PART VI: FURTHERANCE OF THE AIMS OF THIS CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 1: AMENDMENTS TO THIS CONSTITUTION
Section 1: The Manner of Amending this Constitution
Subsection 1: The Procedure for Amending this Constitution
[1] Whenever three-fifths of either…
1. both Houses of Congress;
2. the several States, decided in each State by any of the following methods:
A. A simple majority of all Houses of the State’s Legislature;
B. A simple majority of a Boule of 500 citizens randomly selected throughout their State from its voter registration rolls;(modeled on an Athenian Boule)
C. A simple majority of the voters by ballot initiative. 6% (I require 5% for normal initiatives, so this should be tougher) of the registered voters in every Congressional Representative District
of a State must agree to put the amendment proposal on the ballot;
…agree generally on a proposal for an Amendment to this Constitution, they shall assemble for the purpose of determining the specifics (which, if proposed by the second method, shall take place at a Convention in the first State which proposed it, with two delegates chosen for each State by members of the body [Legislature, Boule, or Initiative] which approved the proposal for that State [the two delegates from an initiative being elected on the same ballot as the initiative], (Why? So legislators or other potentially inimical interests can’t poison the process)
and must concern only the proposal it was called for: new topics or amendments may not be proposed), and they shall approve the final language by a three-fifths vote (of both Houses of Congress, if by the first method, and three-fifths of the State delegations, if by the second method. If the final language of the amendment was already approved by three-fifths of the States in the initial proposal or ballot initiative, then a Convention shall not be necessary), and then it shall be sent to the several States and shall be preliminarily ratified after two conditions are met:
One, two-thirds of them approve it, with each State able to do so by using any of the following methods:
1. A simple majority of all Houses of their Legislature;
2. A simple majority of a Boule of 500 citizens randomly selected throughout their State from its voter registration rolls, who shall not be the same Persons as those chosen to agree on the proposal;
3. A simple majority of those voting in a ballot initiative placed on the same ballot as for the general federal election for that year;
Two, the number of Representatives in Congress of the States approving the amendment exceed fifty percent of the total number of Representatives.
If approved, a referendum shall be sent to the States, and if in the next general federal election in the calendar year following preliminary ratification (so the people have time to consider it) a simple majority in each of two-thirds of the several States approve it, and the number of Representatives in Congress of those approving States exceeds fifty percent of the total number of Representatives, the amendment shall be considered finally ratified and be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution; Should the amendment fail to be approved, the same or a substantively similar amendment shall not be reproposed before 10 years have elapsed;
(A boule is equal to a State convention in the current Constitution. An amendment proposal must involve at least 3/5 of the States regardless of population to ensure it is of a national character and not simply a few large population States trying to impose their will. If many of the States DO have small populations, it is no big deal because I require ratification to include not just 2/3 of States, but that those States involved exceed half the national population, so an amendment can’t be imposed by a minority on the majority. The time frame of the process is drawn out to give the people time to think about what they are doing [and have buyer’s remorse in advance] so they don’t do anything rash. Initiatives allow the People to do an end run around the Congress [and States]. I insist that everything be approved by voters in some way. This prevents corrupt and/or unpopular amendments [like the income tax or prohibition] from
being passed. Finally, a Convention must concern only the topic it was called for, preventing it from going “runaway.”)
Subsection 2: Scheduled Constitutional Conventions
Every twenty years, the States shall assemble at a Convention to propose Amendments to this Constitution concerning and limited to the following on a rotating basis: The Legislative Branch, all Custodial Branches, the Executive Branch, the Judicial Branch, and then the States/Counties/Municipalities, so that a cycle shall repeat every 100 years. Those proposals approved by a simple majority of the several States at the Convention shall then be sent to all the States for ratification in the normal procedure for amendments;
(Why does a convention need to be called? Why not schedule them automatically? This could be a peaceful version of Jefferson’s call for every generation to have a revolution.)
Subsection 3: Placement of the Text of the Amendment into the Constitutition
If an amendment modifies an area of text, the relevant text shall be changed, and if the amendment proposes something new, it shall be inserted into the relevant section(s), for ease of reading. The amendment and the changed text shall also be inserted at the end, for historical record. (Same as Texas’ Constitution.)
Section 2: Unamendable Provisions
The following provisions shall be unamendable:
(I was going to have a separate class of amendments for “money matters” considering the terminal financial condition we are in, but a simple structural amendment will work for
most things. Some things are absolutely prohibited from being changed, hence this section.)
[1] No rights enumerated in Article I may be rescinded, or have their traditional meaning changed by a Judge, The People, or anyone else;
[2] There shall be no representation without taxation or responsibility. Therefore, citizens get one vote, the indigent lose their vote for the duration of their condition, and felons as determined by Law;
[3] All revenue devices must be indirect, uniform, predictable, and not excessive or retroactive. No taxes may be on the income of individuals or organizations, or their assets. Revenue devices shall be as avoidable as possible for each individual person;
[4] Money shall only be borrowed for declared war;
[5] Money shall only be borrowed by the Federal Government;
[6] No private debt shall ever be guaranteed by any government (except Citizen’s subsistence);
[7] The money of the United States must be backed by precious metal, or other valuable commodity;
[8] All Moneys must be disbursed by a Comptroller, who must refuse to pay for any extraconstitutional appropriation;
[9] Money earned by the Mint shall not be disbursed in less than every twenty years;
[10] The loser of a lawsuit shall pay the expenses of the winner;
[11] Unions shall be strictly private sector, and no government Department, in any branch at any level, or its (sub) contractors, shall be unionized;
[12] A well-educated populace not indoctrinated by government, necessary to the security of a Free nation, all primary and secondary schools shall be privately owned, operated, and controlled.
[13] No State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage for any Constitutional Amendment, or for any other purpose;
ARTICLE 2: IMPLEMENTATION AND SCOPE
All laws not inconsistent with this Constitution shall continue in force until they expire by their own limitation or are amended or repealed, and all existing writs, actions, suits, proceedings, civil or criminal liabilities, prosecutions, writs, judgments, sentences, orders, decrees, appeals, causes of action, contracts, claims, demands, titles and rights shall continue unaffected except as modified in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution. All officers filling any office by election or appointment shall continue to exercise the duties thereof, according to their respective commissions or appointments, until their offices shall have been abolished or their successors selected and qualified in accordance with this Constitution or the laws enacted pursuant thereto. The President shall submit to the Congress a plan for the reorganization of Executive Departments to further the ends of this Constitution as stipulated in Part IV, Article I, Section 13 [7].
(I stole much of this from the Model State Constitution. [en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_state_constitution].)
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be valid; This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme and only (Yes, ONLY. I don’t like what I see in England with them allowing Sharia law to exist in parallel with British law.) Law of the Land. All officials in every level of government shall be bound thereby, any Thing in this Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding. Senators and Representatives, Chambermen, Members of the several State Legislatures, and all Primary and Custodial Branch Officers, of the United States, of the several States, and of the Localities, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.