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The New Commoner

A broader form of capitalism called Proprietarianism offers wealth, enhanced lives and greater control of day-to-day living to common citizens. It offers the opportunity to build communities and relationships. The philosophy IS oriented toward business, but NOT necessarily big business. More "Mom & Pop" size businesses give more people more opportunities to conduct their own lives their own way.

Friday, February 15, 2013

How about a Petition?

The United States seems to have lost its way. Our government is bloated. The citizens are taxed too heavily. And many, many freedoms have been lost. Perhaps a few changes could be made in our constitution that would improve our situation. It appears that Congress is unable or unwilling to make the necessary changes. Perhaps because of fear that some of its power will be lost –– returned to the states and the citizens.

Article five of the U.S. Constitution gives states the right to call on congress to convene a Constitution Convention for the purpose of making changes to the Constitution. Some states have made that call, but some are unwilling. The people could take the first step. Petitions could be formulated in each state signed by their citizens insisting that their state exercise its constitutional right to demand that a national convention be called for the purpose of amending our Federal Constitution.

Here are a few suggested amendments that might be included in such a petition:

Amendment 28: Congressional term limits. Perhaps Representatives could serve for six terms and Senators could serve for two terms. That means twelve years for either Representative or Senator. That should be enough time for them to serve and yet not so long that they completely lose touch with those they represent.

Amendment 29: Repeal the 16th amendment. The 16th amendment gave congress the authority to collect income tax from whatever income it wanted to. Income tax should be replaced by sales tax -- not supplemented by sales tax, but replaced. Sales tax is a fair tax -- those who have more money to spend would pay more tax.

Amendment 30: Repeal the 17th amendment. The 17th amendment changed the way Senators were elected. Originally, Senators were to represent the various states in congress – not individuals. The effect of the 17th amendment was to remove the representation of states from congress. Senators, after the 17th amendment, represented citizens. But we already had that. That’s the point of the House of Representatives. State’s rights were severely limited following the adoption of that amendment. Our nation changed from being referred to as “The United States are...” to “The United States is...”.

Amendment 31: Balanced Budget. This would require the federal Government to produce an annual budget, then live within it. (Hopefully).

Amendment 32: Marriage. Limit marriage to one man and one woman. This would help to reconstitute the basic building block of civilization – the family.

Amendment 33: Voting Ballots - Every ballot issued for voting on any elected official, or public issue must carry the last option of "None of the above" as a choice for voters. Too often the choices being offered are not the ones wanted by the public.

Amendment 34: Legal Status of Government officials - All elected and appointed officials are subject to the same laws and requirements that all other citizens are subject to. Exceptions could be made in extreme circumstances, but only in extreme circumstances.

Amendment 35: Proportional Representation - Nearly all senators and representatives are lawyers. Yet lawyers make up only a portion of our citizenry. The idea of lawyers making laws for lawyers or the idea of lawyers making laws unreadable by anyone outside the profession is only too evident. Lawyers should be represented in congress at the same ratio as they are present in the ordinary citizenry. (The founder's idea of an elected President being our "Military Commander in Chief" comes out of this same kind of logic)

Amendment 36: Campaign Financing - Limit political campaign donations to individual people only and the donation amounts to no more than the median income of the district being represented. Corporations, organizations, political parties and political action committees all contribute money to political campaigns influencing and skewing the outcomes of many elections. It can be almost impossible to determine the sources of money from such organizations making it very easy for foreign and illegal influence. Organizations are not alive. They do not breathe or reproduce. They do not vote and should not have the same rights as living beings. Perhaps a ban on professional lobbyists would be an improvement as well.

Are these amendments needed? Are there other needed amendments?

Can we get some petitions started?

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