Reality: Congress cannot vote on every rule codified by the Federal government. They can barely vote on legislation. The ONLY way to actually create workable laws is through the delegation of the regulation creating process. The courts can adjudicate issues.

Sharabura: “State Opt Out” – any federal regulation may be opted out upon by a 2/3 vote of a state’s legislature. If a state opts out, they are to receive from the federal government their pro-rata contribution to the cost of that regulation.

Reality: Why have a Federal government then? Not only is this contrary to the notion of a centralized government, it conflicts with your proposed #9 which reads:

“Universal Equality in Legislation” – every state’s citizens must be treated equal to other state’s citizens for the purpose of federal regulation.

The equal protection clause already does what you propose and if states can opt out of legislation, citizens of different states will be treated differently. Having said all of that, a state may pass legislation that differs from the Federal law, but only if it does not contravene the federal law.

Very simple, salable items, with catchy names:

1. “No regulation without representation” Every rule that is made by the bureaucracy must be ratified by majority vote of the Congress.

2. “Term limits for bureaucrats” – 20 year limit on Federal Government employment of all kinds. (Exception: national security personnel)

3. “Perishable hidden legislation” – Any legislation that has been public in its entirety for less than 30 days can only be in effect for three months. It must then be revoted upon.

4. “Reading is Fundamental” voting rules. Legislators must assert that they have read any legislation in its entirety before voting, otherwise their vote is unvalid.

5. “Welfare Transparency” – all federal aid of any kind must be tracked to be paid. For individuals, once the lifetime amount exceeds five times the poverty rate, the information shall be made public. For corporations and non-profits, the amount shall be made public immediately.

6. “State Opt Out” – any federal regulation may be opted out upon by a 2/3 vote of a state’s legislature. If a state opts out, they are to receive from the federal government their pro-rata contribution to the cost of that regulation.

7. “Revolving Door Transparancy” – Every federal elected official must make his/her finances public, especially net worth, for the duration of their term in office and for 5 years following their leaving office.

8. “Maximum Flat Tax for Entrepreneurs” – every dollar of income beyond the previous year’s taxable income is taxed at a maximum of 10% for that year.

9. “Universal Equality in Legislation” – every state’s citizens must be treated equal to other state’s citizens for the purpose of federal regulation.

10. “No Free Bailouts” – the Federal Government may not provide any money for bailouts without the following prior actions being taken by the recipient state/city government:
• State/city must cut spending 20% across the board
• Term limits must be implemented for both elected officials and bureaucrats
• Any elected state/city official in office for more than 10 years must be replaced and declared ineligible to run for any state/city office for 5 years.

11. “No Free Bailouts” (industry) – the Federal Government may not provide any money for bailouts without the following prior actions being taken by the recipient company:
• All employee compensation for previous three years to be made public
• No employee may contribute to a political campaign for 5 years.

Very simple, salable items, with catchy names:

1. “No regulation without representation” Every rule that is made by the bureaucracy must be ratified by majority vote of the Congress.

2. “Term limits for bureaucrats” – 20 year limit on Federal Government employment of all kinds. (Exception: national security personnel)

3. “Perishable hidden legislation” – Any legislation that has been public in its entirety for less than 30 days can only be in effect for three months. It must then be revoted upon.

4. “Reading is Fundamental” voting rules. Legislators must assert that they have read any legislation in its entirety before voting, otherwise their vote is unvalid.

5. “Welfare Transparency” – all federal aid of any kind must be tracked to be paid. For individuals, once the lifetime amount exceeds five times the poverty rate, the information shall be made public. For corporations and non-profits, the amount shall be made public immediately.

6. “State Opt Out” – any federal regulation may be opted out upon by a 2/3 vote of a state’s legislature. If a state opts out, they are to receive from the federal government their pro-rata contribution to the cost of that regulation.

7. “Revolving Door Transparancy” – Every federal elected official must make his/her finances public, especially net worth, for the duration of their term in office and for 5 years following their leaving office.

8. “Maximum Flat Tax for Entrepreneurs” – every dollar of income beyond the previous year’s taxable income is taxed at a maximum of 10% for that year.

9. “Universal Equality in Legislation” – every state’s citizens must be treated equal to other state’s citizens for the purpose of federal regulation.

10. “No Free Bailouts” – the Federal Government may not provide any money for bailouts without the following prior actions being taken by the recipient state/city government:
• State/city must cut spending 20% across the board
• Term limits must be implemented for both elected officials and bureaucrats
• Any elected state/city official in office for more than 10 years must be replaced and declared ineligible to run for any state/city office for 5 years.

