Con-Con

Our Federal Government is out of control. 

They are taking more and more power to themselves. The real problem is, our government is ran by human beings who are all subject to the temptation and greed for power that all human beings are subject to. There is no way on earth they will give that power up voluntarily.  

 

So we need to force them. 

 

 The best way to do this, of course, would be to elect people to office who want to pare the government down, but, unfortunately, these people would also be humans. After a while most "small government" people get corrupted by the system too. 

 

 So what do we do? 

I have heard call for a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con). I see this as incredibly dangerous. The odds of us coming out of such a thing with anything short of tyranny-by-committee (socialism) are incredibly slim. But the truth is we are about there anyway, so what do we really have to loose? Could we use a con-con to strip the feds back down to what our Founding Fathers originally intended?   

 

Maybe. 

 

 We already have a Bill of Rights in our Constitution. I would like to see a Bill of Power Limits come out of a con-con:  

• All bills must be on no more than one, 8 1/2x11" sheet of paper. There is no reason for any issue to take more room than that, other than to confuse and obscure. If they can't get it all on one paper, break it up into two bills or use smaller words.  
   
  No bill may contain more than one subject. No more pork added to get someone votes. 
   
  No congressman gets a penny of pay until the budget is passed. All budgeting will be done with the same, straight type of bookkeeping normal people and businesses use, not the current type that is incredibly deceptive.
    
   
  Congress will no longer be allowed to meet in person. Currently, if you are elected to office you must move to the DC area, by a new house, change your life. These are the richest zipcodes in the country! Once in office our representatives loose all contact with the very people they are supposed to be serving. 
   
  There was no choice to do it any other way when this country was founded. But today we have the technology that (for less than it costs to fly all the reps to DC!) all meetings and sessions could be held over the internet. Representatives should be required to keep living in the district they were elected by. This would force them to stay in touch with their voters and live in the mess they create. (Credit Rush Limbaugh with this idea)
   
  And national security would be easier to boot! Whose idea was it anyway to put every important person to government in one building??? Spread them out! At least make the terrorists pay for 50 bombs to off them all instead of 1! 
   
  All congressmen must vote on every bill with the record being totally public (no voice votes). And they are required to prove they have actually read the bill. This is just plain morality. 
   
  Of course, our Constitution already says that "All (hu)men are created equal." This means that ALL laws apply to EVERYONE equally. But maybe we need to reinforce that with a statement that congress must obey any law they pass- no exceptions.
   

  Term limits (1 term for senate, 2 for representatives). This would keep congress filled with people who live in the real world, not political fairy land.
   

  Congregational pay should be 400% of the Median income (the number where half of America earns less and half earns more- about $51,00 right now.) This would include all bennies and they would have to pay all aids out of their own pocket.Right now, each congressman has an unlimited number of aids, each paid for by the taxpayer. So congressman's kids, spouses, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc all get pay checks IN ADDITION to what the rep gets himself. This is wrong. I think he may have all the aids he wants/needs as long as he pays for them out of his own salary.
  
  Since politics would no longer be a permanent career, there should be no retirement package. Period.

  
  

  Vouchers. We have all become dependent on the gove in many different ways. It would be fatal to just remove that dependance all at once. So instead, each area that the feds have taken over that they have no Constitutional authority to touch we need to offer ALL citizens a voucher, gradually reducing the amount until we are weaned off the Federal teat. This would include:

  • Energy programs
  • Healthcare (employer requirements should be removed to put the purchasing power back into the hands of the customer where it belongs, not some human resource officer.)
  • Education
  • Retirement
  • Farm subsidies
  • Business bailouts/incentives/subsidies
  • etc

  
  

  The elderly would have the same purchasing power working people would have. They wouldn't need medicare. 

   

  Parents could send their children to the school that is best for the their own kids. 

   

  (EVERY industry ANY government in history has touched has had skyrocketing prices and plummeting quality. Medical cost began rising in this country at the same time the government became involved in insurance (medicaid, medicare) and we are seeing the same thing happen to education. There is no reason EVERY child in this country cant receive a private education, and it would be cheaper to boot!)

  
  

  
  Social Security should be privatized (voucherized). As it stands now it is a pyramid that is fixing to fall because we are just not having enough babies to keep it right-side-up (1.8 babies for every 4 grandparents). But if we gradually moved to giving each person an account in their own name where they controlled their own retirement everyone would have the chance to have a much better retirement. I think it's Chili that has begun this and is having great success! The real problem is disability, but I haven't figured out how to solve that yet:-)
   
  Parental and Patient rights. All individuals and parents have the right to contol their own and their children's education, medical care, etc. No exception except when sever abuse is proven in a court of law.
  
  English only- definitely. that was settled at the founding of the country and shouldn't even be an issue now.
  
  

  The Federal Government is only ALLOWED to do what is specifically named in the Constitution. This is already in there, actually, but needs to be restated. Also, if you read the context of every "common good" statement in the Constitution (the phrase used to excuse the gov doing anything it wants) it is obviously reffering ONLY to national defense (not welfare, healthcare, education, etc.). That needs to be clarified.
  
  

  "Do all you agree to do" 
  "Do not infringe on the person or property of others." Politicians should take an oath of honesty before they take office. Than any lying, stealing or hiding facts is breaking the first law and deserves prison and loss of all benefits. Period. Course this should apply to all citizens:-)
  
  The Right to Life for EVERYONE should be reaffirmed by extending it to the unborn. If we do not protect the weakest among us we can not expect protection for the rest of us.
  
  Atheism is a religion. This should be acknowledged in order to stop the current take over of that religion in this country.
  
  The government should be forbidden to have anything to do with marriage, one way or another. Why are they involved in the first place? Of course, its because of social security benefits. They need to know who to send the widow's check to. But if we replace SS with private retirement this becomes a non-issue, government wise. Each person appoints whoever they want to get their benefits when they don't need them anymore. 
  
  Same for custody of orphaned children. Parents could appoint this before each child is born. It's not the government's business. Removes a whole lot of problems by just getting the gove out of the wedding business in the first place.
  

  
  Eliminate the FDA. It is so full of cronyism you can't believe a word they say anyway. There are more than enough private organizations and charities doing research and we all have access to it all through the internet now that we don't need Big Brother Doctor telling us what is good and what is bad.
  
  In fact, we need to get rid of cronyism all together. The vast majority of laws that are passed "for the consumers good" are really passed to reduce competition. I don't know exactly how to word this, but it needs to be done.
  
  What else should be added?