It seems that 34 States have called for an Art 5 Constitutional Convention. Some later rescinded their call, but it is unclear if it is legal to do so. The current discussion is a balanced budget amendment. If this comes along with a ceiling on taxes & spending as a % of GDP, fine. Otherwise it is an avenue for endless taxes to balance whatever spending politicians pass to buy votes. And lets not pretend politicians have ANY motive for legislation other than vote-buying. Any Amendment to balance the budget should include a cap on taxes & spending based on GDP and a constitutional inability, absent a repealing Amendment, to alter these caps; eg; no federal or state court is allowed jurisdiction to challenge them. A better use of Article 5 would be to dump centuries of fed interference by taking the ambiguity out of the 2nd (the right of all citizens to keep & bear arms publicly shall not be infringed), returning to only property owners being allowed to vote or hold office, constitutionally disallowing welfare, constitutionally disallowing government sector unions, putting teeth in laws designed to control Congress (no budget by statuary date & Majority Leader automatically goes to prison for 5 years - no appeal allowed), making Congress a part-time body (no more than 6 mos/year), outlawing any combat other than formally-declared war, no benefits for any elected official - no health insurance, no retirement, no paid vacations. If they want those they can enter the private sector. Constitutionally disallow gov interference in any commerce between citizens or corporations. No corporate welfare. No federal govt participation in education. And ALL laws MUST originate in Congress. Disallow this nonsense of creating an unaccountable bureaucracy to foment a regulatory state (EPA). And constitutionally REQUIRE the IMMEDIATE FIRING of ANY legislator or president proposing legislation at-odds with the Constitution (ie SCOTUS has held that the 2nd means what it says; any pol submitting legislation to limit guns has violated their oath & must be summarily fired - no appeal; same with president & EOs.) A modern Constitution further would have a formal avenue for secession based on the voters of the state alone. And NO FISA. And 12 years MAX total time served in elective office at all levels combined. And no registering as a lobbyist for a duration equivalent to time in elective office: 4 yrs in House, 6 in Senate & cannot lobby for ten years. No litigation to overturn. And when the president acts in violation of duties to enforce the law he shall immediately be removed. No political nonsense like Clintons impeachment. Thats fine for political problems, but no more of this crap like DREAM rejected by Congress & implemented regardless. And voter ID is required - no jurisdiction to appeal it. And ALL voting is via pen & paper: full audit trail, no destruction of ballots, no computer nonsense of hanging chads or questionable programming. We can wait a day for the results.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:30:37 +0000