11. “No Free Bailouts” (industry) – the Federal Government may not provide any money for bailouts without the following prior actions being taken by the recipient company:
• All employee compensation for previous three years to be made public
• No employee may contribute to a political campaign for 5 years.

The NEA, a hot-bed of Marxist/socialist thinking, has precluded your excellent observation. Home school/private schooling in the short-term and a massive overhaul in the long-term.

I don’t see why we should continue funding an educational system that promulgates a mindset fundamentally at odds with the principles upon which this nation was founded. That’s suicidal.

The Republicans (spit) have to offer a philosophical system that lays out a vision of America. The socialists have a long-term vision toward which they are driving the world; what do we offer in its place? We have to clearly articulate what America stands for in a way that resonates over time. WE CAN’T JUST KEEP PROPOSING INDIVIDUAL BITS OF LEGISLATION!!!! We need to articulate a compelling philosophy that unifies all our actions.

That’s why it’s so critical to re-take the educational system and imbue it with a philosophy that endures and produces citizens who are proud of America and capable of being productive.

California, anyone?

The Bill of Federalism website at http://www.federalismamendment.com/ proposes a campaign to have state legislatures issue identical resolutions to Congress that once received in sufficient numbers will require Congress to put into the Constitution several amendments that are similar to what you propose.

I see even THAT as a daunting challenge which will require us all to take on our full responsibilities as citizens. I have identified it not to direct people to that site, but to highlight other efforts in this same area.

This is not going to be an easy campaign – it will probably take years, if not decades. It will require among other things a massive education effort that needs to overcome academia’s and the media’s inertia and outright opposition.

This effort will require the coordination on a national level that up until now I have seen only in political parties. That implies to me that we must either gain the platform that a current political party can provide, by putting leaders in place who will espouse these goals, or by building a new party that will truly represent the will of the majority.

But as John Kennedy stated on November 20, 1961: “All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”

Kennedy spoke to the threat to the Free World posed by Communism. We are facing an even graver threat – the possibility that our great nation is being destroyed from within, by ourselves through our elected representatives.

1) Repeal the 17th Amendment and replace it with one REQUIRING the states to appoint their Senators.

2) Demand every piece of legislation be placed online for at least 168 hours (7 calendar days) before it is voted upon. In addition, every piece of legislation must be read in its entirety aloud at least once when it is introduced, every proposed amendment must be read in its entirety aloud before voted upon, and the entire amended piece of legislation must be read in its entirety aloud before the vote for final passage. Any Congressman who is not present during all readings may not vote on the legislation. No legislation may be signed into law by the President until it is placed online for at least thirty days.

3) Apportion the House of Representatives so that no Congressional district may represent more than 170,000 people (which is around the smallest ratio per electoral vote right now). This will be a step toward making the House of Representatives more accountable to its voters.

4) End motor voter. Require picture ID for voting. Require in person registration at the county offices with proof of residency and/or citizenship. Minimum 60 day waiting period before voting in first election. Absentee ballots are allowed to be cast only when legitimate reasons are given (deployed overseas for military service, overseas or out of state on business, etc) and there is no opportunity to cast an early ballot. Early voting will be open at county courthouses 7 calendar days before an election and will cease 2 calendar days before an election.

5) Nation building is not in the national security interests of the United States and is a misuse of our power. Most foreign military bases will be closed and all current military deployments will be reviewed and most ended. No military forces will be deployed outside of the United States for any duration longer than 60 days without a two-thirds vote of Congress. No hostilities or war shall be initiated without a declaration of war by a two-thirds vote of Congress. No prisoners captured in combat or overseas shall have habeas corpus rights.

6) The 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 10th Amendments mean what they say.

7) Real immigration reform. End the diversity visa, end the H2 visa programs, no government benefits on any level for illegal aliens, no election ballots in languages other than English, require visa holders to leave the US upon expiration of visa unless they apply for citizenship. Streamline the citizenship and legal entry requirements to speedily allow new citizens and more people who want to enter the US legally to do so. Any illegal alien who wants to be normalized can serve 5 years in the armed forces. No amnesty any other illegal aliens and all immigrant felons are to be deported upon completion of sentence.

8) Require every legislation passed by Congress have in it which section of Constitution gives Congress the authority to legislate on that topic.

9) Institute a revenue neutral flat or national sales tax but not both and end withholding.

10) Outlaw the giving of taxpayer dollars to any private for profit or non-profit organization. Outlaw the Federal government from owning any business including but not exclusively, banks, railroads, automobile manufacturers, insurance companies, and finance companies.

11) Repeal the just passed Deathcare bill and replace it with a bill allowing the purchase of health insurance across state lines, a tax credit for buying individual health insurance plans, and ending the employer tax deduction for fringe benefits, among other things.

