May 2, 2013

Constitution 2.0


Introduction

Without Wisdom, a person is dumb and blind to danger. Such a danger may be both impending and catastrophic, but the person will not know it. History has taught us that this same condition sometimes applies to entire societies. Such is our society today.

To have discernment and Wisdom in our society, to understand our society and, if need be, repair and improve it; we must first grasp the basis of its accord, the Constitution; why this came about; and where our society stands today.

Throughout history, people have banded together for their common interests of protection, comfort, and prosperity: to insulate themselves from the ravages of the wild, where only the law of the jungle prevails—that is, no law at all.

As societies slowly formed, norms developed, enforced often by shame but occasionally by ostracism or violence—which, in turn, was judged by society’s members. Good and honest people built what we call civilized society, where peace and prosperity flourished. But criminals, evildoers, and oppressors damaged civilized society by applying the law of the jungle as they so desired: robbing, assaulting, and enslaving people.

Over time, mechanisms were developed to protect civilized society against these plunderers and victimizers. People shared in the tasks and costs of its defense. A public service was created, composed of public servants, who only performed roles of protection and justice: these servants did not take nor diminish the people’s power or authority—nor abridge their freedoms.

Criminals, evildoers, and oppressors, however, learned how gainful it could be to secretly corrupt and infiltrate the public service. For example, the public service in some societies assumed the power and authority to govern the people, placing itself in a superior position. Those who corrupted and infiltrated such governments, eventually took control of the entire civilized society: only to systematically abuse it, subvert its internal defenses, and then utterly ravage it. The death toll would sometimes reach into the tens of millions of people…

By the time of our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, a new vision of civilized society had come into focus: a vision of maximizing people’s individual Rights and Freedoms, of creating equal Justice for all, and of circumscribing a public service to be only just large enough to create and protect this environment. Our constitutional Republic was born: the United States of America.

But even with the additional protections guaranteed to the People and enshrined in our Bill of Rights, our public service has been slowly infiltrated and corrupted.

For the following are historical truisms. The natural drive of good and honest people is to be independent of the government, if they can be. The natural drive of criminals, evildoers, and oppressors (including foreign agents) is to secretly corrupt and infiltrate the government, for their own advantages. The natural drive of bureaucracy is to grow in size, like a cancer. The natural drive of government itself is to expand its power, like a control freak. And the natural drive of the extremely rich and powerful is to get more so, by any means, like oppressors.

This combination of social drives, over decades and centuries, has led us back to a society secretly controlled by criminals, evildoers, and oppressors. And worse, since the natural drive of the mainstream media is to appease their paymasters—by selling any block of messages, as effectively as possible—the vast majority of people now crucially lack deep sociopolitical awareness.

Yet it is not entirely their fault. The government and the mainstream media have become so powerful that they essentially create the lights and shadows on the wall in a present-day implementation of Plato’s Cave, where the larger sociopolitical context is artificially defined and the vast majority of people have become amazingly obstinate to facts and reason that lie outside of that misanthropically constructed world. In general, the mass of people has been brought up in a diabolically engineered society that turns them into docile dupes for powerful interests to control.

Alarmingly, this huge mass of sheepish people has now linked all of our fates together. Our entire civilized society heads off a cliff! We are, in fact, being driven off: so that our possessions and flesh may be fully plundered by the criminals, evildoers, and oppressors that now control our Nation.

With increasing transgressions against our Constitution and Bill of Rights, our Nation is currently oppressed with innumerable engines of corruption: money politics, needless public debt, private central banks, replacement of local Militias with Standing Armies, foreign entanglements of all sorts, imperialism, centralization of government power, unconscionable government secrecy, privatized governmental functions, enforced monopolies and cartels, royal and lordly perks for politicians, exceptions to Law, Immunities to investigation, covert worldwide terrorism, pervasive election rigging, domestic security agencies, militarized police forces, ubiquitous surveillance, secret police and spies, domestic checkpoints, etc.

Many of these besetments are, in actual fact, tools of Tyranny. They evince a clear design to render us under absolute Despotism—which is exactly what confronted our Founding Fathers. Alas, it can only be prudent, at this point, to look at their situation and to their example for hope, instruction, and inspiration.

Facing their own increasingly tyrannical government, which commanded the greatest military power the world had yet seen, our Founding Fathers declared Independence from their own government, won the more than eight-year War against it, and then created and implemented the greatest social accord for Freedom yet humanly devised: the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Let us live up to the righteousness, fortitude, and Wisdom of our Founding Fathers. We must right ourselves and fix the problems that allowed our public service to get so corrupted.

