What needs to be changed in the U.S. Constitution...
...to make it a better document for governing in the 21st Century?
(This is an assignment my oldest received in her A.P. Government class.)
SPECIFICS:
In a thorough and well developed essy, identify a change which you think should be made to the U.S. Constitution. Why do you think this change should be made? How would the action or subtraction you support make the Constitution better? How would it benefit the people of the nation? Who would support or attack your amendment proposal, and why?
REQUIREMENTS:
Essays must be at least 2 pages of text in length, typed. They must be doubled spaces with a font not larger than 12 point. Please use one side of the paper only.
Essays must be a handed in at the state of class on Tuesday, September 8, 2009.
GRADING:
This is a 100 point summative assessment.
Papers will be graded on the following criteria:
10% On Time
10% Properly Formatted
20% Uses proper grammar an other writing mechanics (typed letter for letter from the assignment sheet)
20% Provides at least one specific answer to the root question
20% Provides thorough support for stated position or preference
20% Shows thorough research and includes factual supportive data
I will have more about the text book for this class later. I almost set it on fire the other day.
Sorry we are way beyond this
Sorry we are way beyond this dicussion
Good people do Good deeds
and are no respecter of person
'WE'? Who's 'WE'?
Are you talking about you and the mouse in your pocket? Who else, exactly and specifically, are you talking about when you say 'WE'?
reply
Sept 17, Constitution Day and Dec 15, Bill of Rights Day should both be National Holidays.
I'd say nothing...
other than the 16th amendment-- which needs to go away as it in essence amounts to involuntary servitude and enables the welfare/warfare state-- and the 'loosely' worded sections.
As, the bleeding hearts and statists have decided to reinterpret the Commerce Clause, and the General Welfare clause in order to justify massive increases in the size, scope, and power of the Federal Government, I would submit that the language in regards to those two areas needs to be reworked in a manner that:
A. Defines the General Welfare in a manner that clearly indicates that programs which take from one subset of the population for the express purpose of subsidizing another portion of the population are harmful to some citizens, and therefore not do not contribute to the "General Welfare."
B. Clearly states that the commerce clause can only be applied to goods and services which are being sold/transfered across state lines at the time when they are being sold or transfered across state lines.
Those are the only real problems with the document that need to be remedied.
Though I would also suggest revamping the Electoral System so that it cannot be so easily dominated by two parties.
I think it would be interesting to nationalize Senate races and institute automatic runoffs for national races. The former would keep ideological minorities from being cracked across several arbitrary state boundaries and essentially gerrymandered out of any real senatorial representation. The former would allow folks to vote for candidates they REALLY believed in without 'throwing away their vote away' thus further weakening the 2 party system.
We have two major problems
We have two major problems for which I will suggest two solutions as changes to our Constitution.
1. Far too many of our political representatives do not abide by our Constitution. Our Constitution is the Law and our political representatives should be abiding by it. Each of them are sworn to uphold, defend and protect it as part of their oaths of office. We, The People, need to give them no choice in the matter (even though they technically already have no choice, it seems that we need to spell it out for them).
In order to prevent Congress from continuing the practice of passing unconstitutional laws we need an addition/change such as the Enumerated Powers Act.
The Enumerated Powers Act would require all bills introduced in the U.S. Congress to include a statement setting forth the specific constitutional authority under which the law is being enacted.
I believe that once in place this requirement should also be enforced on all prior laws as well.
The Constitution is the Law and all laws should be Constitutional.
The Enumerated Powers Act has been introduced in every session of Congress since the mid-1990s, but so far has failed to be voted into law. (My guess is that most of our politicians do not want to be restrained by the Constitution.)
The current bills:
In the House of Representatives: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-450
Senate version: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1319
2. The second change we need to make is to require that our political representatives actually read the legislation before they vote on it. This one is so simple that is just makes sense. Members of Congress voting on new laws without reading them is like driving while wearing a blindfold.
Here are some sources for the Read the Bills Act:
http://www.downsizedc.org/page/read_the_laws
http://readthebill.org/
...
Are kids are in trouble
Text books are filled with this kind of propaganda and indoctrination. It is a taught assumption that the Constitution is flawed and needs to be changed. Notice you will not get any point if you just want to say its a great document that should not be changed.
