Proposed Amendments to the Constitution

"A republic, if you can keep it" - Ben Franklin

Note: This is Part 2 in a two-part series. In Part 1 we covered the Constitution. That's it. Part 1 is like a bad 8th Grade government unit written out as a substack. If you loved 8th grade, or if you want quick access to the basics, refer back to Part 1.

In Part 1 we learned that, among other things, the federal government has:

• over 2.1 million employees that work for an average of 15.2 years

• over 150 agencies

• over 20,000 laws

• countless regulations and at least 186 executive orders that have the force of law

Meanwhile, the last three years have demonstrated that the US Government is not, in fact, a government of We the People, but instead a monstrosity of fat run by bureaucracies, corporations, and elites. Almost no one believes that what we have today is what the Founding Fathers envisioned. And yet here we are.

In lieu of “starting over” with a new Constitution, let’s think about the Amendments needed to make our current Constitution even better.

Below is a proposed list of “New” Amendments to the existing Constitution of the United States. Please refer to Part 1 in this series for context.

The New Amendments

Twenty-eighth Amendment: Repeals the Seventeenth Amendment. (great context HERE)

Twenty-ninth Amendment: Establishes limits and boundaries for President, Vice President, Senators and House Members.

• Term Limits: Can only serve a maximum of two terms.

• Age Limits: Can only begin their second term prior to the age of 70

• Emergency Power Limits: No branch of the federal government is allowed emergency powers beyond 15 days. The executive branch is allowed one 15 day emergency declaration per term. It is understood that any declaration of emergency will either terminate within 15 days or will be voted into law by Congress.

• Executive Order Limits: No part of any executive order issued by the executive branch may be in place or extended beyond 12 months. It is understood that any executive order will either terminate or will be voted into law by Congress.

• Investment Limits: No member of any branch is allowed to invest in stock market and must recuse themselves in any debate, vote or ruling where there is a financial conflict of interest by them or any member of their immediate family. Any investments owned by any elected or unelected government representatives or employees need to be put into a trust or sold outright prior to taking office.

• Campaign Finance Limits: Other than Presidential candidates, no federally elected official may spend on their election campaign more than .005% of the Nominal GDP* of the median state or territory for the prior fiscal year. Candidates for President may spend .25% of the Nominal GDP of the median state or territory for the prior fiscal year.

  • *note: in 2022 the Nominal GDP of the median state (South Carolina) was $295,880,000,000.00 x .005% = $14,794,000

Thirtieth Amendment: Creates limits and efficiencies around the laws enacted by the Legislature

• Year of Jubilee: Every 50 years all laws are erased and the legislature starts anew for any and all laws that were passed greater than 3 years prior.

• Sunsetting: No law can be active for greater than 10 years. All laws must sunset.

• Single Issue Bills: One bill one vote.

• Reading: Bills must be read in full on floor and at least two weeks before the vote.

• Defined Success: Each bill must have defined metrics for success that will be made public prior to a vote and will be reviewed annually. Any law that fails to meet its success criteria two consecutive years terminates immediately automatically.

• Guinea Pig Rule: if a majority of State Legislatures demand it, any proposed bill must first be trialed on federal government employees for 5 years prior to becoming the law of the land.

• Unconstitutional Penalty: Any member of Congress that sponsors or co-sponsors a bill that is eventually deemed unconstitutional during their term: loses their office, loses their pension; and they are barred from ever holding any public office again.

• War Clause: If any member of Congress votes to fund a war or to declare war, that member of Congress or one member of their immediate family must serve on the front lines.

Thirty-first Amendment: Requires the federal government to have fiscal responsibility

• Ends The Federal Reserve Bank: No central bank or central bank digital currency is allowed.

• Gold Standard: The federal government must base its currency on a gold standard or, if an alternative, voted on by 2/3rds of both chambers.

• Debt Limit: The federal government may not carry debt greater than 10% of its annual revenue based on the prior five fiscal years rolling average, unless voted on by 2/3rds of both the House and the Senate and then for only two years. Congress may not raise taxes while above the Debt Limit.

• Balanced Budget: The federal government may not spend more money than it makes (beyond the Debt Limit) and must pay down any overage to the Debt Limit by cutting spending. Congress may not raise taxes until the budget is balanced.

Thirty-second Amendment: Creates limits to Agencies (the bureaucratic state)

• Term limits: No one may serve more than 20 total years in the federal government, whether in paid, unpaid, elected or unelected roles.

• Head Count Cap: The total budget allocated to federal employees will be capped at 10% of the federal government’s annual revenue based on the prior five fiscal years’ rolling average.

• Non-Laws: No agency (bureaucracy) under any branch of the federal government may pass any guidance, recommendation, mandate or law that is enforceable or carries the force of a law.

