Amendments

Following are my ideas for ten proposed amendments for Plan A, restoring the original constitutional design of our nation by reasserting a system of vigorous federalism, and removing most of the burden of our unconstitutional federal administrative state.

Perhaps we might call this a “Bill of Rightsizing,” as the amendments will allow the American people to downsize our federal government back to the right size that it was intended to be.

For discussion of the reasons why each proposed section of each amendment is needed, see Plan A and Plan B: How Conservatives Can Insist on Restoring Vigorous Federalism in Order to Save America, available at Amazon.com.

Italicized sections pertain to states, and therefore would likely not be able to be passed in the Convention of States effort currently underway.

1.   28^th Amendment: Departments

1. Congress shall have the power to establish or continue federal departments solely for the national and international functions of Defense, Treasury, Diplomatic foreign relations, Management of federal lands and properties, and for Congress’ own advice and service.
2. All other departments, agencies, independent agencies, bureaus, commissions and regulatory bodies shall be dissolved, with those functions provided for, if desired, by the several states.
3. The remaining authorized departments shall be greatly reduced and reorganized for solely the core permitted functions of each; officers from former departments may be redeployed if deemed necessary for those core permitted functions, according to recommendations agreed upon by three fourths vote by Congress.
4. All prior statutes establishing dissolved bodies are repealed upon ratification, and permitted functions may be reestablished by three fourths vote by Congress.
5. Any new departments, agencies, commissions or other government bodies may be established by three fourths vote by Congress and agreement of three fourths of state legislatures. Congressional advisory bodies may be established by two thirds vote by Congress.
6. To prevent harmful expansion of powers, all new department initiatives, goals, reorganizations, and interpretations of existing laws are subject to Congressional approval by three fourths vote.
7. All government departments, agencies or other bodies shall be wholly subject to Congress or to the President.

2.   29^th Amendment: Regulations

1. Congress and the Executive shall make no law or administrative rule regulating persons, businesses or groups, or defining criminal actions of persons, business or groups, excepting the crimes, narrowly defined by Congress, of treason as under Article III, Section 3, counterfeiting, piracy and felonies committed on the high seas or outside state jurisdictions, and offenses against the Law of Nations.
2. All other laws, regulations and crimes shall by defined by each of the several states, and shall govern only the actions of resident persons, businesses and groups of the state or actions committed within the state. States may voluntarily coordinate with other states to govern interstate businesses and to pursue criminals. State laws imposing barriers to trade between states are prohibited, and may be deterred by Congress, the Executive and the Judiciary.
3. States shall pass simple, reasonable laws acceptable to most residents that balance our laudable urge to prevent real, measurable, permanent harm to the natural environment we leave to future Americans, with the equal right of the People to flourish in industry and prosperity.
4. The national government shall not own or regulate land or land rights, except for the purposes expressly enumerated in Article I, Section 8, Clause 17, lands belonging to Indian tribes, designated as national parks, national monuments, or as congressionally designated wilderness as of January 1, 1976. Congress shall return or cede all remaining lands and land rights to the state in which it is located within ten years of ratification.
5. All Americans being created equal, and remaining equal in the eyes of the law, Congress, state and local governments shall pass no law or regulation preferring or discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin (of authorized residents), sex, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, or age (excepting minors). Nor shall governments enumerate any such groups, excepting national origin and immigration status.

3.   30^th Amendment: Welfare

1. Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment or continuance of welfare programs and spending, or grants to individuals, groups or non-profit entities. All such laws, if passed, shall be passed in each state for the welfare of the people of the state.
2. Social Security taxation and disbursals shall be continued in each state for as long as the state legislature elects to continue to participate; states may establish replacement programs to assume recipient payments or other humanitarian arrangements to ensure that the most vulnerable elder citizens do not suffer in poverty. General funds shall not be used to supplement the Social Security program, which must be self-funding through collections and disbursals via state treasuries; states may supplement payments as necessary for state residents.
3. Other scheduled disbursals for dependent impoverished individuals shall be reduced by 10% per year and wholly eliminated by year 10, and may be replaced by states. Grants, group and non-profit funding shall be ended immediately upon ratification.

4.   31^th Amendment: Subsidies

1. Congress shall make no laws favoring or aiding specific businesses or industries, including financial institutions. Subsidies, preferential laws, and non-uniform import and customs duties shall not be established, with the exception of direct purchases of military and governmental supplies and strategic military stockpiles.
2. Agricultural subsidies shall be reduced by 10% per year and wholly eliminated by year 10; all other business subsidies shall be ended immediately upon ratification.
3. If such inequitable subsidies and preferential laws are deemed by the people of a state to be necessary for the welfare of their state’s industries, they may be established by congressional representatives in that state.
4. To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, any securing of exclusive rights to Authors and Inventors shall last for limited times not exceeding ten (10) years in duration and shall not be extended for variations of essential similitude, in order to encourage new Works and Progress. State laws shall not supersede these limits.

