What would you strike from the Constitution?

[April1775]

What would you strike from the Constitution / Bill of Rights / later amendments if you could do it by waving a wand?

And what would you add?

(If the "waving a wand" idea seems tyrannical somehow, lol...rephrase as "What would you suggest different in the Constitution if you'd been one of the Framers"?

 

[Acala]

I would strike the part where it says the Federal government can do anything it wants. I forget where exactly that is in the document.

 

[One Last Battle!]

I would have probably struck the "General Welfare" clause. It wasn't meant for any bad in 1776, but it is a VERY open ended statement.

Otherwise, I might have added "unanimous" to the beginning of "consent of the governed". Would certainly prevent the government from stretching outside of extremely basic functions.

 

[JK/SEA]

A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free
State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, and sell, and manufacture, shall not be
infringed.

 

[April1775]

I like 'em all so far. A lot.

In addition:

-I'd have an even stronger 2nd Amendment: "A well regulated Militia is necessary to the security of a free State, so the right of the people to keep, bear, sell, and manufacture any damn weapon they want that can specifically target one aggressor at a time, shall not be infringed. If it is infringed, since it's the only Amendment that allows itself to protect itself, the arms may be legally used on anyone who attempts to violate it."

-I'd give the 10th Amendment some teeth. Like "...and if its violated, a state may leave."

-I'd add a "Freedom of Ingestion" amendment: "Anyone may put any damn food, drug, herb or chemical into their own body as long as they pay for it themselves. Anyone may also possess, manufacture or sell any damn food, drug, herb or chemical, any place, any time."

-I'd also add this: "The Federal Government shall never be in the business of marriage. And no state Government shall be in the business of marriage. Any adult can marry any consenting adult or combination of consenting adult they wish, and they're married when all consenting parties say they are. Marriage shall mean what ever any consenting adult wants to mean, with blessings with any religious or social group, or without."

 

[muzzled dogg]

dump the post office

 

[April1775]

dump the post office

I think that comes under "I would strike the part where it says the Federal government can do anything it wants."

But it does remind me of something....there is a law that says no one can deliver mail for less than the post office charges. I'd eliminate that (and a whole lot of other crap) with something like "anyone can go into competition with anyone or any entity, including any government entity, without regulation, as long as there is no initiation of aggression."

 

[muzzled dogg]

congress shall have power to...establish post offices and post roads

 

[Grubb556]

Remove the 12th ammendment, and elect 2 simultaneous presidents who can veto each other.

 

[erowe1]

Include in the Bill of Rights the right for any state, or any subgroup of people, or any individual to secede from the union without punishment.

Get rid of the general welfare clause.

Get rid of the supremacy clause.

Get rid of every amendment that has been ratified since the Civil War.

Remove the entire legislative branch. The only laws that should have any authority should be those that actually do exist, that come from the Creator, and cannot be legislated by the arbitrary whims of any people.

Edit: I'm not sure what powers in Article I, Section 8 would stay after doing this, and remain as powers for the executive branch, but needless to say, a lot would be gone (taxing, post office, intellectual property stuff...I guess I don't want to go through the list and pick at each specific item).​

Remove all means of collecting revenue involuntarily.

Remove all means of compelling service of any kind from anyone in any form, including military, jury duty, etc.

 

[April1775]

There shall be no compulsory education.

 

[Pericles]

16th and 17th Amendments

 

[Bryan]

Sadly, there is a lot.

One item that I have noted is that the internal affairs of Congress is set up to basically act as a democracy, where the majority of Congressmen can strip away elements from others in Congress. In effect, the Speaker of the House can strip away these things on their own, in some cases. It would be better if each member of Congress had a "Bill of Rights" so to speak.

... and then there is the 4th branch of government that is desperately needed.

 

[April1775]

Remove Eminent Domain.

We're getting some good answers here. Maybe after a few dozen more pages, we should put them all in one post, have a poll where you can pick as many as you want, and type up the winners. Just for kicks.

 

[April1775]

Term limits. President and congress one four-year term each.
President and congress no health care and pension for life.
No overseas intervention unless attacked.
No going to war without Congress declaring war.
No draft. (Though, Heinlein said something good along the lines of "any nation that cannot be defended by a voluntary military is not worth defending.")

 

[erowe1]

There shall be no compulsory education.

You mean for the states?

I wouldn't be for that change.

 

[eduardo89]

Remove:

16th Allows the federal government to collect income tax
17th Requires senators to be directly elected

Add

Balanced budget, federal government may not account for more than 18% of GDP
Tax increases require 2/3 majority
Human Life Amendment
Federal Term Limits (6 terms in House, 2 terms in Senate max)
Repeal Amendment giving two-thirds of the states the power to repeal any federal law or regulation

 

[April1775]

You mean for the states?

I wouldn't be for that change.

Not sure what you're asking. Are you saying "the federal government should have no role in education, but any of the Several States may choose to initiate compulsory education."?

 

[erowe1]

Not sure what you're asking. Are you saying "the federal government should have no role in education, but the several states may choose to initiate compulsory education."?

The Constitution doesn't need to say, "the federal government should have no role in education." The Constitution only delegates powers to the federal government positively. It doesn't need to explicitly exclude anything from it--what it doesn't mention is automatically excluded.

That being the case, there's no reason for the Constitution to say anything positive or negative about what the states can or can't do. Once you say they can't have compulsory education, you have to follow that up with something like "Congress shall have the power to pass appropriate legislation for the execution of this." (cf. 13th and 14th Amendments), so it would end up making the federal government more, not less powerful than it would be without such a clause.

 

[heavenlyboy34]

Strike out any part that gives the FedGov supremacy over states at all, add an amendment allowing individuals to secede from Federal, state, and/or local government authority, strike out the part that gives the fedgov the power to raise a standing army and return the milita duty to states. Lots more, but gtg right now.