US Constitution, Round Two

As a nation, we're at a crossroads. Do we continue down our present path and destroy the country? Is it still possible to save the Republic?

Personally, I think the Republic is dead. In my fantasies, I see a practical way to save it, although not without a convulsion. My fantasy involves the Old Testament concept of Jubliee along with a rewrite of the Constitution

Every 50 years was Jubilee - slaves were freed, debts canceled and property returned to it's owners. Notes were actually calculated based on how many years remained till the next Jubilee.

The idea of a modern day Jubilee needs further development. Some thoughts I have are: It needs to be a one time event, and not just all debt, but the bankers themselves need to be thrown out in the process. The income tax, IRS and >95% of the Federal government goes as well. All federally owned land will be returned to the states. The states may keep such parks as could pay their own way, privatized, via tourism and donations. All other state owned land will be given to the people under the old homesteading laws.

We return to coining money, as the Constitution required. We abolish not only the central bank, but fractional reserve banking. (The one aspect of Islam I find appealing is their banking laws. It wouldn't hurt to model our laws after theirs.)

The interstate commerce clause needs to be tightened up if not eliminated altogether, and a good part of the Constitution needs to be made inviolable, as in no amendment or constitutional convention can ever deprive us of certain rights, or expand many government powers. On that list would be no federal or state income tax, ever. No VAT, ever. No property taxes, ever. No government debt, ever. No central banking, ever. No government involvement in schools, ever. As to regulation, government would be free to set standards but not enforce them. A company could voluntarily comply with the standards, if they and consumers found the standards appealing. The federal government could not directly regulate any industry - this would be left to the states. (I suspect that very little regulation would work far better than too much regulation has, and such is the most logical approach to try next.)

At any level of government, no new law passed can be more than three 8 1/2 x 11 pages long, one side only, and in standard 12 point type. Two existing laws must be repealed in order to pass each new one. No unrelated spending of any kind can be attached to another bill - every penny spent on pork must be voted on separately. Any legislator who cannot score at least 70% on the implications of a law he voted for may be executed on the spot, no bag limit. Legislators who vote for a program are individually and jointly liable for any of the program's cost overruns, which will be considered fraud under the law. Legislators serve without pay, and may not accept gifts. (Hmmm... Apparently Pelosi saying we need to pass health care in order to find out what's in the bill was the last straw for me!)

No fine can be collected without a jury trial, and charges must be dismissed if a fair and speedy trial cannot be provided. Fines cannot be used by any level or branch of government as revenue, and all fines will be donated to a church or charity chosen by the payor. No asset forfeiture, no eminent domain, no drug laws. No government run welfare programs will be allowed. No fees of any kind can be imposed by any level of government. State and local governments must run on sales tax alone, and the total sales tax that any American must pay cannot exceed 3%, including special districts of any kind.

I haven't fully considered how to deal with the federal crime mess, but I'd certainly eliminate most of the federal statutes and federal courts as a start. We could eliminate the SEC, for example, which has failed dismally at consumer protection. (The slight loss of revenue to the porn industry is a small price to pay!) Crimes can be dealt with by the states.

I would make a limited number of exceptions to this such as a fuel tax for roads, but not a cent of it would go to the Feds. It would all go to the states, or even directly to the counties. I'm not sure we need incorporated cities at all, for anything. The county can do it. All city facilities could be turned over to the counties and a lot of redundancy could be eliminated.

The one thing I can't figure out is what to do with millions of low-functioning humans who will be released from our welfare rolls and government jobs all at once. That just mystifies me. Best idea I have so far is to give them all some seed and make them stay home and grow gardens. Since they won't have a mortgage or taxes to pay, that would probably work out well enough. If they wished to relocate to a utopia such as Cuba where things already run according to their fantasies, they'd be welcome to leave. (Funny thing is, they'd be planting a subsistence garden when they got there!)

The truly needy - those with disabilities and handicaps who really need a hand would be well served by voluntary charity, as has always been the case in America. We're the most charitable nation on earth as it is, and this would just get better when citizens weren't being fleeced six ways from Sunday by government.

In our current climate, none of this is likely, even plausible. Sadly, barring a Jubilee type event followed by an immediate return to honest money and radically limited government I do think our only way out is forward through a collapse.

Thoughts???