Thursday, November 10, 2016

We need a constitutional upgrade

I think we need a new constitution. There is so much that is simply antiquated and outdated. For one, when the "two Senators per state" rule was created, the states were smaller and closer together. I think California deserves four Senators.

The electoral college was a good idea and is actually designed to prevent a madman from getting elected. But what if the guy isn't perceived by enough electors as mad?

The second amendment was crafted for "the purposes of a well-regulated militia" and needs a rewrite. People should have a right to guns but under a strict set of circumstances (a reasonable waiting period, e.g.)

The new constitution should prohibit companies from donating to elections, period. "One man, one vote," not "one dollar, one vote."

Another one: employers cannot discriminate on a lot of bases, but they can still discriminate, if they want, by political views. A business owner could fire all Democrats if they wanted to, or all Republicans, without penalty. This is very wrong and contradicts the first amendment, but there is nothing in the constitution or laws preventing that.

Health care and a pension -- from a business or a government -- should be guaranteed to all citizens. And those who are not citizens should have to work off their free health care in some way. It does bother me that people are using the emergency room as their primary care physician. There should be a way for undocumented workers in need of care to get health care at a reasonable price or by working x number of hours per service for the County that is paying their medical bills.

Everyone from 18 to retirement should be guaranteed a job, period. If you are disabled, the job should fit what you can do. We can get very creative here. If you can turn a TV on and off, you can do some sort of job. If you do badly at that job, you should get a worse job. If you do well, hopefully you'll get a better job. And companies should partner with the government on this.
What are your ideas? Let's get this going!

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice suggestions, but first we need a political party which will back those kinds of reforms.

6:46 AM  
Blogger rarnabee said...

No one else commented yet? Geez that disappoints me. I'm sorry to be coming across your most recent post myself only now! What you've proposed here makes a lot of sense...a lot of common sense! Now how do we make these changes occur? It seems most outlets of the "news" are phony-bologni and the rhetoric of common sense ideas is being stolen and labeled as "socialism" or even "communism", words that either became very dangerous long ago or it seems are trying to be pushed into the dangerous category. Using the word socialism--would you say that hurt Bernie?
I think university education should be free, and that ought to go into the constitution, too...do you agree? So many other countries have been ahead in the education game for so long and we're still charging... to the point that it's financially crippling our students right out of the gate. That doesn't make sense. Not common sense. What else people, what else?

2:53 PM  
Blogger SRW said...

I just watched a talk you gave on James Angleton & the Warren Comission and you made a comment in passing when answering audience questions to the effect that the democracy and form of government has to change or we're headed to a fascist government on the pretext of national security. In light of recent events, care to elaborate, comment? Thanks!

8:17 PM  
Anonymous Errant said...

1. Each state has two senators as each state has equal footing in the Senate. This has nothing to do with distance or size. California deserves no more representation in the Senate than Rhode Island or Alaska.

2. You cannot guarantee absolute liberty and absolute security simultaneously. The Constitution as written provides limits on the federal government to allow the more of the former at the expense of the latter.

3. College tuition. Student debt. Stockholm syndrome. Connect the dots.

4. There has been more pain and suffering inflicted on this country by the uninformed voter than by anyone with a gun.

7:06 PM  

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