I’ve grouped my proposed Amendments into three broad groups:
Restructuring Government
Power, Immunity, and Benefits – Limits and Guarantees
Transparency
and I’ll tackle them in that order. Any major restructuring of the government is a HUGE ask, but it’s certainly worth considering. To accomplish it (and many of the others), I think, will require the passage of this first one:
The National Initiative Petitions and Referendum Amendment:
When at least 1/2 of the states, either via legislative act or referendum or state initiative petition, request the same Amendment, or if a proposed Amendment is referred to the people by both houses of Congress via simple majority votes, that proposed constitutional Amendment shall be placed on ballots in all states during the next Presidential general election which occurs no sooner than six months thereafter, and shall pass and become part of the Constitution if at least 3/4 of the national popular vote is in favor.
When at least 1/4 of the states, either via legislative act or referendum or state initiative petition, request the same Bill, or if a proposed Bill is referred to the people by both house of Congress via simple majority votes, that proposed Bill shall be placed on ballots in all states during the next Congressional general election which occurs no sooner than six months thereafter, and shall pass if greater than 50% of the national popular vote is in favor. If the bill passes by less than 2/3rds of the vote, the President may veto the bill, in which case the bill shall be voted on again in the next general Congressional election, and if passed by 2/3rds, it will become law.
Oregon, my lifetime home state, has had initiative petitions and referendums since 1902, and while not all of the amendments and bills passed in this way have turned out to be wise and/or work well, the process has allowed for changes that would have been otherwise impossible due to recalcitrant lawmakers who almost always have their eye on re-election first and foremost, which often makes them reluctant to attempt anything too out of the norm, too daring. But the only way to improve society is to do things “outside the norm.” The ‘norm’ usually means “the way things are right now.”
I think anyone who pays much attention to politics and society would have little trouble coming up with situations where a significant majority of the U.S. population is in favor of A POLICY, but the elected politicians won’t enact A POLICY because they’re either worried about re-election in their specific district/state, or they’re taking money from lobbyists and special interests who are opposed to A POLICY. Banning assault weapons? A woman’s right to choose? Climate change? I could go on quite a while, but there’d be little point, because you (for any given one of you) probably wouldn’t agree with my entire list, and any given list is not the point. The point is that the closer the laws become to what the majority of the people want, the better the whole process will work, because we’ll be closer to a true democracy, and people will be more involved in the process.
Too many people don’t vote because they think, “Why should I? My vote doesn’t matter.” The reason they feel that way is they’re electing someone who will then go off to government and do whatever they want to do with little regard to what they PROMISED they would do. When people get to vote directly for specific laws, it gives more people a reason to vote, a feeling that they are having a direct effect on the laws and structure of society. It also encourages greater debate on specific issues
While “big money” frequently tips, toward their preferred outcome, initiative petitions and referendums, that’s not a good argument against initiative petitions and referendums, as big money is already tipping the government by pressuring/bribing our elected representatives. In fact, initiative petitions, on a national scale, could give us the opportunity to get “big money” OUT of our democracy.
-Everett