If we want to talk about amending the Constitution, let’s talk about doing it right...
“In the three years following the elections, nine constitutional amendments were ratified by the state legislatures in rapid succession. The Document went through some major changes.
The 27th Amendment granted blanket immunity from prosecution for any crimes committed before or during the Second Civil War to anyone who actively fought for the resistance.
The 28th Amendment repealed the 14th and 26th Amendments. It also made full state Citizenship a right of birth, only applicable to native-born Citizens who were the children of Citizens. It allowed immigrants to buy state citizenship. It clarified “United States Citizenship” as only having effect when state Citizens traveled outside the nation’s borders, and outlawed titles of nobility such as “esquire”.
The 29th Amendment banned welfare and foreign aid, removed the United States from the UN and most foreign treaties, capped Federal spending at 2 percent of GDP, capped the combined number of foreign troops in the fifty states and on Federal territory at one thousand men, and limited the active duty Federal military to a hundred thousand men, except in time of declared war.
The 30th Amendment amplified the 2nd Amendment, confirming it as both an unalienable individual right and as a state right, repealed the existing Federal gun-control laws, preempted any present or future state gun-control laws, and reinstituted a decentralized militia system.
The 31st Amendment repealed the 16th Amendment, and severely limited the ability of the Federal government to collect any taxes within the 50 states. Henceforth, the Federal government’s budget could be funded only by tariffs, import duties, and bonds.
The 32nd Amendment outlawed deficit spending, put the new United States currency back on a bimetallic gold and silver standard, and made all currency “redeemable on demand”.
The 33rd Amendment froze salaries at six thousand dollars a year for House members and ten thousand for Senators, limited campaign spending for any federal office to five thousand per term, and repealed the 17th Amendment, returning Senators to election by their state legislatures.
The 34th Amendment restored the pre-Erie Railroad v. Thompkins system of Common Law, invalidated most Federal court decisions since 1932, and clarified the inapplicability of most Federal statutes on state Citizens in several states.
The 35th Amendment reinstated the allodial land-title system. Under a renewed Federal Land Patent system the amendment mandated the return of 92 percent of the Federal lands to private ownership through public sales at one dollar in silver coin per acre.
The nation’s economy was slowly restored. But with the nine new amendments, the scope of government- both state and Federal- was greatly reduced from its pre-Crunch proportions. Small government was almost universally seen as good government. For the first time since before the First Civil War, it became the norm to again refer to the nation plurally as “these United States”, rather than singularly as “The United States”. the change was subtle, but profound”
“Patriots”, by James Wesley Rawles, “The Amendments” pp 381-382
Good Food for Thought...buy the book.
Excellent list. I’ve seen you post it before, and I just wanted to say that it is the reason I picked up “Patriots” and read it. A very fine book. I recommend it to all — and “Unintended Consequences” by John Ross. of course.