I believe that in order to extend the life of our Representive Republic, limit the scope of the Federal Government and return liberty to the citenzry...that its time to update and clarify our Constitution....If you have any ideas feel free to add a post.

Ill start with term limits.

1 eight year term in the House.
1 eight year term in the Senate.
2 four year terms for President,VP.

No repeat terms on any of the above.

My goal would be to eliminate "career" politicians like Byrd,Helms,Kennedy,Thurmond...ect...that by multiple terms have been allowed to accumulate and weild too much power in the Legislative branches of government.

I agree with term limits... I'd still like to caps limits on campaign funding so that ordinary Joes can run for government (as they were certainly do better than the current people who typically come from upper class backgrounds and have no real idea as to how the working class actually get by.

I'm not sold on term limits, at least not such short ones. Without the prospect of running for reelection what is the motivation for fulfilling campaign promises & even showing up (other than the threat of recall, which I'm not sure would be enough). It would also turn every politician into a lame duck (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

I would like to see an end to the direct election of senators. If the senators were again chosen by the state governments, it seems like they would be less likely to so easily conceed power to the feds.

jh Wrote:I'm not sold on term limits, at least not such short ones. Without the prospect of running for reelection what is the motivation for fulfilling campaign promises & even showing up (other than the threat of recall, which I'm not sure would be enough). It would also turn every politician into a lame duck (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

I would like to see an end to the direct election of senators. If the senators were again chosen by the state governments, it seems like they would be less likely to so easily conceed power to the feds.

I feel that short terms would encourgage leaders with the inclination to make the system work..not seeking power.

Appointed Senators?....umm...Im going think on that

Term limits...
2 6 year terms in Senate
3 4 year terms in the House (stupid 2 year terms are stupid)
2 4 year terms for Pres/VP

Keep the electoral college the way it is for P/VP.

Age limit for Pres/VP
71 and below.

GrayBeard Wrote:Term limits...
2 6 year terms in Senate
3 4 year terms in the House (stupid 2 year terms are stupid)
2 4 year terms for Pres/VP

Keep the electoral college the way it is for P/VP.

Ill go along with this...but no coming back later after your terms are over.

Id like to see clarification of the status of citizenship... You have to be the born of current citizens to become a citizen.... This would stop illegals from coming into the country to bear a US citizen and thus collect social benefits.

The constitution is vague in this area and should be clarified.

cb4029 Wrote:Age limit for Pres/VP
71 and below.

I have no problem with setting age limits..since they are arbitrary anyway.

Fo Shizzle Wrote:

GrayBeard Wrote:Term limits...
2 6 year terms in Senate
3 4 year terms in the House (stupid 2 year terms are stupid)
2 4 year terms for Pres/VP

Keep the electoral college the way it is for P/VP.

Ill go along with this...but no coming back later after your terms are over.

Notice I didn't say "consecutive terms".

Something else I'd like to see is a resign to run provision, whereby a politician would have to resign their office to run for a different position. Neither Clinton, nor McCain, nor Obama have been performing the duties they were elected to do since they began running for president. We have been paying them to campaign instead of govern and that just doesn't seem right. It also disadvantages people who aren't politicians, as they would likely have to quit their jobs (or take a sabatical) to run.

TMQ reminded me of this recently.

jh Wrote:Something else I'd like to see is a resign to run provision, whereby a politician would have to resign their office to run for a different position. Neither Clinton, nor McCain, nor Obama have been performing the duties they were elected to do since they began running for president. We have been paying them to campaign instead of govern and that just doesn't seem right. It also disadvantages people who aren't politicians, as they would likely have to quit their jobs (or take a sabatical) to run.

TMQ reminded me of this recently.

I agree with that!

GrayBeard Wrote:

jh Wrote:Something else I'd like to see is a resign to run provision, whereby a politician would have to resign their office to run for a different position. Neither Clinton, nor McCain, nor Obama have been performing the duties they were elected to do since they began running for president. We have been paying them to campaign instead of govern and that just doesn't seem right. It also disadvantages people who aren't politicians, as they would likely have to quit their jobs (or take a sabatical) to run.

TMQ reminded me of this recently.

I agree with that!

Sounds OK to me.

What about the scope of executive power? I think the President has been allowed to gain more and more power and needs to be restrained.

I advocate that the President can not take troops into battle without a direct "declaration of war" from Congress....no more eminent threat garbage...With the communication ablilities our nation posesses, there is certainly a way to have Congress make these decisons without a hint of delay.

Fo Shizzle Wrote:I believe that in order to extend the life of our Representive Republic, limit the scope of the Federal Government and return liberty to the citenzry...that its time to update and clarify our Constitution....If you have any ideas feel free to add a post.

Ill start with term limits.

1 eight year term in the House.
1 eight year term in the Senate.
2 four year terms for President,VP.

No repeat terms on any of the above.

My goal would be to eliminate "career" politicians like Byrd,Helms,Kennedy,Thurmond...ect...that by multiple terms have been allowed to accumulate and weild too much power in the Legislative branches of government.

