Originally Posted by Sled Dog Originally Posted by

Two thirds of fifty is THIRTY THREE.



As of now, the Americans control both houses of the legislatures of THIRTY THREE states, and one or the other house of three others.



Note that the Article states "on the application of the legislatures". The GOVERNORS of those states are irrelevant. They don't get to veto these petitions.



Is CONGRESS going to vote out a Term Limit Amendment to the states for Ratification?



Of course not.



Is the Congress going to vote out any kind of Balanced Budget or Line Item Veto Amendment to the states for ratification.



Don't be silly.



But now "We the People" have a chance. We need to seize this chance. Actually, you people do. People imprisoned in California can only cheer you patriots on.



Here's what you people need to demand in the line of Amendments:



Election Reform Amendment

Voter ID is only part of it.



It should also require automatic removal of the dead from the voter rolls, with, of course, notification to address of record to allow the non-dead to correct mistakes.



Elections happen on ONE DAY. Can't make it, tough noogies.



Yeah, the Constitution makes elections the property of the states.



The purpose of an Amendment is to change the Constitution.



Budget Process Reform Amendment

"Balanced Budget" is a dangerous term. I can balance ANY budget if I can tax the piss out of people. Call the process instead Fiscal Maturity and Constitutional Awareness.



"Budgets" are, for any family or sane business, an admission of what receipts are and what outlays need to be, with outlays prioritized. So a family will put "groceries" and "housing" and "medical insurance" above "movies" on their priority list. Congress hasn't prioritized budgeting since the passage of the 16th Amendment. Why bother, when they can just take all the money in the country with a phone call and a swipe of a pen?



So, the Amendment's Fiscal Maturity Clause should require the Congress to first classify and prioritize funding. I don't know, make it three classes, "National Defense", "Government Maintenance" and "What's This Shit For?".



"National Defense" is clearly defined, and should require a simple majority in both houses to allocate funds to and authorize programs.



"Government Maintenance" is clearly defined in Article I, Section 8. If it ain't there, don't fund it. But funding those programs that fit should require a three-fifth's vote in both houses to pass.



The WTSF fund is for nice things a Congressman might want that isn't actually covered by the Constitution. These should require a 9/10 vote to pass, with the additional burden that the authorizing member will have this item flagged on their ballots when re-election time comes around....and the spending cannot happen until after the next election.



Now comes the Constitutional Awareness part.



Each spending bill, EACH line item, MUST include a statement that "this item complies with the requirements of Article I, Section 8. Note that "general welfare" is NOT a clause and does not grant any spending authority whatsoever.



And you'll notice I didn't create a class called "Natural Disasters". Congress should not be allowed to fund itself. If a state has a pending natural condition, earthquakes in CA, hurricanes in FL, blizzards in NY, floods in MI, then those state legislatures have the responsibility to set aside funds to cover the expected costs of such disasters. Clearly someone who does not live in CA has no reason to carry the burden of recovery from something as predictable as an earthquake. The Federal government does not seem to have any authority in the Constitution to spend money on that sort of charity.



BUT....we'd never get any Amendment from the states saying "look bitch, I didn't tell you to move to California, pay for your quake and I'll pay for my blizzards"...so we'll just stay silent on the matter of natural disasters for now.



Line Item Veto Amendment

A LOT of the looming budget disaster could have been avoided if the President could isolate individual spending items and write "Bullshit" across it...er "Veto" specific items. That would ELIMINATE the current practice of lumping EVERYTHING into "must sign" ominus omnibus bills that are larded with so much pork that even Rosie O'Donnell would be embarrassed.



And, naturally, the particular item vetoed could be restored by the usual 2/3 vote in House and Senate. So, no, there's no "dictatorship" in restoring the power of the president to say "are you people nuts?!".



Judicial Reform and Term Limits Amendment

The courts have too much power, with zero accountability to anyone. Time to restore some balance to the system.



The Congress should have an opportunity to check the courts. Currently there is none. So the Congress should be able to reject a court ruling with a 2/3 vote in each house.



The States are often adversely affected by stupid court rulings. The state legislatures should have the opportunity, via simple majority vote of 2/3 of the states, to reject court nonsense.



Appointments for life has proven to be a disaster, time to put term limits on the judges. Eighteen years for USSC, nine years for lower courts. Also limit the number of judges on the court to nine.



Congressional Term Limit and Income Limitation Amendment

No reason for any "public servant" to serve forever. Four terms in the House, two terms in the Senate, no more than a total of 12 years lifetime combined elective office in the Legislature.



How does someone required to maintain a residence in the district that elected them AND a residence in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country manage to leave office a multimillionaire on a $174000 salary?



Limit their access to cash in some manner. Or maybe just grab it all when they leave office. But something must be done. Y'all can think on it.



Federal Program Re-Authorization Amendment

All federal programs should be reauthorized by a simple majority vote, on an individual basis, at the start of each new Congress. No presidential signature required.



Simple enough. Program A was first created in 1976. Nobody's voted to keep it since. The people that wanted it are all dead. Should be vote to see if we still want it.