Poll: How should the US Constitution be ammended

[gdnp]

I had an interesting discussion on this topic the other day, and thought as my first thread to bring up the topic here. There was a similar thread back in 2006, but I wasn't here then, and rather than resurrect the old thread I decided to start a new one.

So, if you could make changes to the US constitution, what would they be? Why?

I have added a poll for some of the more popular suggestions, plus a few of my own. It is multiple choice: you can select one or more options.

 

[mrbaracuda]

Other: Make it possible for me to become POTUS.

 

[Drudgewire]

Take out that "well regulated militia" stuff, it just confuses people.

 

[MG1962]

Revoked

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Take out that "well regulated militia" stuff, it just confuses people.

It did not confuse the Supreme Court just recently.

 

[Tricky]

I voted for "repeal the second amendment", change/eliminate the electoral college, and "other".

I really would have preferred "change the second amendment" because "arms" means something completely different than it did when the constitution was written, and militias are really defunct. I don't want to get rid of gun rights. I want them made more sensible.

I'm honestly not sure how to change the electoral college, but I know that, being a liberal living in Texas, my presidential vote counts for nothing. That irriates me. However, I agree with the concept that we should respect the rights of different regions (which is why the EC compromise is there) so I'm torn. Perhaps we could weight the votes slightly differently from different states. Not enough to give Montana the power to cancel out California, but just a tiny tweak. Unfair? Yep. It will never happen.

In the "other" category, I would have inserted "pass the Equal Rights amendment." It is a travesty that this amendment was voted down. Perhaps the things it did could have been (and in some ways have been) done by passing appropriate laws, but something so basic should be as basic as the fourteenth amendment's "equal protection" clause. Some argue that the fourteenth amendment provides all the protection women need, but that is obviously untrue, since inequality of pay and benefits is still quite common in America. I want it written down in the Constitution so that no state can weasel their way around it.

 

[Thunder]

it should become a felony for a president to launch military action against another country without congressional approval.

 

[Lothian]

I would chuse to correct the spelling mistakes.

 

[gdnp]

It did not confuse the Supreme Court just recently.

As evidenced by a 5-4 vote? I would think that a 5-4 vote would suggest quite a bit of confusion about what the amendment means

 

[gdnp]

Other: Make it possible for me to become POTUS.

Meaning: repeal the requirement to be native born, or age restrictions, or what?

 

[gdnp]

I voted for "repeal the second amendment", change/eliminate the electoral college, and "other".

I really would have preferred "change the second amendment" because "arms" means something completely different than it did when the constitution was written, and militias are really defunct. I don't want to get rid of gun rights. I want them made more sensible.

I too do not wish to eliminate gun rights. I would just repeal the second amendment so that legislatures could decide on reasonable restrictions, rather than the courts.

I'm honestly not sure how to change the electoral college, but I know that, being a liberal living in Texas, my presidential vote counts for nothing. That irriates me. However, I agree with the concept that we should respect the rights of different regions (which is why the EC compromise is there) so I'm torn. Perhaps we could weight the votes slightly differently from different states. Not enough to give Montana the power to cancel out California, but just a tiny tweak. Unfair? Yep. It will never happen.

I agree it is unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. One change I would like to see is for states to allocate votes by congressional district, with the 2 additional votes going to the overall winner, rather than the current "winner take all" system. They could all do this now if they wanted to: I believe Maine does. This would eliminate the problem of a few votes tipping a large number of electoral votes, like in Floriduh 2000, and would put states with swing districts back on the map even if the overall state was solidly red or blue.

In the "other" category, I would have inserted "pass the Equal Rights amendment." It is a travesty that this amendment was voted down. Perhaps the things it did could have been (and in some ways have been) done by passing appropriate laws, but something so basic should be as basic as the fourteenth amendment's "equal protection" clause. Some argue that the fourteenth amendment provides all the protection women need, but that is obviously untrue, since inequality of pay and benefits is still quite common in America. I want it written down in the Constitution so that no state can weasel their way around it.

I agree. I meant to add this as a choice but forgot. I think in most cases this is now moot, but I still would prefer it to be stated explicitly.

 

[Gregoire]

What Democrats have been saying for years, actually became true when Alito replaced O'Connor: We are now only one Supreme Court Justice away from overturning Roe v Wade. That being said, it doesn't look like that will happen soon, given all the polls predict Democrats will actually gain Senate seats in the upcoming November election.

 

[joobz]

I want a "With crayon" option.

 

[fuelair]

I too do not wish to eliminate gun rights. I would just repeal the second amendment so that legislatures could decide on reasonable restrictions, rather than the courts.


.

But, would that be reasonable like D.C., New York and New Jersey, or reasonable like (ONLY referring to gun control here) Texas and Florida. What we need is the Texas/Florida as a National standard. Possibly with a VERY Slight modification of the castle doctrine. (No mod if the criminal/thief/invader is moving towards you and continues that after a warning BUT iff it has fully halted and fully follows the "get on the ground, hold out and seperate hands and feet, do not move!!" you then cannot shoot it.)

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

What Democrats have been saying for years, actually became true when Alito replaced O'Connor: We are now only one Supreme Court Justice away from overturning Roe v Wade. That being said, it doesn't look like that will happen soon, given all the polls predict Democrats will actually gain Senate seats in the upcoming November election.

The powers that be like covert eugenics, Roe v Wade will not be overturned anytime soon.


:13:

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I would abolish the electoral college, abolish the Senate, include balanced budget, include public financing of elections, include public education, include public healthcare, include explicit right to privacy, make the government unitary, not federal, include proportional representation, include instant run off voting, include equal rights amendment, include pacifist amendment (Military action must be defense of the nation or an ally and approved by Congress), include the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, include environmental defense, include rights of Native Americans and treaties to be recognized.

Okay, maybe I might re-write the whole thing .

 

[mrbaracuda]

Meaning: repeal the requirement to be native born, or age restrictions, or what?

That would be native born, good sir! Plus, the governator could have run. And come on, that would have been fun, no?

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I would abolish the electoral college, abolish the Senate, include balanced budget, include public financing of elections, include public education, include public healthcare, include explicit right to privacy, make the government unitary, not federal, include proportional representation, include instant run off voting, include equal rights amendment, include pacifist amendment (Military action must be defense of the nation or an ally and approved by Congress), include the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, include environmental defense, include rights of Native Americans and treaties to be recognized.

Okay, maybe I might re-write the whole thing .

Soviet State?

 

[JEROME DA GNOME]

That would be native born, good sir! Plus, the governator could have run. And come on, that would have been fun, no?

What kind of moron would vote for an actor?

:13:

 

[casebro]

I'd change the way the states are delineated. Rather than chunks of geography by order of joining, lets cut them all up by current socio-economic lines, each of about equal population. NYC one state, California broken into: L.A. , Bayaria, and Agrical. Another state called Cowboy-donia, another called Desertia. New England as one, and maybe all the Indian reservations as Indiana. Maybe Chicago/Detroit area would be Manufactria? Surrounded by Cheddarly? Each state two senators, and 10 assemblymen. That would make the electoral college moot, since 'New America' would have a balanced electoral count to the population. Of course , at census time, everything would get gerrymandered to infinity. But at least each state would be a more contiguous mass of people that shared more of a common interest.