Article II
Legislative
Legislative
Sec. 1: Introduction.
The powers of the U.S. government shall be divided into three separate branches- the legislative, the executive and the judicial; and no person charged with the exercise of powers properly belonging to one of these branches shall exercise any function appertaining to either of the others, except as prescribed herein.
Sec. 2: Congress in General.
All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a People‘s House.
Sec. 3: The People‘s House.
A.) Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective populations, one representative for every 100,000 people, but each state shall have at least one representative. [That’s more reps than we currently have.]
B.) No person shall be a Representative who shall not have been seven years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when selected, be an inhabitant of that district in which he shall be chosen.
C.) For the first apportionment, each representative and an alternate shall be chosen at random from an at-large list of registered voters in the state. [The ancient Athenians stole the idea of random reps from me! This would make the House a more representative demographic cross-section, rather than just rich white guys. (Not that I have anything against rich white guys, I hope to be one someday and I'm two-thirds of the way there.)] Thereafter, each state shall be apportioned into representative districts on the basis of population, as proscribed by law. Each district so established shall be of compact and contiguous territory.
D.) Thereafter, a representative, an alternate and a second alternate shall be chosen from a list of registered voters in each district by random allotment, every second year.
E.) When a vacancy shall arise, the next alternate shall serve the balance of the term.
F.) The Peoples House shall choose their Speaker and other officers.
Sec. 4: The Senate.
A.) Each state shall have two Senators serving six year terms.
B.) One Senator shall be appointed by the legislature of their respective state, the other shall be popularly elected by the people of their respective state. [State’s rights went the way of the dodo when we went to elected Senators. Having one Senator appointed by the state gov’t and one elected by the people gives the best of both worlds: state’s rights and democratic advantages.]
C.) No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the age of thirty years, and been nine years a citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
D.) The Senate shall choose their President pro tempore and other officers.
E.) When a vacancy shall arise, the legislature of that Senator’s respective state shall appoint a replacement to serve the balance of the term, unless that legislature shall delegate that authority to the executive of that state.
F.) No Senator shall serve more than two terms consecutively. [Term limits. After two terms, the Senator must surrender the incumbent advantage and sit out at least one term, but can be reelected again later.]
Sec.5: How Removed
A) The voters of a Senator’s state or Representative’s district may petition for a recall election as proscribed by law. This shall require a 60% majority to remove an officeholder.
B) Senators originally appointed by the State gov’t may be removed and replaced by the State at any time.
C) Officeholders may be removed from office by a two-thirds vote of both houses.
Sec. 6: Powers Granted to Congress
The Congress shall have power:
A.) To enforce the Bill of Rights;
B.) To lay and collect taxes, duties, and user fees; but all taxes, duties, and user fees shall be uniform throughout the United States;
C.) To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and otherwise conduct relations with them; [No interstate commerce clause!! Congress has abused that one too much.]
D.) To define and regulate the nations borders;
E.) To establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform bankruptcy laws;
F.) To coin or print money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign currency, and provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the currency of the United States; and fix the standard of weights and measures;
G.) To constitute tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
H.) To provide uniform copyright, patent and trademark laws and maintain a patent office;
I.) To define and punish international terrorism, piracy and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses against the law of nations;
J.) To raise and support military forces, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years;
K.) To make rules for the government and regulation of the military forces and make rules concerning captures on land and water;
L.) To provide for calling forth the militia to aid in the execution of the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions;
M.) To assist in organizing, arming, and training the militia;
N.) To purchase and maintain property for military posts, government services, and other needful buildings;
O.) To conduct a census and collect relevant statistics as proscribed by law.
P.) To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.
To be continued...
1 comment:
Yeah! I'm all for a Consitutional Connvention! Is that where we storm D.C. with torches and pitchforks, tar and feathers, and maybe a couple of good stout ropes?
Ha-ha, that was just a totally false humorous statement, Homeland Secuirty monitors. But seriously folks. One thing I would add to the New Constitution would be a mechanism to enable people within a state to voluntarily break away from the whole and form their own new states. It happened with Virginia and West (by God) Virginny, allowing the latter to pursue their own indepedent lifestyle and economy based on in-breeding, chicken-fighting and growing marijuana. Sound crazy?
Forming one's own state was seriously discussed during the Western "Sagebrush Rebellion" a few years ago. The idea, of course, quickly fizzled, probably in part because the Feds explained to the potential new states how much damage the tanks and helicopters would do to the new states' infrastructure.
How would this idea work and why? A few ideas. Louisiana could make itself seperate from New Orleans, the rest of New York from the Big Apple, Illinois from Chicago, Arizona from Phoenix, Northern California from Mexico, etc.
This way, the normal, ordinary folks would not have to cough up excessive taxes to go to feed the Socilialsist nanny-state cesspools the big cities have become, and said cities' corrupt politicians would be forced to actually address and correct their own problems rather than just treating brain tumors with aspirin and sucking up more and more money forcibly confiscated from the rank and file to line their own nests. Talk about taxation without representation.
This plan would also be more representative for more people when it comes election time (at least until the whackable, hackable Diebold Voting Machines render voters altogether superfluous). As it stands now, every single person in New York state could vote one way and yet be overturned and lose to the City itself.
There would, of course, have to be limits. I couldn't just call myself the State of Bawb and stop paying taxes, however desirable that would be for me personally. It would have to involve a process not unlike a Constitutional Convention. The people living in the potential new states would have to have clearly defined reasons, an appropriately-sized area, and would have to pass the idea by a popular vote with at least a two-thirds majority.
Never happen I know. But hey, we're just dreaming here anyway, so I might as well run with it.
My next amendment, however, WILL involve tar, feathers, ropes and the 9th Circuit Court.
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