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Constitutional Amendments that would dramatically alter the US government to more closely represent the People
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Constitutional Amendments.md

Constitutional Amendments that would dramatically alter the US government to more closely represent the People

Whether true or not, and I believe it is true, many of us believe the US government is rampant with corrupt politicians, and therefore is corrupt itself.

However, Congress will never propose--much less ratify--an Amendment that would limit their own power. The solution is Constitutional Conventions as laid out by Article V of the Constitution.

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

Such conventions are organized by the People, and not subject to Congress's approval; they were devised by the original writers of the Constitution to be a check on Congress's power. One organization attempting to organize a Constitutional Convention is Wolf-PAC.

I propose the following Constitutional Amendments that I believe would dramatically reduce the corruption within our government at state and federal levels.

End career politicians

  • Change the term lengths for House members to 4 years
  • Add 12-year limits to both the House and the Senate (three terms for the House, two terms for the Senate)

Effects

Campaign finance reform

  • Reverse Citizens United (a Constitutional Amendment is not subject to decisions made by the Supreme Court)
  • Set a limit on campaign contributions from organizations (non-individuals); I would set it to $0, but I wouldn't mind any limit at or below $1000, adjusted for inflation
    • Prohibit organizations from contributing to the campaigns of more than one candidate per seat; campaign finance is protected by the First Amendment, as donating money is considered free speech, but the intent can hardly be argued to be "speech" when an organization supports both (or all) sides; it is simple bribery
    • If my proposed Election Reform amendment has not yet been ratified, donations can be made to a second candidate (or a second donation to the same candidate) after the primary elections
    • Be certain to close loopholes in this policy (e.g. if multiple organizations are owned by the same person or parent company, only one contribution can be made between the lot of them)
  • Require the IRS and not the candidates to release tax forms
    • Require the IRS to release 5 years' history of tax forms for all people running for office
    • Each year, require the IRS to release the tax forms of all elected officials
  • Dissolve and prohibit Super PACs (and anything that serves the same purpose--in essence, close all loopholes)
  • Print the names of each candidate's top five donors on ballots or in voters pamphlets
  • Require TV networks to grant political ads--purchased by the candidates' campaigns themselves--a 50% discount for ad time
    • This reduces the money required to run a campaign
    • This is not anti-capitalism; it's a renegotiated cost for using the airwaves granted by the American people

Effects

  • Reduces corruption

Changes to the budget process

  • Increase federal minimum wage such that a full-time employee at minimum wage would be at or above the current poverty line
  • Require congress, whenever they increase their own salaries, to increase the minimum wage by the same percentage
  • When an unpassed budget shuts down the federal government, reduce the pay of the legislative branch and the President to $1 for the duration of the shut-down without back-pay for when the budget finally is passed
  • Remove the entire notion of a debt ceiling

Effects

  • Spurs cooperation across party lines
  • Increases legislative efficiency
  • Reduces the effect of politicking on the US economy

Address congressional misrepresentation

  • Allow for citizens to call for an emergency vote of no confidence to impeach their representative members of congress who cast votes contrary to the will of at least 70% of their constituents (possibly with an exemption for foreign aid packages which are usually wildly unpopular but prevent wars; with this exemption in place, all foreign aid is required to be in its own separate bills)
    • Polling is a prerequisite for calling a vote
    • Polling to be done no more than a week in advance of the vote by a non-partisan government agency, with no outside input on the wording of the polls; such input is against the law and, if convicted, punishable by immediate removal from office (if violated by a member of congress or their office) and a hefty fine
    • For legislation affecting more than $10 billion, polling must take place after scoring by the Congressional Budget Office
  • Require all elected officials to place ALL business holdings in a blind trust for the duration of their time in office
  • Prevent elected officials from receiving exemptions to the laws they pass

Effects

  • Forces members of congress to more closely represent their constituents
  • Reduces corruption
  • Encourages congress to act in the best interests of the People

Election reform

Effects

  • Increases direct representation of the People
  • Saves money by removing primary elections
  • Reduces the effects of partisan gerrymandering
  • Removes "swing state" unfair political sway

Address Voter Suppression

  • Make it illegal for states to require photo ID in order to vote; voter fraud has repeatedly been shown to be a myth; it is used to spread fear amongst a minority party's constituents in order to garner support of laws that make it harder for their opposition's members (e.g ethnic minorities) to vote
    • Invalidate all such laws currently in place
  • Either (or preferably both):
    • Require all states to accept write-in ballots for anyone who chooses
    • Make federal election days federal holidays and state election days state holidays so that everyone gets a chance to vote; on election holidays businesses are required to provide the same pay to employees that are required when their employees have jury duty
  • Require all voting centers to be spread out according to a heat-map of population, and given equal financial resources, facilitators, and number of voting booths
  • Require all districts to provide voting centers proportional to population of that district (should™ not be required if the previous clause is implemented)
  • Make it illegal to pass laws that discourage people from voting
    • All voting laws are subject to approval of the Federal Election Commission (or an equivalent state-level agency), a committee of three members of each of the top two parties--i.e. currently three Republicans and three Democrats--prior to votes to get such a bill out of committee
      • It is important that members not be proportional to the number of Congress members of each party, as a committee with proportional membership would just vote according to the majority party's wishes
    • An example law that violates this mandate would be one preventing people from distributing food and water to lines of people waiting to vote
      • This particular example would be mitigated if states were required to accept write-in ballots
    • Invalidate all such laws currently in place

Effects

  • Greatly increases the equality of everyone's right to vote as prescribed by the 15th Amendment
  • Greatly reduces the effect of systemic racism (and other prejudices to a lesser degree)
  • Slightly reduces the effect of partisan gerrymandering
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