5.   32^nd Amendment: Executive, Defense and Exit

1. The President and the Executive Branch shall make no law or administrative rule regulating or governing persons, businesses, groups or states, excepting those concerning the internal conduct and duties of the Executive Branch and President’s Officers, all of whom are employed by the President at will, and who shall not combine or organize in pursuit of their own interest against the people.
2. All external laws and rules enforced by the Executive Branch and its departments shall be passed by Congress, subject to restrictions in Amendments 29, 30 and 31.
3. The power to declare war, call forth militias, and send troops abroad is reserved solely to Congress upon three fourths vote. No soldier shall be sent abroad without direct and periodic consent. The President may call forth militias for defense in the exigency of attack by foreign belligerents on United States soil (foreign embassy properties excluded), attack by domestic belligerents on the Capitol and District, and to end domestic civil war between states.
4. The proper use of militia and troops is the defense of our land; defense of our national border from unauthorized entry shall be the foremost duty of all militia and troops. Excess bureaucracy and ancillary goals impede military effectiveness and shall be minimized through periodic reductions by Congress.
5. Honest friendship to all nations, enemy to none is the appropriate foreign policy for a nation confident in its sovereignty. Meddling in international affairs begets endless foreign wars that exhaust the blood and treasure of the People. Covert actions shall not be undertaken or funded; benign intelligence gathering may be permitted and supervised by Congress. Public scoldings of other nations cause poor international relations and in wisdom should be forsworn. Foreign aid payments to assist the defense of other nations shall be limited to a separate annual remittance amount agreed to by three fourths of state legislatures. Additional remittances or direct foreign humanitarian aid may be allocated collectively or separately by state legislatures, subject to state budgets and the will of the People of each state.
6. States may freely and democratically leave the union, without threat of civil war or other punitive measures, upon consent of two thirds of votes cast in secure popular state referendum. Militias and troops shall not be called forth against states intending to leave the union through democratic consent; forbearance toward such states shall be extended in response to incidental and non-state rebellious action. Upon exit, adjacent and other states shall negotiate fair access for trade, transport and defense. States shall maintain secure election systems that prevent fraud for all elections.
7. The rights of the citizens shall not be abridged or suspended during times of war or other exigencies; state executives may impose martial law during such emergencies for one period of three days; state legislatures may extend it for periods of one week, only as absolutely necessary. States shall pass no laws inhibiting the freedom of lawful residents to leave the state, or imposing taxes or punishment for exiting.
8. No national police force shall be established against the People; cooperation between state police forces shall suffice. The Department of Defense shall establish a separate bureau to gather intelligence about foreign threats on American soil, subject to strict civilian judicial oversight, and shall share all information with state police forces; any manipulations, entrapments or other Treasonous abuses against the liberty of the American people may be punished by Treason charges and state withholding of a portion of military funding remittances.

6.   33^rd Amendment: Budget

1. The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
2. Congress shall make no law providing for an income tax or other direct taxes on the people, on domestic businesses or domestic purchases, such taxes being the province of the several states; foreign-owned businesses may be taxed. Congress shall have the power to lay uniform customs and import duties not exceeding 25% of value, and unlimited foreign labor input taxes.
3. State treasuries shall remit additional funding to the federal treasury to provide, separately, for the common defense, foreign defense aid, debt retirement, and for the limited functions of departments permitted by the twenty-eighth Amendment, the limited functions of the Executive Branch as permitted by the thirty-second Amendment, and the limited functions of the Judicial system. This additional funding shall be remitted at a rate agreed upon between three fourths of the states, based upon the population tallied for representation and a just assessment of the requirements for a defensive capacity, foreign defense aid, and limited federal government functions. Remittances shall be paid before other state obligations.
4. The Treasury shall not issue new debt until negotiated balances of prior debt are repaid in full, from separate state remittances for that purpose, in annual amounts agreed upon by three fourths of the states. Thereafter, federal debt shall not exceed the sum annually received from state remittances, and shall be repaid in full within one year.
5. In the exigency of large-scale military attack by foreign belligerents on United States soil (foreign embassies excepted), new debt may be issued solely for financing necessary augmentation of a defensive response, subject to declaration of war by three fourths vote of Congress.
6. Federal spending shall not exceed revenues from state remittances and tariffs; if this occurs, salaries of members of Congress and managerial officers in all three branches shall be reduced by an equal percentage, sufficient to balance the budget. Any fines or financial penalties levied on US residents or businesses for crimes as permitted by the 29th Amendment shall be offset by deductions in state remittances, so that government shall not profit by criminal enforcement.
7. States shall have power to borrow on the credit of the state, to a limit of 50% of state gross domestic product. Borrowing shall not occur after that limit. No state, nor the union of states, shall be made to assume debts of bankrupt states. Bankrupt states shall be put under fiscal management of a consortium of the most sound states until such states become fiscally sound.