Thankfully, we need not start from scratch nor necessarily have to fight the government to do it—that is, if the government isn’t yet too overtaken by a treasonous desire for Despotism. We must demand that our Constitution be repaired and improved: prudently, by amendment.

Our Future hangs in the balance. We either forfeit our Country and our Lives to criminals, evildoers, and oppressors or we—with all needed force—demand an end to the engines of corruption and the tools of Tyranny. As the only reliable course of action, We the People must—increasingly—stand up, in force and in unity, to demand that the government return to being a public service of public servants—not a Tyranny of criminals, evildoers, and oppressors. We must unite to forcibly demand a true corrective.

It is a time for American righteousness and Wisdom. For ourselves and our Posterity, it is time to awaken and enlighten our fellow Citizens—despite the efforts to the contrary by the mainstream media and the government. We must take courage, take strength, and, most importantly—take Action! Let us be bold and stalwart in our drive for Liberty: before the noose is tied around our necks and our civilized society is driven off a cliff!

It is once again time to throw off the yoke of Tyranny! This time, let us cast it asunder, forevermore…

Preamble

We the People created the State governments, the Constitution, and the national government as our mere servants; we are both the masters of and the superiors to these creations, these invented servants.

If one of our servant governments seeks to usurp us—its master—that would be Treason. That servant would be, and should be treated as, an Enemy. Likewise, if a State or the national government assumes powers that we did not clearly delegate to it, such powers are unauthoritative: void and of no force. To judge such matters, the master’s judgment is, and according to acumen must always be, superior to the servant’s.

Each Citizen, accordingly, should be knowledgeable about the Constitution and the constitutional limits on our State and national governments. When any of our servants overstep their constitutional or legal bounds, it is the civic and altruistic duty of every Citizen to challenge and halt such governmental encroachment. We the People must even maintain, as an ultimate safeguard, the Right to—and Power for—Revolution over our government. Indeed, such Revolution began our Nation: with our Declaration of Independence.

Wisdom reveals the proper size and power limit of State and national governments: the typical Citizen should neither significantly feel their presence negatively nor be worried about them personally. And no government should ever be oppressive to any of its Citizens. Regarding government’s cacoëthes for secrecy, Citizens should always be aware of the rough extent and actions of their State and national governments. Each Citizen must further be able to freely access virtually any governmental detail without too much time or trouble.

Since the People’s individual Rights and Freedoms form the foundation of our Nation, let us remind ourselves of their nature. Rights and Freedoms, as well as their free exercise, never need notification, permission, insurance, or the like. In fact, they do not depend on public opinion, nor can they be abridged by public complaint—or even by public action. Except by due process of Law that abides by the Constitution, each Person’s Rights and Freedoms are unconditional. They are never to be sacrificed in order to exercise or retain other Rights, other Freedoms, or anything else.

Of course, Freedom is at times messy, offensive, and costly, but history has taught us that there is no other secure or worthwhile way for us to live—but as a free people. As our history exemplifies, we are boldly and wisely willing to sacrifice—and even to die—for our Freedoms. It is, equally, our moral duty to beware of those who seek to limit our Freedom or to intimidate its exercise—and to stop these oppressors.

For ourselves and our Posterity, we must defend our Nation against criminals, evildoers, and oppressors—especially when they corrupt and infiltrate the government: to hide and protect their treachery, to steal our public resources, and even to dominate and enslave us by taking away our Rights and our Freedoms. We the People, for the above reasons, demand that our Constitution be hereby amended with the following new Amendments, which shall replace all of the previous amendments after our Bill of Rights.

Amendment XI

All government employees shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to abide, support, and defend our Constitution, to which they shall receive their own personal copy of its text, including the text of all current amendments as well as of our Declaration of Independence.

A government employee, in proportion to their position of trust and power, must be held to greater scrutiny and to a higher standard of professional and ethical conduct and be given more severe penalties for criminal activities, than a Citizen.

No government employee may be exempt from or immune to any Law or be protected from any lawsuit, except as explicitly provided for in the Constitution. Further, no government employee shall have any legal rights, freedoms, or privileges beyond those of a Citizen, except as explicitly provided for in the Constitution. The President, additionally, may not grant any Reprieve or Pardon to any current or previous government employee. [Note: This last sentence modifies Article II, section 2, of the Constitution.]

