Quick(ish) Fix
Putting the federal genie back in the bottle
Every American knows in his and her gut that something is crazy wrong with their federal government. This behemoth is all up in everyone’s business to the point of regulating toilet flushes and light bulbs. We could spend a lot of time talking about how Abraham Lincoln destroyed the Union to ostensibly “save” it, but let’s focus on how this untenable situation an be fixed.
The solutions are fairly straight forward. Repeal the 16th, 17th and 23rd Amendments. Add an amendment that limits Senators to two terms, and Congresscritters to six (12 years each). Then dissolve the Federal Reserve and the standing military forces, and issue standardized kit to every ablebodied male between 18 and 59 years of age. Finally, remove protections for officers and boards in criminal cases against corporations, and criminalize corporate donations to political candidates and parties, while forbidding federal officers from owning stocks of any kind.
Let’s take this one by one.
Repeal the 16th, 17th and 23rd Amendments. This one step would return the election of Senators to the State legislatures, delete the federal income tax and IRS, and remove State status from Washington D.C.
The whole structure of the federal government was intended to moderate the relations between the States, which were otherwise independent nations unto themselves. They delegated certain functions, like the issuance of money, the handling of foreign affairs and war time powers, to a centralized authority to reduce barriers among the States.
The Senate was intended to represent the interests of the States in foreign affairs (treaties) and ensure the Executive branch acted in the interests of the nation as a whole. The House allowed the People direct control over budgets, war powers and other domestic issues. The two chambers also acted as checks on each other, creating a balance between the States as collectives, and the People as individuals.
After the House passed a budget, and the Senate approved it, the amount was to be divided up according to population and aportioned to the States according to the decadal census numbers. The States would then collect the taxes from the People by whatever means the People chose and send the payments to Washington D.C. This allowed the States an additional layer of control over spending and gave the People direct control over how they would pay them (sales, VAT, apportionment, etc.). This created layers of protection against out-of-control government growth.
The 23rd Amendment gave Washington D.C. three electors in the Electoral College. This essentially empowered the Deep State in chosing who they wanted to lead the Executive. Not only should Washington D.C. lose its electors, it should not have a mayor or city government. Those functions were supposed to be a function of the House, since D.C. is NOT a state nor a city - it’s a special federal district that has no powers outside moderating relations among the States, issuing money and representing the nation in foreign affairs. That’s it. End of story.
No need for a Constitutional Convention, which opens the entire document to revision and gives the Deep State a big hole to drive through. Instead, a simple amendment that repeals the aforementioned three, the way the 21st Amendment repealed the 18th to end Prohibition. This keeps a strict limit on what can be done during the process.
It seems to me there is sufficient support for major changes among the electorate regardless of party affiliation, and this suggestion actually returns the feds to their intended functions and takes away their assumed powers, while moving important issues back to the States and closer to the People. This is a non-partisan solution and the only possible opposition would be from those who need centralized power to further their agendas.
Dissolving the Federal Reserve is a biggie. It is a private corporation that was contracted to the US Treasury in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, and was given extraordinary control over the People’s money. It also created the IRS as the collection arm of that corporation to beat the People into submission, while giving Congresscritters plausible deniability. It’s a contract, cancel it and return the power of the purse back to the People via the House. Since the States would then collect the taxes to pay for the budget, there would be no need for the IRS and the Congresscritters are directly accountable for the economic health of the nation.
The 2nd Amendment was intended to administer the militia, standardizing weapons and training, and making every adult male part of the national defense, while at the same time the feds were forbidden to have a standing army for more than two years without an explicit Declaration of War. If Washington D.C. did not have a private militia (the armed services), nearly all the major global problems of the past 70 years would have been avoided.
Stand down the US military services, apportion the gear to the State National Guards, and return direct control of military affairs back to the States and the People. This guts the Military Industrial Complex and makes it much harder for Washington to start and prosecute wars, such as has been the case for the entire past two decades.
Now create a national standard for the State militias. All able-bodied adult males should be issues standard weapons (M16 for example), an annual allotment of ammunition and undergo field training twice a year. By standardizing the militias, they could be easily mobilized among the States, as needed in emergencies. Any nation attempting to invade the US would literally have to fight door to door across the continent, probably for decades. This decentralizes the power of the feds to wage war of any kind without the proper authorizations and popular support.
Next, limit Senators to two consecutive terms, and Congresscritters to six total terms. This gives them 12 years each to make a difference and eliminates this life-long careerism that has created an entire class of useless eaters who thrive and profit off the misery and outright theft of the People’s wealth. If the President can be limited, so can everyone else. And while we’re at it, the House can vote on pay raises, but they have to have majority approval of the States - but that’s a different Amendment.
The next big step is to pass laws that make the officers and boards of corporations directly and criminally liable for crimes committed by their organizations. The corporate veil has been taken to absurd lengths, allowing corporations to commit all kinds of atrocities, with the only punishment being a fine or two.
Create a corporate death penalty, disbanding any organization and cancelling its charter if the crimes are as egregious as, say, Pfizer’s. Most importantly, criminalize any corporate behavior that supports a candidate or political party. The individuals can do whatever they want, but the collective financial horsepower of corporations is destroying individual rights and the power of the People. Force the politicians to come crawling back to the People for approval.
While we’re at it, anyone serving in a public office must divest him- or herself of all stocks and financial interests in corporations. I don’t mean put them in a “trust” or “foundation,” I mean sell them and be barred from owning stocks while in office. This alone will improve the quality and intentions of anyone seeking public office, and go a long way towards preventing them from profiting from their service.
You know, that reminds me that there should be a five-year hiatus after leaving office before someone can become a lobbyist or sell access.
These fixes are fairly simple, but have huge ramifications for the abuse of power and criminality that has come to define the US federal government. Repealing the three amendments alone would shake the System to the core and re-establish the authority and primacy of the People over their public organizations. The rest of the suggestions would systematically dismantle the crushing tyranny that has built up since Lincoln destroyed the Union.
Suggestions like Constitutional Conventions are dangerous. They throw the barn doors open and allow the livestock to run rampant. Repealing the three amendments takes away power by closing the barn doors and corralling the political herd. This also preserves the perceived benefits of the current System and affirms the Rights of States to conduct business in their own interests. Anyone who argues against this solution has a vested interest in tyranny.
There are many other issues that need to be addressed, but it seems to me that these first steps will solve a lot of problems without further effort. After the dust clears, we can assess the results and see what more needs to be done - like the death penalty for any public official that violates the Oath of Office and acts against the interests of the People.
Vacating Roe v. Wade was an excellent first step in dismantling the federal leviathan, but it was only one step on the journey of a thousand miles, if I may be allowed to scramble metaphors and allusions. It was a start in returning autonomy to the States and gutting the insidious centralization that has marked the post-Lincoln era, but we need a lot more.
We can begin simply by initiating a national movement for a 28th Amendment that does nothing but rescind 16, 17 and 23. It can be short, simple and unambiguous. This one effort would forever remake the US into a true Republic. We have clearly seen that electing this party or that, or this savior or that is a pointless exercise in futility. If we channel all the angst and hand-wringing into a non-partisan effort that returns significant power to the People and the States with a single sentence, we do not need to have faith in individual “leaders,” we will demand compliance with the Founding ideals and prevent ideologues from overrunning our precious liberty.
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