Look at the history of who is influencing the text books our children read today. During the election the MSM downplayed the connection between Bill Ayers and Obama by glossing it over and saying well, Bill and the Weather Underground were just preaching a communist overthrow of our government and killing cops when Obama was just a kid, so Obama had nothing to do with Ayers when he made statements like "start the revolution at home, kill your parents." Some how, Ayers avoid prison for his crimes because an undercover agent violated his right, and he admits he was guilty as charged but free as a bird.
What did he do when he came back from being on the run? He went back to school and is now a professor in the College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, holding the titles of Distinguished Professor of Education and Senior University Scholar. His focus is on education reform, curriculum, and instruction. He is still a self proclaimed communist that wants to over throw our government, but he did not like being on the run so instead of trying to recrute late teens and adults and encourage them towards violence to overthrow our Constitutional Republic, he turned to the young children and has set out to indoctrinate them into being good little communist. He is a master at teaching how to put subtext in the text of textbooks.
It is a shame that the media never vented why a devout communist like Ayers would have had picked Obama to be a founding chairman of the Board of Directors of The Chicago Annenberg Challenge and what exactly did they do with the money they spent trying to improve schools in Chicago? 50 million bucks from Annenberg, plus 50 million in other matching funds, and reading and math scores did not go up. What were they teaching the kids?
I had a strong reaction to the original Department of Education teacher instruction sheet they sent out for Obama's speech because I have so many unanswered questions about his past and who he has associated with when it comes to education. Obama has said that if you want to know where he stands on an issue then look to the people around him, and on education his closest tie is Bill Ayers.
Terrible Assignment !
Why doesn't the teacher just ask what to change in the Bible, the Koran, the drug laws, the military code of uniform justice,,etc. etc.
My answer would be don't change anything translate it into as many foreign languages as possible so other people around the world might see what made America a free country in the past.
My opinion is if everything mentioned in the Constitution was still in effect,,,nothing would have to be changed.
P.S. Does this teacher realize that the Constitution is the "Supreme ' Law ' Of The Land?" Only Congress the Senate & the President can change it.
Geeeeez, how do you get to be a teacher now-a-days?
beesting
I agree!
I don't understand how people who say they respect Dr. Paul and the Constitution can be so very NONCHALANT about changing that Constitution! Someone earlier stated here that he thought we should amend the Constitution if we want to say that it's okay for the President of the United States to speak to our nation's school children about the importance of their studies! Hard to believe, but true.
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It is good and proper to respect the U.S. flag, perpetuated with the blood of American heroes. It is a fatal mistake not to recognize those who wrap themselves in the same flag to cover up their crimes against the American people.
~ Sherman H. Skolnick
. @ @ . Power to the People!
@ O @ -----> PEOPLE
. @ @ . NOT Corporate Entities!
People are just expressing ideas.
We can't change the present situation by going back to an 18th centuring interptetation of the Constitution. We're not going back because the vast majority of people won't stand for it.
What can happen is we move forward and amend the Constitution to change things for the better. An amended Constitution is still the Constitution. Maybe once people get past the Constitution as Godly, then progress is possible.
If friends of liberty are to be taken seriously, they must give up the very words, "going back".
Expressing ideas is well and good,
but THIS is ridiculous:
"...the United States Constitution can be amended. If there is a need to give the President the power to inspire school children, it can be added at any time."
and you say this:
"An amended Constitution is still the Constitution. "
Not so!
An amended Constitution is a DIFFERENT constitution. It has had enough unnecessary changes made to it already.
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It is good and proper to respect the U.S. flag, perpetuated with the blood of American heroes. It is a fatal mistake not to recognize those who wrap themselves in the same flag to cover up their crimes against the American people.
~ Sherman H. Skolnick
. @ @ . Power to the People!
@ O @ -----> PEOPLE
. @ @ . NOT Corporate Entities!
I'm not saying it's perfect,
I'm not saying it's perfect, although it has brought us a long way toward being more perfect, but if the Constitution was unchanged from the way our founders wrote it (including the Bill of Rights), it would need very few, if any other changes. What I'm saying is that the process of changing it should never be taken lightly and it should never be added to or changed in a willy nilly fashion as some posters here have suggested. Sometimes 'change will do a body good', you see, but other times, not so much.
