My 4 Simple Amendments to Debug the Constitution

Here’s a summary of my 4 suggested amendments:

      1. States should have automatic legal standing to sue to block executive orders they feel are unconstitutional.  As it stands now, the 25 states suing to block Obama’s immigration executive orders had to show they would suffer money damages from Obama’s actions in order to gain the legal standing for a lawsuit.
      2. Congress should have to vote to approve or reject every regulation.  There could be a “fast track” procedure for regulations, that is an up or down vote with no amendments and no filibusters.  There should also be a provision in the amendment that any member of Congress can call for a roll call vote on a package of regulations after they have been formally presented to Congress and been waiting 120 days.  Once the privileged motion is made, the vote has to be taken immediately.

  3. The Supreme Court needs a check on it.  My idea is that the states should be the check.  If over half of the states’ legislatures vote for a minority Supreme Court decision within 2 years of the decision, then the majority opinion is overruled and the minority opinion takes force instead.  The Constitution is a contract between the states and the federal government.  This provision strikes directly at unilateral Constitutional change by 5 to 4 votes on the Supreme Court.  It’s far superior to term limits because it removes the decision.  However, it’s limited because the choice of alternatives is only the minority opinions in the same case.

  4. Any Balanced Budget Amendment ought to tie a balanced budget to asset sales and tie completed asset sales to a wage freeze on all federal employees until enough assets have been sold to offset the previous year’s deficit.   This means that nobody, including Congressmen, get more money salary, wages, office expenses or any other remuneration, than what they got in the previous fiscal year until enough assets are sold to realize enough to pay off last years’ rise in debt.  People who get promoted do not get promotional pay increases or bonuses.

A Constitutional Convention: The Revolution We Really Need

The revolution we need is a Constitutional Convention called by the states.  The Constitution is a contract between the states and the federal government.  The Constitution needs to be changed to make it harder for the Feds to act lawlessly, violating the Constitutional contract with the states.  When 2/3 of the state legislatures call for a Constitutional Convention, Congress must call one.  It's time to do so.

My suggestions for Amendments: The 25 states suing to invalidate Obama's immigration executive orders had to show damages to get legal standing.  States should have automatic legal standing to sue to block executive orders. 

Congress should have to approve, and the president should have to sign, all regulatory agency rules.  Congress should be limited to 120 days from the time the regulations are formally proposed to vote them up or down with no filibusters allowed.   

The Supreme Court needs a check on it.  If over half of the states vote for a minority opinion in a Supreme Court case, then the minority opinion should take effect. The Constitution is a contract where the understanding of the contract is set when the contract is signed.  The imposition of new meaning in a "living Constitution" removes the consent of the governed, who consented only to the original agreement.  To change the Constitution should require 3/4 of the states to ratify the change.  A 5 to 4 vote in the Supreme Court is not enough.

The revolution would also be some Constitutional mechanism to tie deficit spending to federal asset sales.  The federal government owns over $100 trillion in assets, mainly mineral rights and land.  Every deficit should be offset by mandatory federal asset sales.  Rather than having compound interest on the national debt kill us, wouldn't it be better to sell off federal assets to pay for deficits as they occur?  This would promote economic growth as well by transferring poorly managed federal assets to more efficient private management.