12) Freeze the US money supply and abolish the Federal Reserve. Replace it with a fixed money supply that only grows by the increase in a percentage of the population annually. Allow free banking and competing currencies to keep the US dollar honest.

Anything more than these 12 things will largely take care of themselves.

Repeal Amendments 16 and 17 out of the gate—national income tax is pernicious and the direct election of senators has removed State governments from consideration at the national level.

And, to quote Ron Paul, End the Fed…I’m not a libertarian, per se, but a floating monetary system is subject to the vagaries of politics/flavor of the day. Gold makes more sense.

Merry Christmas!

2- AUTOMATIC RELAPSE OF LAWS– After a specified period of time all laws would have to be re-evaluated and re-voted on. It might make the federal registry less crowded. Also Congress could not just pass every law previously passed, there would be a required period of debate for any law enacted. We might get rid of some frivolous laws in the process.

4- NO ADMINISTRATION CZARS–This is nothing more than a way to attempt to get around congressional oversight. It does not matter if Republican or Democrat, transparency and accountability are important.

5- TERM LIMITS ON JUDICIAL APPTS– Judges should not be on the bench for their entire lifetime. Some of these guys are old as the hills and may have senility. Some of their opinions suggest that.

6- LIMITATIONS ON CONGRESSIONAL STAFFS– No more staffs of 100 or so individuals. If a congressman or senator wants to reply to a letter, they don’t need a staffer to follow through. They want the job, let them deal with the job.

7- I can’t think of anymore just off the top of my head but term limits is the key to future viability of our country. We are being regulated, taxed and ignored into oblivion.

2. Any payment, loan, grant, tax deferral or other act of government granting monetary advantage to an individual shall be reported on an IRS Form 1099-GOV.
(Your food stamps have to be reported the same way as the money I earned to buy my food! When Samsung gets a tax deferral from my local taxing entity, it better stop affecting my property taxes!)

3. Every government agent licensed to carry a firearm must wear a video to capture all interactions with citizens. (I’m darn tired of having to pay attorneys for policeman who can’t keep their story straight. See http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14030412?nclick_check=1)

4. Gerrymandering. Biggest problem. Selecting the largest cities and drawing lines out from the center city at 20 degree increments until they hit another zone from another city or the zone encompasses the necessay electorate. Or something computerizable.

2. Change Public Law 62-5 that limits the number of Congressmen. Make the number of Congressmen a proportion of the population. The more Congressmen, the fewer safe districts there are and the less of a career someone could make of being a Congressman. Also, it should greatly reduce the cost of running for Congress if there are more seats. I do not think that term limits is the answer.

3. Fix the commerce clause so it cannot be interpreted to regulate commerce within a state just because something might go over a state border.

4. A Constitutional Amendment to prohibit wealth transfer programs except those based on poverty should be ratified. Social Security Insurance should really turn into insurance and farm subsidy programs should disappear under such an amendment.

5. Congress should appropriate the funding for entitlement programs every year. Currently, entitlement programs are funded automatically with no thought of whether the program should continue. If Congress had to appropriate the amounts spent on entitlement programs, maybe they would create fewer entitlement programs and eliminate some of the old ones.

6. The government should adopt FASBI GAAP for the budget. Current scoring rules only look at what will happen for the next ten years. Take a look at the financial statements of the government that are compiled using FASBI GAAP. It is not a pretty picture.

7. No deductions should be allowed for fringe benefits. Allowing fringe benefits to be deductable distorts incentives for employees. This should not be interpreted as being a raise in taxes. The marginal tax rates could be adjusted to keep this tax neutral.

8. Make the absentee ballet hard to get except for military personnel. Absentee ballots enable fraud at the polls.

9. Do whatever it takes to ensure that the courts do not corrupt the second amendment. Heller was a good start. I like the national concealed carry law that some have mentioned above.

2. Modest term limits: 3 terms in the Senate and 5 terms in the House. Retroactive as of next election following.

3. Federal, state and local government worker pension regulation. Maximum amounts, minimum terms of service, limits on combination of multiple pensions and social security.

4. All government retirement systems other than social security to be converted to individual defined contribution accounts at current asset valuations.

* Requires the President to submit to congress a balanced budget. (no requirement for congress to pass one, however)

* Requires all bills to cite which clause authorizes it – I know this gets submitted every year, and rejected, but it needs to be passed.

* All amendments to a bill have to be on topic. ie don’t fund the arts with a military spending bill.

