There are clauses in the constitution for amending it bypassing congress and their inaction. We need to pressure our state governments to propose amendments and call a constitutional convention.
“Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (i.e., 34 of 50 states).
Amendments proposed by Congress or convention become valid only when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, three-fourths of the states (i.e., 38 of 50 states).”
Elections are coming up, if your state legislators won’t listen you can control that and vote in people who will. Individual states have different processes… look up the ones in your area. Keep in mind if you fail, we don’t need all states to propose amendments nor to pass amendments. Play the odds and work for the change, there are other elections coming up.
We need to propose some amendments and attempt to fix our government to work for us.
· I would think we should make everyone up for reelection on Date Y. We need to reset and have new elections (current officials should run). I think different political parties is good, we need choices, and we can vote on those differences. The parties now are just acting out of their historical norms. I would like to think that in the past, different parties were trying to work for America. Now politics seem like a grift, where they are all in on the joke, they perform Kabuki Theater to entertain their masses, where nothing gets done in a meaningful (since Obamacare) and control swings back and forth, but not enough control to change anything. Our system of checks and balances don’t work if we do nothing while there is no check and no balance.
· I think we should set minimum requirements for voting, number of polling stations per capita, etc... Part of the problem is people in one state, hear what another state does and thinks it is illegal/prone to fraud when it is just the other way the state does it.
· Ban trading of stocks from any member of our federal government above a certain level. They are literally making millions by investing in stocks in companies that they govern. This is not ok, but it is currently legal. They should have same penalties for insider trading if they tell family or friends.
· Yes/No question on whether or not abortion should be legal. This needs to be a binary choice and we move on. If you don’t like the result, work to change minds and vote again.
· Remove all congressional boundaries and get rid of gerrymandering. No party should be able to put their finger on the scale and get 65% of the seats with 40% of the votes. Design new districts fairly and move on.
· Our tax system is a little out of whack as the GOP signs a pledge to never raise taxes. We should study gas tax/corporate tax etc and tax accordingly. There should be options and we vote.
· A ban on guns within Xfeet of any government facilities without specific authority… No more people outside state houses with AR15s. It is protest not intimidate.
My opinion
Our systems are failing our citizens. Our systems are not being applied equally to all citizens. We need to change them and try to do better. If we have internal biases, we need to recognize them and try to remove them from equation. Information can be analyzed and adjustments made.
I think the age to buy a gun should be raised to 21. I think a limit on the capacity of magazines is reasonable. I think all gun sales get a background check, and we should have a gun database tracking the flow of possession. But we can see what states propose, and what people support. I do not think guns should be banned. I think a lot of people are looking at this with no real information, a mistaken idea of the past (we never banned assault weapons, we banned features on rifles which the manufacturers got around), and an inaccurate opinion on how things should work. I don’t understand why we don’t have experts look at the problem and come up with some options for us to consider and vote on.
Immigration is necessary, the question is how many? We cannot move forward with things like universal health care, expanded education if we don’t secure our borders. We cannot say “Free education for all” and not think that we need to limit our benefits only to our citizens at this time. We can expand it if we can. I am sure we will have to build some walls, I am sure there are areas where a wall is not needed. I don’t understand why we don’t have experts look at the problem and come up with some options for us to consider and vote on.
Debt. I would like to hear what our plans for the National Debt is. Most of us have never lived when our government wasn’t borrowing money nonstop. If you thought Clinton did, you should read up on that. I don’t understand why we don’t have experts look at the problem and come up with some options for us to consider and vote on.
I think we should repeal the 22nd Amendment and see if Obama will run for his 3rd term. I like some of the younger politicians, I liked Crawford and his drive to overcome obstacles… I don’t like the way he got into office, but I admire him personally even though we disagree politically. Long term we need to understand that just because someone thinks one way politically, they are not a pedo grifter.
It really seems like things that used to “go without saying” are now at the point where we need to say. Like I get you love Trump… can you not see how jarring it is for the norms he smashed? He literally had his daughter and son-in-law be government officials while they made millions from foreign governments. To try to frame it, this would be like Hunter Biden becoming an “advisor”, drawing a paycheck of 100k plus that we pay for and making millions from foreign governments. You wouldn’t be ok with that, and that is why some are not ok with what occurred under Trump.
I will go on, but this is enough for now.
So many things plaguing our country and we have the tools to fix things. I always chuckle when people are like “there is nothing we can do”… they are so wrong, the question is what will we do.
