In this issue I will discuss what changes I want to see done to the Constitution. I will limit mine to 3 topics however: term limits, national debt, and the federal bureaucracy. Let's begin.
Term Limits: The term limit issue is popular and it is also important. We already have had Presidents in their final terms of office break their promises and do what they felt like as they no longer where beholden to the electorate to be re-elected. As such, this mistake cannot be repeated in the instances of the Congress who do need term limits. So how should it be done? For me, I would first increase the terms of the members of the House of Representatives to three year terms instead of the current two year term. My purpose here is to have 1/3 of the body being changed every single year so that the people can react faster to an obtrusive or tyrannical leaning government. But what does this have to do with term limits you ask? Well, I would limit the House of Representatives to three full terms, but they cannot be consecutive. So a member of the House would be able to serve a total of nine years, but because it is not consecutive they would be forced to leave congress for 3 full years (or run for an entirely different office). This ensures that they will still be beholden to the people because they will want to be re-elected later and also interferes with lobbyist keeping their pet politicians in office.
As to the Senate. I would keep the traditional six year term, but limit it to two terms again not being consecutive. This again has the same advantages of protecting against elected officials ignoring their constituents and hurting lobbyist efforts of making more pets out of politicians. I would like to see the State legislatures choose the Senators instead of the direct method used by the people now so as to protect State interests from Federal overreach as well. This method of being chosen by the State legislatures was overturned by the 17th amendment in an effort to create a purer democracy, but if you are a student of history you will know that pure democracies are 100% unstable and prone to mob rule. By returning the decision to the State legislatures it also provides opportunities for a swifter recall as the State legislatures could recall Senators (pre 17th amendment) if they failed in their duties or went out of control (I am also open to recall votes for members of the House of Representatives by the people as well).
Debt: We all can agree the national debt is a major security risk and needs to be addressed. So I believe a balanced budget amendment will be the best way to solve this issue. The balanced budget amendment I have in mind is very simple. It would require that the Federal Government cannot spend more money than it takes in via tax revenues. Yes it is that simple. The government cannot spend more than what the tax payers give it. I specify tax revenues because the idiots at the Federal government also include loans to the Federal government as part of income. Separating the debt from revenues is a must. Also, an additional provision will be added that dictates that all interest on current debt must be paid first before all other spending each and every year. This insures our current debt goes down. However, being able to issue debt is an important function. So bonds issued to the people will still be allowable under this amendment and used specifically to fund government and cannot be used in other ways. Money left over from the budget and the bonds will be used to pay off any additional debts the Federal government has incurred. There is an issue here though, as government may need to incur additional debt beyond what they get through savings bonds. So the only way they can burrow from a foreign country or private bank (or other private institution) beyond private individuals is in specific circumstances. Those circumstances will be limited to Congress declaring war on another country (no exception) and a State of emergency declared by the Governor or State legislature due to a natural or man made incident. In this instance, the money burrowed is restricted to funding the war or the place where that the State of emergency has been declare, with any money left over being returned to pay off the debt. This prevents any abuses by the government that could result from this provision and makes it harder to put the nation in debt.
Federal Bureaucracy: Here is something simple. I would limit the Federal government to four key institutions and specify their powers. Those four are the Treasury, department of State, department of Defense and finally department of Interior. Each one will have a unique and specific role specified in the constitution and that no other institutions would be allowed to exist outside of these departments with their abilities not exceeding beyond what is specified by the constitution save for amendments being added that would change or alter their roles. All other components of the federal bureaucracy would vanish or be given to the State and local governments respectively.
Conclusion: There are plenty more changes that can be made or even these ideas can change form. Much needs to be done before an amendment can even be passed and even that is no guarantee. All I can say is that all ideas need to be discussed and vetted to ensure that any changes if any are done to the Constitution are done responsibly.
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