I’d add a Libertarian Amendment saying that the government cannot enact any laws to force an individual to do something for their own good. Gambling, drugs, deviant sex, and not wearing a seat belt should all be protected rights.
Another one for referendums.
We should also have confidence votes for incumbents midterm.
I don’t remember if this is in the constitution, but I’d limit SC justice terms to 8 years.
Oh, and the popular vote should decide electoral ties, not Congress or the SC. If there are ANY problems with voting/vote counting, the election will be done over in one week with an indepedent auditor present; armed forces if necessary.
Whereas I would amend the Constitution to acknowledge the religious heritage of the United States, while maintaining the First Amendment as is.
And a human life amendment which would allow abortion only in case of mother’s life or physical health, rape, incest or certainty of sever deformity
On the other hand, an explicit “right to privacy” amendment (I believe it is implied in the Constitution- I just don’t believe’s it trumps an unborn child’s right to life.)
And an adjustment to the 16th (Income Tax) Amendment, which would cap the progressive income tax & simplify the whole income tax code (not yet sure how I’d work that out)
And some sort of measure to break the two-party stranglehold on the electorial system.
Pictures. I would add pictures.
Pop-ups, or stick figure drawlings showing rights? Which one?
Personally, I would have 10 read: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. We are not kidding here. We really mean it. 
I would dump the present system of having incumbents draw up electoral districts and oversee election – a situation rife for fraud, as the Repubicans have repeatedly demonstrated in Florida lately (and the Democrats demonstrated before them in places like Chicago) and go with the system the U.S. now requires of other countries who wish to set up “free and fair” elections.
I’d dump the electoral college. Fuck those jokers in Rhode Island. The people need represenation.
Right to privacy to be enumerated specifically in the Constitution – carefully worded, as said.
Censorship except under very narrowly defined circumstances, to be declared a federal crime (assault on democracy) with a penalty of 10-25 years behind bars with no possibility of parole.
Right to bear arms enumerated in the Constitution, with carefully drawn limitations involving who can bear them (no crazies, no felons) and what kind of arms (sorry, boys, no RPGs or nukes for YOU!)
Oh, and Free Taco Tuesdays, of course.
- Instant runoff elections / eliminate electoral college
- Much more explicit separation of church and state. making it clear that there is to be no religion in gov’t, not just no gov’t in religion.
- Include a topless page 3 girl, to be “amended” to a new girl every month or so. And a page 4 boy, for the ladies and gay dudes.
I’d put a limit on the overall size of the government. Unless in times of dire emergency (ex: WWII) the size of all spending by the fed cannot exceed a certain percentage of GDP.
I’d argue for 10%, but almost anything, even capping it at current levels would be preferable to the constant growth of big government that continues year after year. Putting a limit would force congress to cut spending in one area before increasing it in another.
This is the constitutions biggest weakness, IMO, because the founders simply didn’t forsee the era of big socialist governments. If they had any idea of what was to come, they would have put language in there to stop it. Large, powerful government is it’s own kind of tyrrany.
Oh, and Taco should be free on Tuesday, but he can’t leave the state, and must wear an ankle bracelet at all times.
I’d throw in an amendment limiting the government’s use of eminent domain to property which will be genuinely owned by the public, and that should the government ever wish to transfer properties taken by invocation of eminent domain to private hands, it must go back to the prior owner or his/her heirs.
Argh!!! I see such stupidity in this thread!
Taco Ockerse is a German citizen. Your hatred of the 80s doesn’t make it right for you to attempt to impose your laws on him. Jerk.
I would add a clause that defines and defends the right of consenting adults to do whatever they wish in the privacy of their homes.
Another amendment that clarifies the distinction between religious marriage ceremonies and government recognized civil unions; the government will recognize a civil union between any two (or more, if you want to argue that point) consenting adults, while religious organizations may set their own rules.
An amendment that codifies childrens’ rights.
An amendment that limits corporate rights. Corporations should never have been considered fiction persons.
Part of the Constitution’s genius is its ambiguity on some key points, which gives it flexibility and the potential to be reinterpreted in response to changing times and crises. Yes, I believe in a “living Constitution,” interpreted with an eye to both precedent and common sense.
Much as I admire it, the Constitution could certainly stand some improvements, if we as a nation now wanted to reopen the floor for wholesale revisions. I suspect, though, that we couldn’t all agree, in these politically-charged times, as to how it should be changed, and we’d end up with pretty much the same Constitution we’ve had for years anyway. Which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing…
Anyway, here’s what I’d change:
- Clarify the First Amendment, esp. re: church/state issues, defamation, national security, electronic data, etc.
- Strike the Second Amendment in its entirety (woo-hoo, now I’m asking for it!)
- Create a right to privacy, incl. as to adult consensual sexual activity, and medical and financial information.
- Abolish the Electoral College and have the national popular vote be decisive.
- Provide that naturalized U.S. citizens would be eligible for any Federal office (including President) after 10 years of citizenship.
- Remove all references to those once considered to be “three-fifths” of persons for purposes of Congressional representation.
- Strip both of the Prohibition amendments. Needless clutter.
- Make clear that there is no right for any state to secede.
