If she is elected President, Her Imperial Majesty Hillary I has promised to submit a Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizen’s United.  That decision, by the way, involved an independent filmmaker who was accused of violating campaign finance law by making a movie critical of Her Imperial Highness.

So, maybe it’s a bit personal.  (Haw.)

But that’s as may be.  Now, let me be plain; the drafters of the Constitution were brilliant men, some of the finest political thinkers ever; statesmen in the truest sense of the word.  But they weren’t perfect.  The Constitution they produced, while almost certainly the finest governing document ever produced, is likewise not perfect.  So I have a few amendments of my own I’d like to propose.  The goal?  To return us to a government run by citizens, not by a permanent ruling class.

1. Amend the Constitution to eliminate the direct election of members of the House of Representatives. Members of the House will be selected at random from a list of net taxpayers for each Congressional district, and will serve for one two-year term.  (Think of it as a sort of extended jury duty summons.)
2. Repeal the Seventeenth Amendment and return the selection of Senators to the several State legislatures.
3. Revise the Second Amendment to state: “The right of the people to keep and bear personal arms for defense of home, person and community shall not be infringed.”
4. Amend the Constitution as follows: “Members of the House of Representatives and Senate will serve one term and one term only, following which they shall be permanently ineligible for any Federal elected or appointed office.”
5. Amend the Constitution as follows: “Supreme Court Justices, once appointed, will serve one nine-year term. Terms will be staggered to allow for the appointment of one new Justice each year.  Following their term, Justices shall be permanently ineligible for any Federal elected or appointed office.”
6. Amend the Twenty-Second Amendment to allow the President only one six-year term. (This splits the difference between a single term as currently established, and the two-term limit defined by the 22^nd)  Following their term, the President will be permanently ineligible for any Federal elected or appointed office.
7. Amend the Constitution as follows: “The President, members of the House of Representatives and Senate and Justices of the Supreme Court will receive no pay, pension or other benefits from the Federal government following their terms of office.”
8. Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Enact the FairTax.
9. Amend the Constitution to limit the franchise to those citizens who have, within the last five years, filed at least three annual tax returns wherein the amount of taxes paid to the Federal government constituted a net positive amount. (If you don’t pay taxes, you don’t vote.)  Retirees who have maintained the three of five average over their working lives retain their franchise.

So what’s to gain by doing all this?  Here’s the list:

1. Return the country to a citizen legislature. No more permanent ruling class; no more careers in politics.  Professional politicians have been running things since the mid-1800s, and look where it’s gotten us – trillions in debt, an unmanageable Imperial monolith in Washington, and legions of professional pols enriching themselves at the public teat.  No more.  In the tradition of Cincinnatus, the ordinary citizens will once more be in charge.  When a President’s, Congressman’s or Senator’s term is over, they must go back into the private sector and earn an honest living – they will have no influence to peddle, no higher office to seek, no plush ambassadorial appointment to angle for.
2. Government by the productive. The last item will permanently eliminate the present system wherein every election campaign is an auction, where politicians compete to offer voters more and more of other people’s property.  Also, on the topic of taxes, Item 8 will eliminate payroll taxes and withholding from the tax system and require taxpayers to actually submit their tax payments as with paying any other bill; this will focus taxpayers much more on what the government does with their money.
3. Eliminate the Congressional campaign system entirely. Items 1 and 2 will be a “belt and suspenders” approach to the goal immediately prior to this one; the direct appointment of Senators will return the Senate to its original role of representing the State governments in Congress, and the random selection of Representatives will eliminate the costly, time-consuming and expensive process of campaigning.  In conjunction with goals 2 and 3, the Congress will now also be more focused on doing the people’s business instead of spending at least half their terms campaigning for reelection.  Ditto for item 6; no reelection for President, so the Chief Executive can focus on executing.

Thoughts?