1- The states of the old Confederacy shall be kicked out of the union. States in the Oklahoma to North Dakota red band will be kicked out too. Ditto Alaska, Montana, and Utah.
2- All members of the Tea Party shall be put on an air transport plane and pushed out over Somalia. Parachutes will be available for purchase at double the actual cost.
3- All guns other than hunting weapons shall be banned. This band will be enforced by federal agents and gunpowder-sniffing dogs going door to door, violators to get life in prison.
4- All medical personnel will be federal civil servants earning a fixed salary. All health care will be provided free of charge to whoever walks in the door.
5- Income taxes and estate taxes will be raised dramatically.
6- Abortions will be legal and provided free of charge up to the second trimester. Third trimester abortions will be subject to review for medical necessity and consider the viability of the fetus.
7- The Pledge of Allegiance will be dropped from all schools.
8- Filibustering, presidential terms, and the Supreme Court will be left as is. Kicking out the backward states will solve governmental gridlock.
9- The minimum wage shall be doubled.
10- Importers of goods must provide documentation that the workers producing these goods are unionized and paid a good wage.
11- Right to work laws shall be repealed nationwide and not allowed to be replaced.
12- Teachers who give any credence to creationism shall have their teaching licenses permanently revoked.
13- All elections will be done with paper ballots that are saved in perpetuity. Same day registration shall be nationwide.
I won’t post my “platform,” which would be boringly tame compared with those posted here. (I’m bookmarking this thread for next time a Doper refers to me as liberal. :smack: )
A giant problem that needs to be addressed is political dysfunction. I’d like to see a many-year ban on government officials working as lobbyists, and of course an overturn of Supreme Court vs. Human Beings or whatever the name was of that court case that decided future elections will be decided by moneyed corporations.
I don’t see cosmetic procedural changes as key to solutions. Did someone upthread propose term limits on positions which don’t have them, while removing them on the position which does? :smack:
I have a question for Qin. With one exception, most of your platform seems quite liberal, certainly more liberal than most Democrats and totally opposite to Republicans(*). Yet, IIRC, you’ve described yourself as allied with Republicans. Is that single issue (abortion) enough to move you from the side of reason to the side of hypocrisy?
(* - When I write “Republican” I refer to the Party of the current post-rational era, not to the Party of Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt, neither of whom would have any stomach for the travesty GOP has begun.)
Countries that do not have the legal protections in our Constitution, which you seem to overlook whenever you find it convenient. And I note that you ignored my question about how to filter candidates.
I like this stuff. My key point is to end the unlimited terms, get turnover in the Chief Justice position, and end the mystery of which president gets to appoint. A lot of ways to do it, but these are important changes needed.
-National same sex marriage laws
-Tax incentives for jobs created here, and tax penalties for jobs transferred elsewhere
-Reinstatement of arts programs in schools partially funded by national lotteries
-If a bill is killed, the Congresscritters that killed it will be named
-Penalties for introducing bills that are blatantly unconstitutional
-Mandatory 2 year service in either the military, Peace Corps or equivalent in-country organization.
Stock options offered as compensation are fully taxable at above rates and cannot be exercised until 20 years after the holder has left the company.
No private company is “too big to fail.” Fuck’em if they can’t make a profit legally.
Corporate officers are legally liable for the actions of the corporation if it is found that they have acted illegally.
Churches are banned from all broadcast media in any fashion. No ads, no billboards, no “700 Club,” no nothing.
All government employees/elected officials are banned from any and all lobbying activities for 20 years following their tenure in government. Violators will have all their property confiscated and will be deported to Haiti.
Just for giggles, anybody who has made more than $3 million without actually making anything but money will have everything confiscated and be deported to Haiti.
That’s a little problematic. Laws are presumed to be constitutional until a court rules otherwise. Bills can’t be challenged in court unless/until they become law. Thus it would be difficult to assess a penalty for something which has not been held to be unconstitutional.
First Amendment–unless you repeal all charitable exemptions.
First Amendment
Boo Hiss
Boo hiss
Not horrible, but may have significant unpleasant consequences in some instances.
Not sure what you mean exactly, but appears to pretty much eliminate the point of incorporating.
First Amendment
First Amendment. Some length of prohibition is acceptable, and I think even exists today, though I am not certain. 20 years is just too long and unlikely to survive a challenge.
First, Fourth, Fifth, 8th and Fourteenth Amendments.
Qin Shi Huangdi Since your platform would inevitably lead to perpetual warfare and/or the destruction of the human race through world war i cannot in good conscious approve of it.
It’s a wish list. If I was God-Emperor I wouldn’t even bother with the pretense.
As for your objections:
How so? Maybe I was unclear. I’m proposing is that all churches pay income taxes, property taxes, payroll taxes, etc. just like any other business. People are free to give as much as they want to a church. That money will be taxed as income of the church.
Legislation could over-ride if crafted carefully enough. Or you just nominate pliable Justices when you get the chance.
3, 4, 5. Different strokes
The key is “acting illegally.” I see no reason to allow criminals to hide behind the pretense of “incorporation.”
We ban tobacco advertising. We ban or restrict condom ads. Same same for the churches.
Could be done if crafted correctly.
Adjust the tax rates then. Hedge fund managers and their ilk are a blight and need to be dealt with harshly.
You are wandering into threadshitting territory. If you want to post your own ideas or even offer reasoned critiques of other proposals, go ahead - but do that instead of “boo hiss” and mocking other posters.
I’d like to see a “right to vote” amendment added to the Constitution. Every adult citizen would have a presumed right to be able to vote and any exceptions would be subject to a strict scrutiny standard.
Borrowed from OP:
-Expand the number of seats in House of Representatives to around 800 (while reducing overall salary) and thus creating smaller districts.
This would get us off to a good start:
-Constitutional amendment to dismantle Federal Reserve over time and eliminate any dubious constitutionality of central bank
-Constitutional amendment removing general welfare clause, supremacy clause, necessary and proper clause. Rewording of commerce clause to limit regulation of commerce between states to guaranteeing free trade between the states.
-Balance budget in four years time and pass balanced budget amendment.*
-Repeal 16th amendment. Replace with fees for service and sales tax with rebate.*
-Repeal 17th amendment
-Abandon all foreign military bases and adventures.
-Withdraw Navy from agressive deployments in Asia and Middle East.
-Restrict CIA to intelligence gathering (eliminate subversion of foreign governments, drone war, etc).
-Remove all sanctions from every sanctioned country.
-Constitutional amendment requiring 3/4 vote of House and 3/4 vote of Senate for all foreign military engagements that do not involve an imminent threat.
-*A vote for foreign war will trigger a “War Income Tax” to finance all overseas adventures.
-Pass law mandating public hanging of any executive branch official who orders military engagement without 3/4 congressional approval. Eliminate all other capital punishment on federal level.
-Amendment to to end the draft.
Abolish all agricultural and industrial subsidies, and end the respective agencies that exist solely to dole them out.
-Unilaterally remove all barriers to free trade abroad. (no need for free trade pacts)
-Auction off unused federal lands
-Phase out social security and medicare over 20-30 years. Expand medicaid if necessary.
-On the state level my party would aggresively pursue nullification of federal laws that exceed the bounds of the enumerated powers.
