Posted on 02/21/2009 5:26:02 PM PST by JoeA
1. Term limits at the Federal Level. The Founders never intended for the country to be ruled by a permanent political class, but rather by citizens of the republic who were engaged in the daily life of the country in ways other than as professional politicians. Their life as businessmen, farmers, merchants, and husbands and wives, would enlighten them and inform their actions and decisions during their public service.
a. One term in the Senate. Six years is more than enough time to get something done.
b. Three terms in the House. See above.
c. Two terms in the White House. Eight years in the White House is plenty of time.
2. Proposed legislation shall be limited to one issue, and bills may not be bundled with other bills. The purposes here are several:
a. Prevent the sausage-making that is the usual process in creating legislation, where large numbers of bills are packaged together to garner the largest number of votes. As we have seen all too often, representatives often vote on bills that they have not even read. Bills should stand on their own, and be passed or denied on a clear up and down vote, with direct accountability of our representatives.
b. By forcing each measure to be processed separately, we will reduce the amount of legislation produced. Hopefully, this will force Congress to work on what’s essential to the country.
c.
3. Repeal the 17th Amendment, and restore the election of Senators by the individual state legislatures. The purpose of each state appointing its Senators was to ensure that the separate autonomous state governments were represented in the national legislature. This essential part of federalism was killed when direct election of Senators was created via the 17th Amendment in 1913. Now Senators represent not the interest of the governments of their respective states, but of the population that turns out to elect them. They are nothing more than Congressman with a larger constituency.
4. Repeal the 16th Amendment, and replace it with a flat tax or other revenue generating system. The tax system in this country is a disaster, and used as a means of class warfare and as largesse to bestow on a voting block. As Alexis de Tocqueville observed: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.” We have long since passed that point.
5. Require that all bills cite the specific clause of the constitution that empowers the proposed legislation. To maintain a limited government of laws, we must remain true to the principals of the constitution. The national government may do only what is authorized, and nothing else, unless the constitution is revised to empower the government to take that action.
6. Require that all bills have a sunset clause, a date on which they expire. This will go a long way toward ending programs which have long since outlived their usefulness, and force the periodic re-evaluation of the government’s actions.
7. All candidates for offices at the Federal level must prove they meet the requirements set forth in the United States Constitution. Candidates will be required to submit Birth Certificates and other documents to prove their eligibility for office. Just like you and I do when we register our kids for school.
8. Change the immigration laws so that citizenship accrues only to the children of American citizens, natural or otherwise. If immigrants want their children to be American citizens, they should first become American citizens. No more anchor babies.
We should return to the practice of only allowing owners of homes, land, and businesses to vote.
Lawyers should not be allowed to be representatives of any sort. The practice of law is in conflict of interest of making law.
Yes YOU Can! (as opposed to Yes We Can!)
We already have that problem. All a court needs to do is declare that citizens have “no standing”.
We have no one to enforce a president's natural born status.
Good start if this can be done.
Looks like some good thought.
Require that congress meet once a year, for 30 days, in August, in a metal quonset hut, be fed beans and rice, be paid a dollar, have each congressman affixed with a stick of dynamite on his head, with the activation button held by a monkey, and once every 10 days randomly choose one-third of that body to be hanged.
However, something the Founders never realized when they enacted the 2A was Marxism. Rather than exert more control, the end of Marxism always comes from internal collapse - the USA is no different. IOW, "socialism always fails".
I give us 12-24 mos before the whole ball of wax comes undone. We simply cannot support a 15% decline in GDP while at the same time try & maintain the edifice of the welfare state. When no one continues to buy our Treasuries and we soon realize that printing money doesn't help, our only recourse will be to dramatically cut the budget.
Each of the states & .gov will then be in a position of default, where anything might happen. My personal belief is that we will follow the USSR model in 1991, where the military refused orders to shoot citizens and the whole power center just sort of disappeared.
See my #109.
No...REVOLUTION!!!!
My knowledge of accounting/finance provides me with the confidence that the system as currently constructed cannot withstand more than a few add'l hits. For example, a failure by any of the big 4 banks over the next couple of weeks could provide the precipitating event leading to the destruction of the $USD.
That's why I'm consistently cautioning people who are frustrated at what has happened to our country. All we have to do is sit back, watch & wait. The system is utterly rotten & debauched to the core and is just waiting to fall.
The flash point could well be the financial collapse of the state and local governments, once the spigot from DC is turned off. And I agree with you, it will be a rapid collapse, ala the USSR.
I like it, but isn't that impossible to enforce?
Also, here's my addition (this is assuming we keep the current tax system in place):
"All Federal elections will be held the day after all Federal taxes are to be paid."
I would strongly recommend such wording in there anyway, should future generations decide to dump a "good" tax system for the monstrosity we have now.
You know, I've seen a lot of secession threads (or "succession" as too many idiots like to spell it) as well as "Will the military join us?" or "Will there be a military coup?" threads.
I always answer, "No, the military will not implement a coup, and, if the SHTF, about 60-70% of the military would join," but I think your assessment is EXACTLY what will happen.
In the end, it's the guys with the guns who make the rules, period. If the guys with the guns decide they don't like that order, that it's illegal, unlawful, and immoral, then the folks in power suddenly lost their power.
I’m not sure why it would be difficult to enforce. When you pay your state, federal or local taxes, you get a reciept with the date and then show that when you go vote.
The idea is to keep the people who don’t pay taxes from voting to spend the tax revenues - usually on themselves or their pet causes.
Oh, I get the intent, and I totally agree with it. Good idea for enforcement, too.
Agreed. The USAF don't respect the federal government any more (probably alot less) than does the average American.
Cap total taxes at 10% of income - 5% for county, 3% for state and 2% for Federal. Since the Feds will be limited to providing for defense, border security and intra-state commerce and legal issues, that should be plenty.
Get rid of all other hidden/stealth taxes: no sales taxes, property taxes, whatever taxes.
And get rid of witholding for two reasons: one, the individual should be able to use his money the way he see fit until it’s time to pay the gov’t. Two, nothing like having to prepare for a hefty tax bill at the end of the year to focus your mind on what value you are getting for your money. Too many people look forward to April 15th because they are getting a rebate. They don’t realize the pain of the lower take home pay or writing that check and so are too comfortable with the gov’t spending money.
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