Law Enforcement Agency, nor by any Branch of the Military, in any circumstance, except for the protection of other persons against immediate and imminent harm. No tax on the sale or purchase of arms of any type and quantity shall exceed one-twentieth the value of the armament to be sold.
38: The ownership of land and home being a natural right, any property once legally acquired by any citizen of the United States, and any group legally organized within the United States, may not be seized by any part of any Branch of the Federal Government, nor by any law enforcement agency, nor any Branch of the Military, due to any failure of that person or group to submit to the payment of any property tax to either the State Governments, or the Federal Government. Failure to submit to taxation shall result in the loss of rights to any State or Federal welfare or entitlement programs. The burden of remedy of the default on property tax shall only consist of the previous three years of default, and the amount to the paid only one-quarter of the total amount found to be in delinquency during that period. Once any previous delinquency has been fully remedied, any successive period of delinquency by that person or group in the payment of property tax shall result in the loss of the right of that person to buy or sell any property until the successive delinquency has been fulfilled. The tax on the land or home of any person legally owned or acquired shall not exceed one-percent of the value of the property, per year. This amendment shall not be construed as to enable the adjustment of estimates of property values by any Local, State or Federal agency to unreasonable and beyond-fair market values, as to increase the income derived from property taxes.
39: No part of the Legislative Branch shall allow its members to insert into a bill, once a bill is being considered by any part of either House of Congress, any earmark of additional funding for any reason. Any issuance of Legislation whose fulfillment requires the expenditure of any public funds or resources must be voted on individually, in the form of stand-alone legislation, and may not be inserted into any other legislative actions already under consideration by either House of Congress.
40: No person, once having served as a member of the Senate, nor as a General or higher rank in any branch of the Millitary of the United States, nor as the head of any Federal Department or Agency, shall be eligible for the office of President of the United States, for a period of five years, beginning from the time of the end of their terms in any of these Federal positions.
41: In the event of the removal of the President of the United States from office due to assassination, no current or previous member of the removed President's cabinet, shall be eligible to hold the office of President at any time. If the Vice-President and the Speaker of the House are also removed in this manner at the same time as the President, then the House of Representatives shall vote to fill the office of President from among their members. The Senate must then confirm the person chosen for President by a three-fourths vote. If the person chosen by the House is not confirmed by the Senate, then the person who next received the most number of votes by the House will then be considered by the Senate in the same manner. This shall continue until a President is chosen. If by catastrophe the Congress is removed from office and unable to convene a quorum of representatives from among the people, then the Legislatures of the several states shall communicate a general list of nominees between them, and shall vote on a President. The person receiving the highest number of votes by State Legislatures shall be President. When a President is chosen in this manner, then shall a General Election be held among the People six months afterwards to choose a new President voted from the People.
42: Any person seeking any Federal Office, who for five years prior has held the position of a major stakeholder in any business entity who has entered into a contract for any member of the Federal Government, or any branch of the Millitary, shall be in-eligible for the Office sought. For the purposes of this amendment, Stakeholder shall be considered as the owner of said business, any member of the immediate family of the business owner, any member of the top management of the business, or Board of Directors, or any person holding a share of stock 10% or greater, and any previous owner of the business for a period of ten years prior, or any member of the Top Management of the business for ten years prior.
43: Only persons whose Mother and Father both were natural born citizens of the United States, and whose parents have lived in the United States for a period of fifteen years prior, shall be eligible for the Office of President or Vice-President of the United States. Only those persons naturally born in the United States shall serve in any Office of any Branch of the United States.
44: The power of the President of the United States to nominate positions for the Supreme Court of the United States, and the power of the Senate to confirm positions for the Supreme Court of the United States, is hereby rescinded. Every 6 years from the date of the ratification of this amendment, the terms of the longest serving Justices shall end, and these persons shall not be eligible to hold the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States again. The number of positions whose term ends shall be an even number consisting of roughly half the Justices, preserving an odd number of positions still serving. The positions thus vacant shall then be filled in the next General Election by the People. The power of the Congress to impeach a Justice of the Supreme Court shall be preserved.