Any government employee fully or partially responsible by some action for violating the Constitution may hereby be personally sued in criminal or civil Court by any appropriate Citizen: any local government employee may be sued in that locale by any local Citizen; any Representative may be sued in their district by any district Citizen; any Senator or State government employee may be sued in that State by any State Citizen; otherwise, any national government employee may be sued by any Citizen. However, no current government employee may sue another government employee in this way.

Whistleblowers of governmental corruption by current government employees must not only be thoroughly protected but also generously rewarded by the government, and in proportion to the degree of governmental corruption exposed.

If any member of the Executive Branch attempts to alter, unconstitutionally create, or selectively enforce Laws to any significant extent, that member shall be immediately and permanently removed from government employment—and shall receive no further salary or benefits from it, including any retirement benefits.

And if any government employee officially introduces significantly unconstitutional legislation, except as a constitutional amendment, that member shall immediately have his or her government employment terminated and that legislation dropped from legislative consideration.

Amendment XII

Local, State, and national governments, and all of their Laws, are inferior to the Constitution. Only the Laws that abide by the Constitution and by constitutional due process have force; signing statements, executive orders, and the like are unauthoritative: null and void. [Note: These last two sentences replace previous amendment fourteen (partially).] Further, the three branches of the national government may not delegate or combine powers—even by Law, such as in regulatory agencies. Additionally, the Jurisdiction of Treaties is only between Nations, not within our Nation: there is no domestic application. No Treaty may diminish, prejudice, or change the Constitution, the internal Laws of the United States, or the Rights and Freedoms of the People. As an ultimate constitutional failsafe, each government, each government employee, and each Citizen has the Right to reasonably judge and nullify government Laws, powers, and actions as unconstitutional.

For the national government to do anything outside of the Constitution, at minimum, a constitutional amendment would be required. The preamble of the Constitution identifies principles and purposes, but does not delegate any specific powers to the national government. In fact, there are no implied powers of the Constitution; it is a document of strict construction. What follows are some illustrations—from Article I, section 8, of the Constitution—that properly reveal the plain intent and meaning in which the Constitution was understood and acceded to: and should be interpreted as.

First, Commerce within a State may not be regulated by the national government, even if that Commerce affects interstate Commerce. The only Commerce among the several States that the national government can regulate is the Commerce going from one State to another. As a second example, the phrase “to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States” is merely a restrictive on the power “To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises” but is not a power in and of itself. Next, the phrase “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution” should be more clearly interpreted as “To make all Laws which shall be absolutely necessary and proper for carrying into Execution only the direct Powers enumerated in and vested by this Constitution.” The national government, as a final example, may not create, define, or punish Crimes, except as specifically described in the Constitution.

Amendment XIII

No Person shall have their Rights or Freedoms cancelled, abridged, restrained, or modified without due process of Law that abides by the Constitution. Furthermore, there shall be no Law abridging the Freedom of religion, of speech, of reasonable expression, or of the press or abridging the Right of the People peaceably to assemble, and to petition government for a redress of grievances.

The final bulwark against Tyranny, the Right of the People to keep, buy, sell, transport, and bear Arms, their implements, and their accessories shall not be abridged. And no Citizen shall be debarred the reasonable use of Arms on his or her own property.

Being necessary to the Freedom and security of society, a well-regulated Militia, composed of local Citizens to each area, shall be well funded by each State. States may not have any military force, except that of their local Militias. And no military equipment or personnel, except that of the local Militias, may be used domestically for Law enforcement.

However, in times of civil emergency where the peace requires it, a State—by a vote of three-fourths of its Legislature, or until this vote can be made, by the State’s Executive—may request the employment within its State of another State’s Militia. Such employment, with the Consent of both States as well as of the Militia, may occur: but only for a period no longer than three months, within any twelve-month period.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, including required military service, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their Jurisdiction. [Note: This last sentence supersedes a portion of Article IV, section 2, of the Constitution and replaces previous amendment thirteen.] Torture—including electric shock, water boarding, and “pain compliance”—shall never be done on any Person. No experiment by government shall ever be done on any Person without his or her informed and expressed consent. Lastly, no Person may be imprisoned for debts, or debts unpaid.

The Right of a Person to be secure in their Person and effects includes the Right to informational and electronic Privacy as well as the Right to not be tracked, listed, or monitored—whether individually or collectively and whether through computer, abstraction, or otherwise—by any government without the Person’s informed and expressed consent.

