If you could choose any new Amendment, what would it be?

It's been awhile since our Constitution has been amended, and I think it's about time we implement what we've learned through our 200+ years of history as a nation to reinvigorate our government's contract with the people.

It seems obvious to me at this time, the Executive Branch feels it is above the law, and above the Constitution itself. Bush himself has referred to our nation's highest law as "just a goddamned piece of paper". Our country seems addicted to wars. Corporations have more influence than individuals, and politics seems to be run by dollars instead of votes. Congress has the tools to correct course, but refuses to take action. Government seems broken.

Is there something we can do after we've finally reversed the fascist trends in this country to better avoid it ever happening again?

I propose the following Amendments:

Amendment 28 - Amendment 16 Repealed

Amendment 29 - Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, and the right of the next generation of Americans to not shoulder the belligerency of the present generation, we forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. Military forces will be maintained, but will only be used in self-defense in response to an attack first by another sovereign nation, or with unanimous support of the international community to enforce international law in cases of genocide and imperialism. The cost of any military action will be paid for with reasonable taxes and never through means of credit.

Amendment 30 - A national debt will not be maintained. The United States may not carry any debt for a period longer than ten years.

Amendment 31 - No law shall allow for the murder of any person as punishment for any crime.

Amendment 32 - The equal rights of the citizens of the United States shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, gender, or sexual identity.

Amendment 33 - No citizen of the United States shall be denied medical care. All citizens have the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment.

I'd like to include some kind of public financing amendment for elections to ensure the principle of "one person, one vote", along with something that could reign in the power of banking and corporations, but I have no idea how best to word them. I just know I'd like to see such things added.

If you have any Amendments in mind of your own, or wish to make adjustments to those I've proposed, please add them in reply.

What do you feel would serve to improve the Constitution if anything at all?

in order to pay for all the other items on this list. A wealth tax based upon net worths greater than 1 billion would probably be the best idea.

How about a system where let's say the Federal Govt estimates the cost of operating in 2008 to be $2 trillion. The States would then need to cover that, and that would be decided by population or something. So let's say California would owe 12% of that total, so $240 billion. The GSP of CA is around $1.5 trillion, so what it would owe would be 16% of the revenue it generates as a State. It would be left to the States themselves to decide how to best cover their "bill", through increased state income taxes, increased state sales taxes, increased corporate taxes, or some combination thereof.

You want to replace the Federal income tax with a higher state income tax and increased sales taxes. Because I guarantee you, increased corporate taxes will not happen.

Do you understand what increasing the sales tax does? Does anyone? A more regressive tax I've not seen. It's another way to make the lives of the poor even more insufferable than it already it. Say you are struggling along with your 10 year old car and suddenly need new tires? Middle class taxpayers and up can absorb that increased tax on those tires, but for a person who is living in poverty, EVERY dollar... and I do mean EVERY dollar... counts.

I'm sick of seeing people want to replace the income tax with a fucking sales tax. That is NOT progressive.

with absolutely no exceptions. you pay the maximum amount possible for what amount of wealth you have over a billion.

so that a dumb ass shit bird asshole like jr never appears again.

There are some people that aren't that "booksmart" but are in the 99th percentile of the population as far as "common sense" goes. Granted, Bush has neither, but Cheney certainly does. He's just evil, not stupid.

Personally, I don't think the Presidency should be left to the elite of society. What should matter most is honesty, leadership, loyalty to the Constitution, and respect of international law.

Clearly a clown to be rejected out of hand like jr possesses no wisdom whatsoever.

Disregard everything he signed or uttered.

I should have included something about signing statements to make it abundantly clear laws can either be signed into law or vetoed, that nothing can be added or subtracted by the President. Personally I think the Constitution already says this, but since signing statements have been used for so long before Bush abusing them to the extreme, I think it would be good to clarify and abolish from any future use.

needs to be very broad and have the strongest impact on our Country. Right now, the one thing that appears to have created the most conflict and strife has been religious intervention of some kind. I think the most comptehensive ammendment would be something like "NO religion, or religious beliefs shall ever have direct political influence on the policies or laws of the US."

If you think back in history, the majority of wars have been fought over religious differences. I expect that from most Islamic Countries, but NOT HERE!

Not in the United States, the Constitution and all of its Amendments simply restrict how the Government can restrict who is eligible to vote. No government in the United States can prevent you from voting based on race, sex, religion, or age, other than that, its a free for all, they could, for example, restrict voting to property owners, like during the first years of the U.S., or make it so that people that make 100,000 grand a year can have the vote, but no one else, etc.

The "God-given" is optional.

or aide in its demise.

I propose the following Amendments:

Amendment 28 - Amendment 16 Repealed

Not sure what you'd replace the income tax with, it is probably the fairest tax that exists.

Amendment 29 - Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, and the right of the next generation of Americans to not shoulder the belligerency of the present generation, we forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. Military forces will be maintained, but will only be used in self-defense in response to an attack first by another sovereign nation, or with unanimous support of the international community to enforce international law in cases of genocide and imperialism. The cost of any military action will be paid for with reasonable taxes and never through means of credit.