• Unconstitutionality Penalty: Any agency that passes a regulation, rule, guidance, recommendation, mandate or psuedo-law that is deemed, at any time, to be unconstitutional will be immediately purged—all personnel heading and working under that agency shall immediately be fired and may be replaced only with new staff. Those people may not work in any federal or state government role for a period of 12 months.

Thirty-third Amendment: Establishes Voting Best Practices

• Voter ID: Each voter in any federal or state election must show a valid ID in the form of a Driver’s License, Passport, or State Voter ID card as established by the State they live in.

• Manual Voting: No electronic systems may be used for voter roles, ballots, votes or official tallies. Paper ballots shall be counted by hand.

Thirty-fourth Amendment: Decentralizing Public Health

• There shall be no federal-level public health agencies. Congress shall fund, equally, each State’s Public Health agencies, including Health & Human Services, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), CDC, NIAID, and FDA. It is the discretion of each State to determine the best use of that funding for the benefit of the health of the public. At a minimum, each state is required to fund it's own version of the FDA and VA.

Thirty-Fifth Amendment: Land protection

• Foreign Limits: No foreign government, foreign corporation or non-citizen may own more than 5 total acres of land.

• Farmland: No foreign government, foreign corporation or non-citizen may own any land zoned within the last 20 years for agriculture or farming.

Thirty-Sixth Amendment: Public Unions

• No public entity may operate with unions. Unions shall be legal for private businesses but not for any entity that receives more than 5% of its budget directly or indirectly from public funding.

Thirty-Seventh Amendment: Supreme Court Justices

• Number of Justices: There shall be no more than 9 justices on the Supreme Court

• Reboot of Justices: Justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour” unless 2/3 of State Legislatures agree that the 9 justices should be removed in their entirety and replaced by 9 new justices selected by and approved by 2/3 of State Legislatures.

Thirty-Eighth Amendment: Freedom Of Information

• Classified Documents: No document or digital communication may be considered classified unless voted on by 2/3 of both chambers.

• Redaction: No document or digital communication requested by FOIA may be redacted unless voted on by 2/3 of both chambers.

• Limits: No document or digital communication may be classified or redacted that is over 20 years old.

Thirty-Ninth Amendment: Ends Affirmative Action

• There shall be no law or policy that discriminates based on race

Fortieth Amendment: Limits On Global Entities

• Protecting Citizens: The US Government will reasonably protect the rights of all US Citizens from any and all state, non-state, psuedo-state, or globalist actors and entities.

• Authority: The US Government shall not be bound or governed by any treaty, foreign constitution, government, state, entity or law. Furthermore, the US Government may allow US Citizens to be bound or governed by any authority other than the Constitution of the United States.

Forty-First Amendment: Close NGO/Foundation Loopholes

• Tax-exempt Status: Tax-exempt status is forfeited by any non-profit that holds, at any time, more than 5 times the median annual US income.

• No Middle Man: Any NGO, Non-profit, Foundation, Fund, Endowment or any other tax-exempt organization may not act as a “middle-man” to other for-profit or non-profit entities.

• Tax-exempt Donations: No US corporation, citizen or permanent resident shall be allowed tax benefits or tax exemptions for donations or endowments to any foreign entities that act as a “middle-man” to other entities.

• Public Disclosure Requirements: Any NGO, Non-profit, Foundation, Fund, Endowment or any other tax-exempt organization must make public every transaction, including financial reports, tax filings, or other relevant documents available on their websites or through other means to ensure transparency.

  • note: in 2022, the median annual income in the US was $54,132.00 x 5 = $270,660.00

Forty-Second Amendment: Unborn Bill Of Rights

• The viable unborn shall have the same rights as the born citizens.

Forty-Third Amendment: Lockdowns, Shutdowns & Quarantines Illegal

• No person, church, school, organization or business may be subjected to lockdowns, shutdowns or quarantines.

Forty-Fourth Amendment: Education

• Eliminating the Department of Education: The federal government shall not have a Department of Education.

• School Choice: States and the federal government may only fund students and may not fund schools.

Forty-Fifth Amendment: Ties Do Not Go To The Tyrant

• If the legality or constitutionality of a law or practice is called into question and such challenge is deemed worthy of hearing by a competent judiciary, then that law or practice is automatically and non-appealably stayed until the matter is decided.

Forty-Sixth Amendment: Voting Furlough

• Anyone on welfare, medicare, medicaid, or social security loses their vote until they have been off the dole for 2 years.

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What do you think? What works here and what doesn’t? What needs clarity, editing, rethinking or outright dumping? And, most importantly, what did I miss?

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/99-02-02-7279

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