MY AGENDA

In my efforts to focus the American people on the need to consider amendments to the Constitution, I have stumbled on a number of patriotic folks who have their own agendas for saving the nation.

Many, perhaps most, of these have a decided tilt to the left or the right. That’s in the nature of politics, I guess.

But I have always believed that there are a number of common sense ideas that straddle the gulch between liberal and conservative; ideas that would have the kind of broad based appeal needed to win approval by a super majority of the states and of our fellow citizens.

I have been thinking outside the box for so long, I don’t even know where the box is. So, at the risk of finding out that nobody agrees with me, here are some of the constitutional amendments I have scribbled on foolscap over the years:

SUPREME COURT REFORM
The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of the nine current members and their successors who shall be appointed for terms of eighteen years, by the President, without Senate confirmation, from a list of five nominees selected for their learning, experience and temperament by the unanimous agreement of the Justices of the Supreme Court, no two of which nominees shall be residents of the same State or graduates of the same law school.

If the Court does not deliver its list of nominees to the President within seven days of the occurrence of a vacancy, the sitting Court shall be dissolved and replaced by Judges of the United States Circuit Courts of Appeals chosen by lot.

FINANCIAL REFORM
Any State shall have standing to challenge the constitutionality of a law, appropriation, or expenditure of the United States, and the courts of the United States shall have jurisdiction in such cases.

CONGRESSIONAL REFORM
Members of Congress shall receive an annual salary only during their terms of office equal to one half of the annual salary paid to the President of the United States, and no other compensation, benefit or retirement. The Congress shall pass no law exempting Members of Congress from the payment of a tax.

LEGISLATIVE REFORM
All bills in Congress shall be written in the English language, shall consist of no more than 4,000 words and shall address only one subject matter, which must be clearly stated in the title. No affirmative vote for any bill shall be cast or counted unless the Member shall have certified under oath that he or she has read the bill and understands it.

ENTERPRISE REFORM
The Congress shall make no law, nor authorize any expenditure of public funds to invest in, loan to, or subsidize any private corporation or enterprise by reason if its insolvency.

TERM LIMITS
No person shall be eligible for election to the House of Representatives more than six times, nor to the Senate more than twice.

IMMIGRATION REFORM
No person, not a legal resident of the United States, shall be eligible to receive any health, education or welfare benefit from the United States or from any State.

EXECUTIVE REFORM
The Congress shall make no law delegating its authority to declare war, impose taxes, borrow money or regulate interstate commerce to the President or to any branch of the Executive Department.

May not cure everything, but it’s a start.