Considering the Iraq War was couched in terms of "self-defense," I'm not sure this amendment would help curtail any future wars. I agree with the notion that we should pay for things as we buy them, but there may come a time when we have a legit war and we need to borrow.

Amendment 30 - A national debt will not be maintained. The United States may not carry any debt for a period longer than ten years.

Does this mean no more 30-year treasury bonds? I'm for not letting the debt get out of control but I wouldn't put this harsh a restriction on it.

Amendment 31 - No law shall allow for the murder of any person as punishment for any crime.

I agree with this, but I would put "no capital punishment shall be allowed" or something to that effect.

Amendment 32 - The equal rights of the citizens of the United States shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, gender, or sexual identity.

This is already in the 14th Amendment and would likely be interpreted exactly like the 14th Amendment.

Amendment 33 - No citizen of the United States shall be denied medical care. All citizens have the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment.

This is basically already true in the US, except you get stuck with the bill afterwards. Also not really appropriate for the constitution since the constitution deals with limits on government power. If you could get an amendment instituting universal health care passed, then you could certainly get a law passed and that's all you need. However, I like what you are trying to do.


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My amendments:

28: There shall be no conscription, meaning no person shall be forced to join the armed forces against his or her will.

29: No candidate shall be elected to federal office unless such candidate shall receive a majority of the votes cast. Except for the voting of the electoral college, any election where no candidate has received a majority of votes must be settled by a runoff election held at a reasoanble time following the original election (or other reasonable resolution).

30: The accused in a criminal trial shall have the right to a trial before a judge who is not subject to popular election. This shall take effect one year after ratification of this amendment.

31: No form of capital punishment shall be executed in by the US, its military, the District of Columbia, or any state.

32: The US Constitution shall apply to all actions of the US government, whether inside US territory, or outside it.

33: The right of Habeas Corpus shall be extended to include any private person detained by the US government, anywhere in the world
unless due to the exigencies of war, it is not possible for the writ to be heard.

34: All taxpayers shall have the right to consistent application of income tax among states. Congress shall be required to restrict the income taxation power of every state either to

(1) all income earned by a person, no matter where it is earned, based on their residency in that state; OR
(2) all income earned by activities within that state, regardless of the residence of the earner;

but not both.
In the event Congress fails to do this, the taxpayer may elect, if necessary, one of the two taxation methods and shall not be liable on the other. This right is enforceable against the states.

35: The US shall not be in a legal state of war unless the hostilities are against:
(1) the uniformed forces of a sovereign nation;
(2) non-uniformed forces clearly directed by a sovereign nation;
(3) non-uniformed forces clearly sponsored by a sovereign nation to the extent that, absent that sponsorship, the forces could no longer continue to fight.

36: Unless in a legal state of war, the US military shall NOT have the power to:
(1) hold any private person outside the United States for greater than a reasonable time to ascertain whether that person has committed an offense against the United States,
(2) deny the writ of habeas corpus to any person so held,
(3) try any person by "military tribunal" or any other tribunal controlled by the executive or legislative branch.

37: Torture shall be defined as: to cause substantial harm, pain or extreme discomfort to any person who is held in a state of imprisonment and such imprisonment is known to the person applying the harm, pain or discomfort. The US government, military, the District of Columbia or any state shall not practice torture.

38: The District of Columbia shall have a number of voting representatives in the US House proportionate to its population and consistent with the current US census. It shall reapportion its districts every ten years as a normal state does. It shall also have 2 voting senators. Both chambers shall increase their membership to accomodate the new members.

39: No state shall redistrict House districts more than once between any two census administrations.

40: Within 5 years after ratification, all US territories shall either:
(1) declare and effect independence from the US;
(2) become a US state;
(3) if the population of a territory is under 250,000, merge with an existing US state or merge with other territories to form a new state.

Congress shall choose one of the options for any territory that has not chosen an option within 5 years.

SEXUAL IDENTITY is not in the 14th Amendment. So that is the difference.

Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation/Identity is forbidden. No law shall be made restricting the rights of marriage, adoption, inheritance, taxing, military service or any other right/priveledge.

I like yours a lot!!

Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Ann Coulter, Rudy Gullini, Sean Hannity, Glen Beck, Tom Delay, Bill O'Reilley, Newt Gingrich, any member of the Bush family, etc, etc, etc, and any of their mutant offspring be placed together in the middle of a 20,000 acre swamp in some remote corner of the world and left there to fight it out amongst each other for survival....and leave the rest of the world the fuck alone so we can return to some form of peace and harmony without them trying to ruin for everyone else.

Transgendered people should be covered on this, also. But that's a good amendment.

that requires responsible spending of tax revenues?

We have seen incredible corruption of the system, all we really need to di is ensure that there are no items like "no bid contracts", no "bridges to nowhere", slash the "pork", hold these people accountable.

one of the reasons the House is up for re-election, in it's entirety, is because all revenue Bills must be raised in the House. The 2 year bid for re-election is specifically to ensure the people ahd a way to fight back relatively quickly by ousting miscreants.

One problem, American voters are relatively apathetic on such things, hence, creeps get re-elected in droves, eroding away a protection the people were given under the Constitution...:(