- Engrave Marbury v. Madison into the Constitution, making clear that the Federal courts have the power of judicial review and may strike down unconstitutional laws.
- I wouldn’t mind term limits for Federal judges - maybe 10 years, with the option to extend in 10-year increments upon renomination by the President and reconfirmation by the Senate.
- Have a catch-all voting rights clause that covers what numerous amendments have addressed: no poll taxes; those over 18, women and minorities may vote, etc.
Why do amendments if you are rewriting the constitution? Hell, put those puppies in the body of the text of the thing. 
I hope you are going to have a referendum vote (line item) by the people on your proposed additions though and not just incorporate them by fiat. It would be interesting to see what goes in and what doesn’t if such a vote were held (after a suitable period where both sides could lay out their positions on each item of course…maybe even a series of debates by folks with a clue. Hey, since its all extremely implausable and since most likely we are stuck with the constitution as is I can dream can’t I??)
-XT
Sorry, my post was sort of in response to phouka’s post. My bad.
-XT
Hmm … okay pie in the sky stuff, right?
No government official or agency, acting within the course of his or her or its duties, may express a preference for or grant benefits to a particular religious belief or for belief over non-belief. No exemptions from employment law, civil rights law, etc., on the basis of religious belief. Government funds may not be allocated to organisations whose missions include a religion-based goal, including private educational institutions.
All persons are guaranteed all necessary health care free of charge.
Government ensures a free, comprehensive, secular education for all persons up to age 18 and for those who desire to and qualify for advanced education.
Explicit right to privacy from government and from private and commercial entities, including employers and marketers. Including data protection, mandating, among other things, deletability of databases containing personal information.
Federalized voting system that mandates verifiable hand-marked, hand-countable paper trails and mandates no loss of intended votes.
Other electoral reforms (some as mentioned), including move to a New-Zealand-like proportional representation system.
Inviolate right to organize and join unions for any employee, including most of those now considered exempt. Employees should be allowed to join unions and claim rights whether or not their workplaces are unionized. Constitutional bar on anti-union activities by employers.
[Hijack]
I became curious as to how many federal judges have served more than 25 years.
On the US Supreme Court, we have:
26/108 (24%)
Samuel Nelson (27)
Edward White (27)
Bushrod Washington (30)
John Marshall (34)
William Johnson (30)
Joseph Story (33)
John McLean (31)
James Wayne (32)
Roger Tayney (38)
John Natron (28)
Samuel Miller (28)
Stephen Field (34)
John Harlan (33)
Joseph McKenna (26)
Oliver Holmes (29)
Edward White (27)
Samuel Nelson (27)
Willis Van Devanter (26)
James McReynolds (26)
Charles Huges (30)
Hugo Black (34)
William Douglas (36)
William Brennan (33)
Byron White (31)
John Paul Stevens (29)
William Rehnquist (33 so far)
[/hijack]
Clarifications:
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Make the right to keep and bear arms unambiguous (revokable, but only in case of felony conviction or due-process finding of mental incompetence).
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Explicitly state the process of judicial review used to determine whether or not a given law or executive action is Constitutional.
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Put a specific time limit in the Copyrights and Patents clause to limit infinity-by-induction extensions.
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Unambiguosuly limit that eminent domain to the creation of government-managed or public-accessible infrastructure.
Reforms:
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Require all laws and regulations to sunset in a reasonable period (on the order of a few decades). (The same law or regulation could be re-enacted if it passes the test of time. I’m willing to consider allowing some laws to be made permanent by supermajority vote after they’ve had a few renewals, to minimize administrative overhead on non-controversial ones.)
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Give judges a long fixed term (on the order of a few decades) instead of life tenure. This will prevent them from hanging on until the next election even if they aren’t really up to the job any more, and will make a majority of openings known in advance (i.e. before the election of the President and Senators who will fill them).
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Install some sort of countervailing force against the government’s tendency to keep growing. Debaser’s suggestion of a percentage-of-GDP cap has appeal, but runs into the question of how to avoid political monkeying with the measurement. A requirement of a supermajority vote to raise taxes, and perhaps a shorter limit (see item 1) on tax laws, would be harder to weasel around.
Oh, and I would give the government the power to restrict the carrying of firearms in public places, public accommodations, and other places open to the public for business or other purposes.
All persons of whatever origin, citizenship, or nationality held in the custody of government officials (through any means) have the right to public due process before the independent (Article III) courts or before international tribunals as required by treaty. Prohibit any kind of secret custody or rendition to other governments without public due process.
Explicit whistleblower protection, including anti-retribution rules.
Require the government to immediately publicize all documents and information as soon as they are created or become known, except those relating to private, personal information regarding individuals (with specific, narrow exceptions). Prohibit officials from preventing subordinates from giving government information to the public.
Set the bounds of what information can be held secret under claims of national security, defining that to mean information whose publicisation will cause immediate, foreseeable, lethal damage to persons or to the security of ongoing operations. Set a 12-month limit on withholding of such information from the public. Whether secrecy should be renewed a further 12 months must be adjudicated by an independent body.
Require all meetings or communications between lawmakers and lobbyists to be public (if necessary, by broadcast or webcast).