Private property taken for public use must always be entirely allocated for general public ownership, development, and use, never for private ownership, development, or use; or the property must be returned to the original owners: for half of what the government paid for the property, and with all of its original Rights intact.

Amendment XIV

Because the private Federal Reserve Banks have fleeced our Nation through the fraud of fractional-reserve banking for about a hundred years, they shall hereby be compulsorily liquidated—any net positive proceeds of which shall be equally divided and given to each Citizen of the United States. Any of those proceeds not claimed within seven years shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective Numbers, excluding Indians not taxed. Permanently, the Federal Reserve is hereby abolished. The United States shall never again have any sort of private central bank.

By one year from the ratification of this article, all banks are required to increase their reserves on deposits to one hundred percent. The Treasury, during this time, shall emit Bills of Credit as United States Tender—the new legal tender of the United States—sufficient in quantity to pay off the entire national debt, and replace all Federal Reserve Notes.

Thereafter, fractional reserve lending and all other forms of legal tender creation by private banks or by anything other than the Treasury is strictly forbidden. The Treasury, furthermore, may only create or destroy United States Tender in order to maintain its original unit value—that is, its original unit value from one year after the ratification of this article—to prevent inflation and deflation of the currency.

There shall be no tax on gold or silver coins; Citizens and governments may freely create and use gold or silver coins as a tender, but the only legal tender shall be the United States Tender, besides Money coined by the national government.

Amendment XV

The role of the judiciary is to determine the application of the Law, not to help make or refine the Law. Furthermore, no Judge may prejudice Justice or the Jury. All Judges must fully inform each Jury member, at the beginning of each Trial, of his or her Right to Law nullification as well as to return a verdict of “not guilty” for any reason. Likewise, each Jury member shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support and defend our Constitution during the Trial. Each Jury member shall then freely receive their own personal copy of the text of the Constitution, including all current Amendments as well as our Declaration of Independence.

Each supreme Court Judge must submit their own opinion in each Court case that they hear. Each supreme Court Judge shall be limited to a term of sixteen years, at which point he or she may be reconfirmed for another term by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. All other national Judges shall each be limited to a term of six years, at which point he or she may be reconfirmed for another term with and by Consent of the Senate.

The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in Law or Equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State. [Note: This paragraph modifies Article III, section 2, of the Constitution and replaces previous amendment eleven.]

Amendment XVI

No President, Vice President, Senator, or Representative may hold two consecutive terms, or any part thereof, or hold more than two terms, or any part thereof, of that same position in total. [Note: This paragraph replaces previous amendment twenty-two.]

No Law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators or the Representatives, shall ever have any benefit to those who voted for it. [Note: This last sentence replaces previous amendment twenty-seven.] Additionally, no government employee may have a salary and benefits package that is worth more than quadruple that of the average of employed Citizens or be given a retirement package worth more than quadruple that of the average of retiring Citizens at that time.

If any current or previous government employee accepts or claims any official title of nobility or honor, or any pension, office, emolument, or significant present, from any emperor, king, prince, or foreign power, such employee shall be immediately and permanently removed from government employment, shall receive no further salary or benefits from it, including any retirement benefits, and shall, with the Consent of the House of Representatives, cease to be a Citizen of the United States.

Since the combination of secrecy and power is an ever-present threat to both our constitutional Republic and our democratic processes, each Senator must be given immediate and total access to all governmental information and locations upon request and may subpoena and question any government employee or contractor, who shall be placed under penalty of perjury for intentionally lying, misleading, or withholding of relevant information.

No government employee may be a member of or attend any nonpublic meeting of a significantly secretive society, organization, or club.

Amendment XVII

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective Numbers, excluding Indians not taxed. [Note: This last sentence modifies Article I, section 2, of the Constitution and replaces previous amendments fourteen (partially) and twenty-six.] The Number of Representatives shall not be less than one for every sixty Thousand. And no intentional gerrymandering shall be allowed.

All Bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Each Bill, if ready for a vote in the House of Representatives, must fully be made public and then be publically scheduled for a vote in no sooner than four working days, or than twenty-four hours if in a dire emergency. Once a Bill has passed the House of Representatives, the Senate must schedule their vote on the Bill as just described for the other House, but in no sooner than half of the above stated time. If a Bill is ever changed, the entire process above must begin again. The President, of course, may not change a Bill; he or she may only sign it unconditionally as it is or return it.