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It is good and proper to respect the U.S. flag, perpetuated with the blood of American heroes. It is a fatal mistake not to recognize those who wrap themselves in the same flag to cover up their crimes against the American people.
~ Sherman H. Skolnick
. @ @ . Power to the People!
@ O @ -----> PEOPLE
. @ @ . NOT Corporate Entities!
Which ideas are ridiculous and why?
...An amended Constitution is still the Constitution. "
Not so!
An amended Constitution is a DIFFERENT constitution. It has had enough unnecessary changes made to it already. QUOTE
If the Constitution had never been amended, there would be no Bill of Rights. Which amendments are unnecessary? To say a Constitution should never be amended is to say it's perfect.
The question is do friends of liberty take action or just complain that we're not living under the Constitution of the 18th century and assign blame to those now dead?
You said, "The question is
You said, "The question is do friends of liberty take action or just complain that we're not living under the Constitution of the 18th century and assign blame to those now dead?"
There are many forms of action that should and are being taken, but changing the Constitution to suit our fancies is not one of them.
As I said above, that Constitution has brought this country a long way.
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It is good and proper to respect the U.S. flag, perpetuated with the blood of American heroes. It is a fatal mistake not to recognize those who wrap themselves in the same flag to cover up their crimes against the American people.
~ Sherman H. Skolnick
. @ @ . Power to the People!
@ O @ -----> PEOPLE
. @ @ . NOT Corporate Entities!
Create a penalty box for politicians and other public servants
who violate their oaths to uphold the Constitution, the Law of the Land. The only thing wrong with the Constitution are the elected public servants that don't abide by it's laws. Something like a "three strikes your out for life" plan would do the trick. Heck, within 6 months we'd get rid of 400 of em.
The MAIN problem, is that
The MAIN problem, is that there is NOT a document in the world that CANT be manipulated by the people in charge.
Even if a constitution simply said "No Government or Government Agent may ever question the actions of its citizens unless a claim of an injury has been made by a citizen"
the government would find a way to make this read a different way, maybe by making their "government agents" have the title of "government helpers"...or by claiming that although they cant question the citizens actions, they CAN question their thoughts or ideas...or by simply changing the definition of "claim" to mean:
"Claim" includes thoughts, ideas, possibilities, attempts, appearance of, ambition, aspiration, course, desideratum, design, desire, direction, end, intent, intention, mark, object, objective, plan, purpose, scheme, target, where one is heading, wish, and any form that may imply the attempt of"
this is why it is up to US, the free minded people, to remind the powers of the INTENT of the constitution. This is why I fish by "right" rather than by license, even though so many say "isnt it easier to pay the fee?"...I am doing my duty to claim and exercise my rights.
Maybe a document that continually reminds of the intent, such As:
This constitution, written on behalf of all human beings in or from the lands of the united states of America, shall be the supreme law of the land. No statutes, under any name, or in any form, may ever supersede this constitution. The intent of this constitution is and shall always be, to limit the reach of government.
No human shall violate the rights of any other. The free humans of the united states of America have unlimited rights from their creator, and only with the exception of violating some other humans rights, they are free to live their life how they see fit. Government, at no time, shall interfere in the lives of citizens of the united states of America.
This constitution, nor any document, shall ever be used to establish, or diminish rights. The government, which shall exist only to protect and maintain the rights of the human beings in and from this land, is to be a limited one with no rights, and no power over the people. Any human, who takes an oath to uphold this constitution, and fails to do so shall be imprisoned for no less than 10 years upon conviction in a court with a jury of 12 humans.
There shall be a court established by the people of the several states, elected to office, as representatives of the people. The intent of these courts shall always be to determine if ones rights have been violated.
Each county in each state shall have a representative elected yearly. This representative shall be accessible to the public for comments 4 days per week while in office. This representative shall have a salary, established upon election by a vote of the constituents, and re established by vote every quarter year. Each state shall have 2 state representatives, appointed by the county representative every 2 years. The representatives of each county shall meet or communicate with the 2 state representatives once per month to discuss issues of their constituents.
The federal government shall also be a limited one. It shall only consist of the 100 representatives, 2 from each of the 50 states, and shall only exist to establish and maintain weights and measures, represent the body of this country in any foreign capacity, and to maintain and protect individual rights across state lines by determining jurisdiction upon a claim of injury.