* Tax simplification. I do not mean a “flat tax,” I am ok with a progressive tax. However – set a rate, set a deductible near the cost of living, require each citizen to file every year (with provisions for those who cannot file by themselves ie children, ill) – no joint filing. Clearly define what is income in plain English – not “accountant.” No other deductions period.

* Require all elected officials to do their own taxes, no paid preparers.

* Allow all individuals to file on line.

* Require all employers to have pay information on line – and a Government run system to enable that.

* Require all employers to use e-Verify.

* Enforce our current immigration laws.

* Reduce the number of visa’s issued for employment.

* Federal support for all immigration holds on local jails – funding and transfer of immigrants.

* Require in each bill passed a clause which states why this has to be a Federal issue and is not a local / state issue.

Sunsets
Laws involving Federal spending expire in no more than 5 Years.

Laws involving Federal revenue collections expire in 1 year, and cannot be renewed by simple extensions, but must be voted on in their entirety.

No earmarks.
Or
No New Earmarks, and any existing or future Federal earmarks for a particular state shall be paid for to the US Treasury, in its entirety, equally from the salaries of all Federal elected officials from that state. If the earmark is in excess of the sum of the remaining salaries of the officials for the current year, then the Federal government shall seize the personal property or future income of the current elected federal officials of that state and auction that property, subject to the normal exemption under the personal bankruptcy provisions of the US Code. The payments cease when either the earmark is repealed, or the debt has been repaid. Any change in officials serves to only expand the pool of persons required to pay the debt.

Constitutional Amendments:

Human life begins at the reproductive ‘union as one’ of the biologically human sperm and human egg.

Serve at the Will of the People.
Any Federally elected Official, can be voted out of their office by special election. If voted out by a super majority of 75% or greater, they are punishable by grand jury according to their state’s law as the worst felon, and are eligible for the largest sentence and punishment permissible, including capital.

Interstate Punishment
Any Federal law, resolution, order, or amendment passed by Congress shall be void in its entirety if it threatens to withhold, from any particular state, monies or benefits distributed to all states, if the particular state does not change its regulations to conform to a Federal requirement.

Interstate Exclusion
Any Federal law, resolution, order, or amendment passed by Congress shall be void in its entirety if it exempts any state or states to the exclusion of the whole. This shall be regardless of a naming of any state affected.

Federal Non-Exemption
Any Federal law, resolution, order, or amendment passed by Congress shall be void in its entirety if it exempts any Federal employee to the exclusion of any non-federal employee. This shall be regardless of a name, rank, or position of any employee affected.

National Candidate Identification
a) Candidates for any Federal Office (elected or appointed) shall submit documentation for public inspection and review equal to the documentation required for application to become a US Citizen. This information shall be entered into the public record, with redaction only of personal document numbers required for federal record keeping.

b) Any elected official must also remove all encumbrances and submit their foreign and domestic governmental and institutional records to the scrutiny of the Secretary of State, and the open publication thereof, in every jurisdiction they are seeking to be on the ballot and receive votes from therein. All States seeking to elect Federal officials must publish the information as noted in the amendment in order for that candidate to be elected and seated in that position.

Federal Pay
Congress officials cannot vote for their pay raises. It shall be enumerated as either a pay raise or pay decrease. The raise or lowering is to be equal to the net simple averaged ratio annual increase in the Gross Domestic Product of the past 5 years, or the inverse of the simple average of consumer price inflation of the previous 5 years, whichever is lower. The annual pay shall not be lower the average national annual wage earned by the lowest sixth of employed citizens, nor higher than the median annual wage in the United States.

Commerce Clause
Congress and the Executive branch shall have no power to impede commerce inside the borders of a state, if the product or service does not directly cross a state line. Federal powers are limited to removing restrictions that impeded the flow of products or services across state lines, or imposing taxes, duties, or garnishments on the flow of products or services across state lines.

The John Galt – Dead Leach Amendment
The Federal government shall impose no Federal taxes, duties, or garnishments on wages, products, or services that do not cross state lines or other nations.

1: Some form of voting law that requires a photo ID in order to be able to vote. In truth this is likely more easily implemented at the State than at the Federal level, I think, but others may know better in this regard.

2: Definitely time to limit federal spending to 99% of the previous years federal receipts. Any excess money received in the current year goes to debt pay-down.

3: Someone suggested fast tracking Yucca Mountain. Much better would be a focused program to develop fast breeder reactors, which could use all the current “nuclear waste” as fuel and reduce it to forms that are only mildly (and for a relatively short term) radioactive, and also much smaller in total volume than what we have now. It was one of Carter’s greater idiocies (and he certainly had a lot) that he killed fast breeder reactors in this country – what an ass.

4: I said it in my first posting, but I will say it again – School Choice!