7.   34^th Amendment: Money  

1. Sound and stable money being the right of the People, any currency authorized by Congress to be issued by the Treasury shall be limited to a quantity not in excess of the immediate needs of the People for the currency. The monetary rate of inflation, as defined and measured by agreement between three fourths of state legislatures, shall average 0% over any five-year running period. Any central bank, periodically re-authorized by Congress, shall implement as its sole objective, this 0% rate of inflation; any deliberate deviations from it shall be deemed Theft from the People: Treason in the highest degree. The Treasury shall take necessary steps to return to a currency backed by gold, in adherence to Article 1, Section 10, while minimizing disruption to the economy.
2. The freedom of the People to use other currencies, or to hold or use gold and other precious commodities, shall not be infringed or taxed. Private, insured banks may issue currencies, subject to the inflation restriction and state regulations. State treasuries shall not issue currency; entities spending money cannot be trusted to freely print money.
3. Any central bank periodically reauthorized by Congress shall not set or regulate rates for lending and borrowing. All bank regulations shall be issued by state legislatures, which may coordinate with other states for ease of interstate banking. Banks shall maintain private deposit insurance and may establish voluntary lending consortiums to aid member banks during panics; no federal money shall be used for these purposes.

8.   35^th Amendment: Immigration

1. To balance the interests of the workers against employers, Congress shall establish a uniform rule of naturalization, admitting only sufficient new persons, in equal numbers of college-educated and non-college-educated workers, as defined by agreement between two thirds of states, to maintain an overall population growth rate of 1.5% per year. This rate may be changed by two thirds vote by Congress; high-immigration border states shall have two votes per representative and per senator in such decisions.
2. Congress shall secure the common border against unauthorized entry, through construction of secure physical barriers, deployment of US troops, technological monitoring, and verification of non-criminal status of entrants. If Congress fails to adequately secure the borders, border states may reduce their annual funding remittances by their costs of augmenting defenses.
3. Admittance shall not be revoked except for legally defined cause; all non-authorized persons shall be subject to deportation. Once admitted, law-abiding, productively-employed new persons shall be naturalized within two years.
4. Previously entered undocumented immigrants shall be naturalized within two years, upon verification of good character, absence of criminal history, employed status, and payment of all taxes and admittance fees owed. 

9.   36^th Amendment: Judiciary

1. The Judiciary, at every level, shall guard the traditional rights of the people as a bulwark against the weight and interests of government Officers, who cannot be impartial. State and local judiciaries may also guard the safety of the People from crimes committed against each other.
2. Any vagueness in the law shall be judged against increasing the scope and power of government; yet nor shall be construed as granting additional rights to the people; novel or infrequent uses of existing laws to prosecute the People are prohibited.
3. Equal application of the law, like cases treated alike, at all steps during the legal process and regardless of characteristics of the accused, shall be the highest principle of the Judiciary. Clear patterns of judicial bias undermine the trust of the People in the law, and thus shall be prosecuted as Treason against the People and Judiciary of the United States.

10.   37^th Amendment: Treason 

1. Any Officer of the federal government, including members of Congress, the Executive, and Justices and Prosecutors, who has willfully attempted, successfully or otherwise, or through directing private actors, to circumvent the Constitutional protections of the People, by ignoring Constitutional protections, by formally proposing or passing clearly unconstitutional laws or regulations, or by willfully attempting to use the weight of government power against specific persons or groups in contravention of the principal of equal application of the Law, or for personal or political bias, is guilty of inciting distrust of the People in their government, and shall be swiftly and criminally prosecuted to the maximum extent, in proportion to the power of the Officer, for the crime of Treason against the People and Government of the United States, and shall further be barred from holding any public office or position thereafter. Leniency shall be granted in the exigency of large scale military attack on the United States.
2. A Grand Jury to Guard the Rights and Liberties of the People of the States shall be established in the Judiciary, inferior to the Supreme Court, and consisting of fifty Representatives appointed by the Attorneys General from each state. This Grand Jury of the People shall swiftly (within thirty days of formal complaint) determine through two thirds vote whether a federal Officer is guilty of Treason for Section 1 actions, and shall recommend sentencing in proportion to the power of the Officer and the severity, proposed or successful, of the trespass. Their verdict shall be subject to equally swift review by the Supreme Court.

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