Each county shall have one sheriff elected every 2 years. The intent of this constitution, and this sheriff, is, and shall be, to maintain and protect individual rights.
No matter what occurs, be it war, be it famine, or any event, at no time shall this constitution be changed or in any way altered.
Each and every human in this land of the united states of America may at any time, excepting for while incarcerated for a crime consisting of any injured party, has the right to be armed to defend this land against invaders, and to defend this land against tyranny. No laws may ever be made limiting or charging a fee for any rights.
The state shall be funded by an excise tax. The federal government shall be funded by an import tax. All surplus taxes shall be held in an account and shall be saved for future use. The surplus shall be calculated yearly to lower the import and excise tax percentage to maintain a 1-3% surplus only.
read the articles of confederation for an even better constitution.
It really doesn't matter what kind of change you made to
the document if the elected government does not uphold it. That is the main problem. Yes, some tweaking here and there, but unless there are consequences for violating an oath to uphold it, nothing will change. I would go outside the box and think in those terms, an amendment which removes any public servant from office if they violate their oaths.
we couldnt agree
we couldnt agree more!!
paragraph 3:
...Any human, who takes an oath to uphold this constitution, and fails to do so shall be imprisoned for no less than 10 years upon conviction in a court with a jury of 12 humans.
I'd rather have
them executed for treason instead.
individual secession
"All of the privileges granted to this government in this constitution are temporary. Those who grant them(the individuals) will be able to take them back at any time without the threat of violence from this government."
Free yourself.
Repent, for the reign of YaHUaH is near!
A non-Voting system -- with the balance of power in the hands
of the Consumer.
Great Post
Not the Worker
and
Not the Owner
.......because both are consumers -- consumption is the root of all existence.
Consumption of: knowledge, air, wealth, water, resources, fuel, energy, nutrients, and sun light. Just a small sampling.
Protect Individualism that is all encompassing -- If you protect the individualism that focuses on "ownership" there will be lesser owners and greater owners -- a leverage system.
Octobox
*&^ Constitution --- Constitutional Rationality
Here are a few
-Term limits
-There should be a clear and specific amendment making central banks illegal
-Military drafts should be illegal
-Government monopolies should be illegal.
-Always balance the budget
-All government taxes should be collected by voluntary means. (Lotteries, voluntary donations, or let the government start for-profit businesses voluntarily draw customers)
Amendments for the following ...
1. Require Congress to produce a balanced budget except in times of declared war.
2. Clarify the definition of 'natural-born citizen' to specifically mean born to two citizen parents excluding dual citizenship and previous renunciations of citizenship/repatriotation.
3. Require all legislation enacted by Congress to cite the appropriate Constitutional authority.
4. Prohibit a central banking system.
5. Repeal the income tax.
6. Repeal Senatorial election by popular vote and return to the State legislatures.
Agreed!
Remove all Non-Constitutional Czars and Cabinets as well, using the ORIGINAL INTENT of the Founders to determine that.
(I would rephrase the general welfare clause to more contemporary language as well...)
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-I favor extending to Israel the same honest friendship that Jefferson and the Founding Fathers urged us to offer to all nations. ...This means I also favor discontinuing foreign aid to governments that are actual or potential enemies of Israel,--Ron Paul
But that man should play the tyrant over God, and find Him a better man than himself, is astonishing drama indeed!~~D. Sayers
There is no difference between an authoritarian government from the right or the left...F. A.Schaeffer
Go To A Parliamentary System
1) Vastly increase the number of members in the House
2) Have them vote from their home district.
3) Have the President chosen by the House every two years.
4) Let the Senate again be chosen by the state legislatures.
5) Give them veto power over House legislation if 2/3 agree.
6) The Senate would not legislate, only negate.
7) The Senate would nominate and elect new Supreme Court justices for a single ten year term.
8) the Senate would determine the jurisdiction of the Court and inferior courts.
Here's an idea
Make it an actual contract that people must acknowledge explicitly and individually in order for it to be binding in any way.
She can make it MORE
She can make it MORE radically pro-freedom.
Ventura 2012
Very funny
LOL
WE ARE GOING TO WIN!
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They should not be allowed to give them selves raises
they should have to ask the public.
You almost set it on fire? Isn't that the whole point of
amendments?
CHA-CHING!
CHA-CHING!