Proposed Constitutional Amendments

All proposed Federal and State amendments will be based on the proposition that government is of, for, and by the people.  The Preamble to the U.S. Constitution declares, “We the People of the United States, in Order to . . . Establish Justice . . . and Secure the Blessings of Liberty for Ourselves and our Posterity, do Ordain and Establish this Constitution . . . .” 

To achieve these lofty objectives, 55 highly educated delegates from 13 independent colonies conducted secret (but sometimes leaked) negotiations during the 18-week period from May 14 to September 17 in1787.  Their deliberations led to a draft Federal Constitution that (i) divided power among three co-equal branches – Legislative, Executive and Judiciary; and (ii) expressly limited the authority of the Federal government to powers specifically enumerated in the Constitution.  

The ratification of the proposed Constitution by the 13 colonies resulted in the adoption of ten amendments, known as the Bill of Right.  Of these, the Tenth Amendment clarified the delegation of powers to the Federal government by declaring that “the powers not delegated to the United States . . . .are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.”  The purpose of this clarification was to forestall the prospect, articulated by Thomas Jefferson, that “the natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

The day the Constitutional Convention adjourned, a woman outside the Convention Hall asked Benjamin Franklin, “What did you give us?”  His poignant reply: “A Republic if you can keep it.”

Both underlying and flowing from these lofty intentions is the protection of individual ownership of property and the personal liberty, incentives and efficiency resulting from private investment in a free market which creates prosperity as measured by the growth of investments and jobs, and the opportunity for all to accumulate wealth.

A free market is the ultimate expression of the democratic principle because every transaction in the marketplace is voluntary: an offer and acceptance between a buyer and a seller of goods or services at an agreed price.    This cost of a market transaction contrasts with political voting in a democracy, which is cost-free to the voter and therefore not valued by an electorate of which barely half of eligible voters cast their ballots, even in the most fiercely contested elections.

 CONSTITUTIONAL PROPOSALS
 

The following proposals will be posted from time to time in summary form:
 

Interstate Compact Initiative

Balanced budget amendment

Mandatory annual budget to be initiated by the President and enacted by the House and the Senate by specified dates

Zero-based Federal budget accounting required

Federal election reform:

• Term limits for Senators and Representatives
• Limit gerrymandering by requiring Congressional Districts to be drawn by existing county borders, with no part of the district more than a specified number of miles from the District’s geographical center point.

Supreme Court Reform:

• Relocate Court from Washington, DC to Kansas City, KS, or Omaha, NE
• No one eligible for Supreme Court appointment who within 10 years thereof has held office as a Federal or State executive or legislator
• Require Senate advice and consent to be subject to filibuster.
• Prohibition of recess appointments to the Court

Reform of Federal and State election rules to meet free speech requirements

Federal Right to Work

Federal and State government employee pensions to be actuarially fully funded, and subject to limitations based on comparative private pensions

To eliminate local governments using traffic regulations as an income source, mandate all traffic fines to be accumulated in a State fund allocated to all counties proportional to their population

Due Process required for Federal and State governments to impose civil forfeitures, fines and penalties

Prosecutors who violate a criminal defendant’s due process rights will mandatorily receive the same sentence as the convicted criminal

Prohibition of State business and professional licensing requirements that create or perpetuate monopolies