The national government may only use military force in declared Wars—unless the United States is actually invaded, or is in such imminent and serious Danger as will not admit of any delay. Furthermore, War may only be declared if approved by two thirds of both Houses of Congress. No declaration of War, however, shall be valid for more than two years, at which point it may be declared again, as above. The United States shall have no Standing Army, except in times of declared War.

The public debt of the United States may only be incurred or increased if approved by two thirds of both Houses of Congress.

Either two thirds of both Houses of Congress or the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States may propose Amendments to this Constitution, which shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, only when the same text of the proposed Amendment is ratified within twenty years by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States; Provided that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate. [Note: This paragraph modifies Article V of the Constitution.]

Amendment XVIII

A natural born Citizen is a Person born on United States territory with at least one parent a United States Citizen at that time. Only natural born Citizens and Citizens by way of Naturalization are Citizens of the United States. [Note: This last sentence replaces previous amendment fourteen (partially).]

The Right of Citizens, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged. [Note: This last sentence replaces previous amendments fifteen, nineteen, and twenty-four.]

All voting by the People that is administered by government must be done on paper ballots, and be entirely verifiable by the People. Subverting an election shall be a Felony, and any government employee guilty of it shall also be immediately and permanently removed from government employment—and shall receive no further salary or benefits from it, including any retirement benefits.

To help combat Money politics, no corporation nor foreign individual or power may provide Money or significant physical resources to any political campaign, including for or against any politician or any specific or general legislation.

The Jury selection process and implementation must be entirely open to and verifiable by the People.

No Law shall abridge the individual health Freedom of the People; no food, plant, substance, or product that could be reasonably used for health may be criminalized or repressively regulated or taxed. Each Person shall have the Freedom of any health practice, therapy, or care that he or she chooses. And no government shall physically, chemically, or genetically adulterate the air, water, or food of the People.

No Law shall abridge a parent’s Freedom to educate or discipline their children in whatever reasonably way that the parent chooses.

Amendment XIX

All police officers, “law enforcement” officers, and the like shall hereby have, as a replacement, the title of peace officer.

No peace officer shall employ or wear paramilitary equipment or clothing. All lawful orders, and only lawful orders, made by a peace officer to a Citizen shall be preceded by or followed by the words “lawful order.” No peace officer may intentionally deceive or intimidate a Citizen, unless there is probable cause of a serious Crime, supported by Oath or affirmation, to which such disrespectful action is reasonably deemed necessary to determine the facts or motives of that Crime.

Finally, no government employee may endanger a Citizen or use aggressive force against a Citizen except when there is no other reasonable option: in self defense, in the direct defense of others, or in executing constitutional due process of Law; otherwise, Citizens may use all due Force against a government employee to defend themselves and their constitutional Rights.

Amendment XX

Since centralization of power makes the corruption of it easier, each government power should only be, as a general rule, located at the most local level practical. The national government, additionally, to prevent the undue centralization of power or influence, shall not, except as provided for in this Constitution, give Money, loans, or resources to any State or local government conditionally.

Next, the State government may only own or control at most five percent of the Land of each State; the national government at most one percent; and foreign governments, corporations, and individuals collectively at most one percent.

The Land of the United States, of course, ultimately belongs to the Citizens of the United States—not to any government. Hence, no government may take for itself any Tax on this Land. The Land, which for the purposes of this and the next paragraph shall include the Rights to all of the Land’s natural resources, belongs to each Citizen equally. Though it would be absurd to attempt to sell or divide the Land of the United States and then give the proceeds equally to each Citizen. We can address the above Facts to form a reasonable and equitable resolution.

Every year, a Land Tax of one percent of the free market Value of each owned Land parcel in the United States, except the portions of Land that are freely available for general public use, shall be collected from each Land Owner (including government Land Owner) by the national government and exclusively distributed equally to each and every Citizen who is eighteen years of age or older. The Land Values shall be assessed only through public Records and inspections from public areas. Hence, in approximate terms, Citizens who own less than their fair share of United States Land will get Money from those who own more: proportionately. Any such Money not claimed within seven years shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective Numbers, excluding Indians not taxed.

As a concluding note, here are some questions for Citizens to consider regarding Law and bureaucracy. Why should any Law be longer than five thousand words or be significantly incomprehensible to the typical Citizen? When should a Legislature have in existence more than one thousand Laws? Can a Law or government action be just if it impairs the Freedom of Contracts or enables a monopoly or cartel? What can be the validity of a Law that creates a criminal without a victim? Is a Law that seeks to proactively protect Citizens from themselves compatible with Freedom—or with Tyranny?