Possibly the most important thing is to clarify the bill of rights.
The first amendment should clarify that atheism is a religion and may not be favored over any other religion. Either that or we should give up on not having state religions, enumerate what the civic roles of religion, and penalize (with things like ineligibility to be a juror or hold public office) anyone not a member of a religion that fills those roles.
The second amendment should allow the regulation of weapons of indiscriminate and lingering effect (nuclear, radiological, biological weapons, long lasting chemical weapons, and land mines) and long range weapons within their own range of foreign soil (these are without precedent when the amendment was written) but allow no regulation to be applied to any other weapon including explicitly weapon systems like ships of war.
The tenth amendment should be more explicit and should call out the use of the interstate commerce clause or federal grants to encumber the duties of states or rights of citizens as unconstitutional. If enforced as understood by the framers this amendment alone would prevent nearly all abuses by the federal government. The others need clarification only because they are also incorporated against the states.
@Emperor Tippy
I don't think there's any need to have a special budget submitter. It adds nothing because it's not important who delivers budget requests but who writes the budget requests.
The emergency fund is also a very bad idea as described. If it's capped it's okay (but at what quantity?) but if it's uncapped it is essentially requiring the government to continuously do what the Fed does to cause recessions every time it gets nervous about a bubbles and it works at causing recessions. Worse, it's permanent not a temporary measure which creates expectations and perverse incentives. Pulling money from circulation for the ever growing emergency fund is deflationary. If people expect permanent inflation they will save more and invest less because investment is risky and money sat upon grows in value because of deflation. People will have less to spend because they're saving more and because the government has to collect an extra 11% in taxes to put in the emergency fund. This also makes investment riskier because businesses make profit by people spending money. Oh, and a "strong" dollar discourages exports and encourages imports thereby keeping the jobs out of America so people don't have income to spend. All of this compounds itself. You don't get runs on the banks because of the FDIC, but otherwise this is the Great Depression in America. It didn't suck as much as Weimar Hyperinflation, but it sucked more than any depression since.
Oh, also, there's a reason budgets are supposed to originate in the House not the Senate. This is especially important if we repeal the 17th amendment like most people here seem to want.
The first amendment should clarify that atheism is a religion and may not be favored over any other religion. Either that or we should give up on not having state religions, enumerate what the civic roles of religion, and penalize (with things like ineligibility to be a juror or hold public office) anyone not a member of a religion that fills those roles.
The second amendment should allow the regulation of weapons of indiscriminate and lingering effect (nuclear, radiological, biological weapons, long lasting chemical weapons, and land mines) and long range weapons within their own range of foreign soil (these are without precedent when the amendment was written) but allow no regulation to be applied to any other weapon including explicitly weapon systems like ships of war.
The tenth amendment should be more explicit and should call out the use of the interstate commerce clause or federal grants to encumber the duties of states or rights of citizens as unconstitutional. If enforced as understood by the framers this amendment alone would prevent nearly all abuses by the federal government. The others need clarification only because they are also incorporated against the states.
@Emperor Tippy
I don't think there's any need to have a special budget submitter. It adds nothing because it's not important who delivers budget requests but who writes the budget requests.
The emergency fund is also a very bad idea as described. If it's capped it's okay (but at what quantity?) but if it's uncapped it is essentially requiring the government to continuously do what the Fed does to cause recessions every time it gets nervous about a bubbles and it works at causing recessions. Worse, it's permanent not a temporary measure which creates expectations and perverse incentives. Pulling money from circulation for the ever growing emergency fund is deflationary. If people expect permanent inflation they will save more and invest less because investment is risky and money sat upon grows in value because of deflation. People will have less to spend because they're saving more and because the government has to collect an extra 11% in taxes to put in the emergency fund. This also makes investment riskier because businesses make profit by people spending money. Oh, and a "strong" dollar discourages exports and encourages imports thereby keeping the jobs out of America so people don't have income to spend. All of this compounds itself. You don't get runs on the banks because of the FDIC, but otherwise this is the Great Depression in America. It didn't suck as much as Weimar Hyperinflation, but it sucked more than any depression since.
Oh, also, there's a reason budgets are supposed to originate in the House not the Senate. This is especially important if we repeal the 17th amendment like most people here seem to want.
