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December 08, 2003
Amendments
Citizen Smash's open thread today asks the question:
If you could add one amendment to the US Constitution, what would it be?
Well, I couldn't limit myself to one... and I'll bet I could come up with more:
"The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed."
No income tax. Congress would have to come up with some other scheme to raise the money they use to
buy votes fund programs.
"No person who receives a paycheck or largess from the federal government, or the same from a non-governmental entity funded 50% or more by the federal government, shall be entitled to vote in elections for federal offices."
Ya, that'll make a lot of people unhappy... people from all over the political spectrum.
[Update: yes, the second was meant to be tongue in cheek, but I suffer from the handicap of already knowing what I mean to say and how I mean to say it. Thanks, Charles, for pointing this out.]
Posted by Russ at 06:08 PM, December 8, 2003 in Politics
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Depending on how you interpret your last proposed amendment, you can cut out a lot of people like me. Are you sure it's a good idea to bar contractors from voting? Some of us do what we do for more than a paycheck. Oh, and you are also excluding every member of the military from voting, which seems quite wrong.
Posted by: charles austin at December 10, 2003 06:52 PM
Bearing in mind that it was originally meant tongue-in-cheek (and that the other proposal is totally serious)....
The prime goal, of course, is to prevent Social Security recipients, welfare recipients, federal government bureaucrats, etc., from voting themselves pay raises by electing politicians who promise more spending and pork.
Ya, there are problems there... maybe a military exemption would be in order. It is self-evident that military people are NOT in it for the money.
OTOH, I would be willing to consider a Heinleinesque scheme wherein only veterans [broadly defined - read "Starship Troopers"] are allowed to vote.
The real problem is the current system of vote buying by a nearly-permanent class of politicians who rarely face serious re-election opposition. And for that, I don't have an actual serious answer that I think would work.
Posted by: Russ at December 10, 2003 08:01 PM
I'd probably go with fixing the bug in the 2nd amendment.
Posted by: Anthony Alford at December 11, 2003 12:56 PM
Imperial Department of Hegemony By Force
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Comments
Depending on how you interpret your last proposed amendment, you can cut out a lot of people like me. Are you sure it's a good idea to bar contractors from voting? Some of us do what we do for more than a paycheck. Oh, and you are also excluding every member of the military from voting, which seems quite wrong.
Posted by: charles austin at December 10, 2003 06:52 PM
Bearing in mind that it was originally meant tongue-in-cheek (and that the other proposal is totally serious)....
The prime goal, of course, is to prevent Social Security recipients, welfare recipients, federal government bureaucrats, etc., from voting themselves pay raises by electing politicians who promise more spending and pork.
Ya, there are problems there... maybe a military exemption would be in order. It is self-evident that military people are NOT in it for the money.
OTOH, I would be willing to consider a Heinleinesque scheme wherein only veterans [broadly defined - read "Starship Troopers"] are allowed to vote.
The real problem is the current system of vote buying by a nearly-permanent class of politicians who rarely face serious re-election opposition. And for that, I don't have an actual serious answer that I think would work.
Posted by: Russ at December 10, 2003 08:01 PM
I'd probably go with fixing the bug in the 2nd amendment.
Posted by: Anthony Alford at December 11, 2003 12:56 PM