Proposals for a constitutional amendment.?

Question

Clearly, the US constitution, while has certain admirable qualities, simply isn't up to snuff for the 21st century as evidenced by: the electoral college, the 3rd amendment, etc. Here are some ideas that should be included in either one or more amendments, or via an Article V convention:
1. No electoral college. Two-round popular vote (where if one person wins in the first round, they become president, and if not, the two highest vote-getters go on to a run-off, where one side will, by definition have a majority).
2. Senate power reduced to dilatory/veto power (specifically, not requiring that bills pass the senate before they become law. The senate can temporarily block passage with a majority vote, and veto the bill with a supermajority vote, but thats it). The whole purpose of the senate is to damper the whims of the majority, not enforce the whims of the minority. Wouldn't the senate as described above be better at achieving that?
3. At-large representative elections. Instead of having gerrymander electoral districts, each state gets to vote for X number of positions (number of representatives), and everybody in the state has the same ballot. You cannot gerrymander an at-large district.
4. Constitutional authority vested in cabinet members. Today, cabinet members are simply the yes men of the president. Giving them actual power could impeded executorial overreach by president.
5. Term limits for members of congress. Seems simple enough
What say you?

Answer 1

I agree with only #1.

I have a few other ideas and most of them have little or nothing to do with your other proposals.



Create a schedule for when states may hold presidential primaries or caucuses. Prohibit any state from holding a primary or caucus before April 1, only allow small states (1 or 2 seats in the House) to hold them during April, only allow medium-sized states (3 to 10 seats in the House) to hold them during May, and make the largest states (11 or more seats in the House) wait until June.



Empower both the federal government and state government to regulate campaign financing. In other words, just section 2 of this proposal:

http://movetoamend.org/amendment



Repeal, re-write, and replace Section 1 of the 14th Amendment, to make its meaning narrower and clearer. I have already drafted a specific proposal to do this, and among my specific suggestions I would deal with eliminating gerrymandering by taking the power to draw the districts away from the state legislature and putting in the hands of independent redistricting commissions.

Answer 2

I support none of those with the possible exception of term limits.



Clearly you fail to understand the nature of a Federal Constitution for a Republic of Sovereign States.



Article 4 Section 4:

"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government..."







The only way I would alter the "Electoral College" is to adapt it to an already "constitutional" procedure.

That is "one state one vote" for President and that process is described in Article 2 Section 1 and Amendment 12. The winner of a State's election for President earns the State's single Electoral vote and 26 states are needed to be elected.



An Amendment to repeal the 17th amendment and restore States' government representation in the Federal government they created would be necessary to restore another important function of a "republican form of government" where "no popular majority" derived from a decidedly minor number of states can ram legislation through Congress that is undeferential to a majority of States even if that majority of states contains a tiny minority of people.



The Electoral College and the US Senate (before the 17th amendment) are intimately intertwined in fulfilling the guarantee of a "republican form of government".



"At Large" representation suffers the same maladies as the current structure of the Electoral College and the current way US Senators are elected where a handful of population centers would elect representation and most of the state's counties would be victimized for the benefit of few.



I prefer Cabinet members act only in an administrative function with no "power" over anyone but worthless bureaucrats in the Departments they head.

Answer 3

there's zero chance of #1. just zero. the small states are not going to allow the big states to dominate the US government.



number 2. also zero. same reason.



number 3. cumulative voting also required -- each voter may cast as many of his votes as he likes for any combination of representatives, including all his votes for just one. This assures minority representation if the minority so chooses. Preference for committee assignments shall be in order, within each state, of the number of votes received, ignoring party affiliation or length of service. Within any committee, the person who received the most total votes shall be the Chair. [aha! this limits the Speaker's power to pack key committees with his cronies.]



number 4. nope. instead, give either house of Congress [acting alone] the explicit authority to refer rules and regulations proposed by the executive branch directly to the courts for Constitutional examination. This may require creation of a separate Constitutional Court with no other duties -- appeals from this court would go directly to the Supreme Court [if accepted].



number 5. just reduce the pay to zero and limit the annual meeting period to 90 days unless called into emergency session by the President [which session shall last not more than 5 days]. Alternatively, terms limits could be accepted if the limit was 20 years in public service for all offices combined. [This would force office holders to have a civilian job that pays real money -- or they'd be poverty stricken.]

Answer 4

Politicians that are corporate puppets must be executed, preferably by way of the ling chi (https://www.google.com/search?q=ling+chi&client=firefox-a&hs=3iT&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=3hEpU-uPDMr4qAGQq4DQBw&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1536&bih=695&dpr=1.25#imgdii=_). The executions must be aired on all public media and mandatory for school children of all ages to watch.



Maybe then we'll get some people in office that actually represent the people.

Answer 5

We need an Amendment which defines marriage as being between a man and a woman. Let's bring some moral values back to America.

Answer 6

Wow, impressive thinking there, bub.