I agree with 8 year cap for house and senate, but split it in to two four year terms. Make them accountable for screw ups by running for re-election.

Next cap supreme court terms at 20 years. The high court shouldn't be a lifetime job. No accountability for poor rulings.

Require balanced budgets every year with line item veto power for the president. Only exception would be military conflicts, we should never deny our troops necessary funding PERIOD.

Finally require full financial disclosure of all campaign contributions. I still find something suspicious about Obama's numbers. If you are willing to contribute, expect your name to be public along with contribution amount under FOI.

Fo Shizzle Wrote:Id like to see clarification of the status of citizenship... You have to be the born of current citizens to become a citizen.... This would stop illegals from coming into the country to bear a US citizen and thus collect social benefits.

The constitution is vague in this area and should be clarified.

I wouldn't go that far, but I would say if your parents are here illegally, then you can not be born as a US citizen. If parents are here with a qualifying legal status, passport, green card, etc then I don't see an issue with a child being given US citizenship, with the limit that they could not qualify for any privileges until age 18.

jh Wrote:Something else I'd like to see is a resign to run provision, whereby a politician would have to resign their office to run for a different position. Neither Clinton, nor McCain, nor Obama have been performing the duties they were elected to do since they began running for president. We have been paying them to campaign instead of govern and that just doesn't seem right. It also disadvantages people who aren't politicians, as they would likely have to quit their jobs (or take a sabatical) to run.

TMQ reminded me of this recently.

I agree, sort of. I think they should not have to resign until they are running in the General Election.

THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:

Fo Shizzle Wrote:I believe that in order to extend the life of our Representive Republic, limit the scope of the Federal Government and return liberty to the citenzry...that its time to update and clarify our Constitution....If you have any ideas feel free to add a post.

Ill start with term limits.

1 eight year term in the House.
1 eight year term in the Senate.
2 four year terms for President,VP.

No repeat terms on any of the above.

My goal would be to eliminate "career" politicians like Byrd,Helms,Kennedy,Thurmond...ect...that by multiple terms have been allowed to accumulate and weild too much power in the Legislative branches of government.

I agree with 8 year cap for house and senate, but split it in to two four year terms. Make them accountable for screw ups by running for re-election.

Next cap supreme court terms at 20 years. The high court shouldn't be a lifetime job. No accountability for poor rulings.

Finally require full financial disclosure of all campaign contributions. I still find something suspicious about Obama's numbers. If you are willing to contribute, expect your name to be public along with contribution amount under FOI.

I think the fewer elections...the better...The more elections we have the more the representives have to work at fundraising instead of doing what they should do...govern effectively.

I like your SC thoughts....I doubt the founders would have thought we would have lived so long...I understand they wanted the court to be "untouchable"...but...times have changed and they certainly would want us to change with them.

I think the campaign finance would fall under election law not contitutional law...but..I agree that full disclosure should occur.

THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:

Fo Shizzle Wrote:Id like to see clarification of the status of citizenship... You have to be the born of current citizens to become a citizen.... This would stop illegals from coming into the country to bear a US citizen and thus collect social benefits.

The constitution is vague in this area and should be clarified.

I wouldn't go that far, but I would say if your parents are here illegally, then you can not be born as a US citizen. If parents are here with a qualifying legal status, passport, green card, etc then I don't see an issue with a child being given US citizenship, with the limit that they could not qualify for any privileges until age 18.

I dont know...Are not passports and green cards just permission to work or visit the US? I think we offer protection for a child born into this situation until it goes back to its country of origin...but it seems to be still allowing a loophole for reciept of social benefits by those that would wish to subvert the system.

THE NC Herd Fan Wrote:Require balanced budgets every year with line item veto power for the president. Only exception would be military conflicts, we should never deny our troops necessary funding PERIOD.

I used to be in favor of a line item veto, but as I've gotten even more cynical, I'm now leaning against it. It sounds good, in theory, but it requires a noble, non-partisan president to be effective (and when was the last time we had one of those). It's just too easy for me to imagine the president only vetoing line items from the opposition party, or even worse members of his own party voting their conscience instead of toeing the party line, especially if his party also controls congress. The line item veto as punishment, political discipline instead of fiscal.

The founders clearly never envisioned thousand page bills, with funding for potato museums in Idaho included in military funding bills, so something needs to be done. An alternative that might be less susceptible to political manipulations is to divide the functions of the federal government into divisions (it would be much easier if the federal government only engaged in its constitutionally authorized functions instead of the levithan it has become). Start at the department level & break each department into several sub-groups of managable size (similar to construction specifications). Require every bill to be divided into these same divisions & give the president veto power over entire divisions, instead of individual line items. Since most pork seems to be grouped together (and unrelated to the nominal purpose of the bill), this would allow the president to veto unnecessay earmarks without the arbitrary despotic power that a line item veto would allow.

Of course, I'm sure it wouldn't be too long before the politicians figured out how to game this system too. Hey, I said I was cynical.