List of dubious Constitutional amendments

Here's a list of constitutional amendments from the appendix of Tom Kratman's terrible A State of Disobedience, enacted following a Second Civil War(R) :

Various amendments to the United States Constitution proposed at the Virginia Beach, Virginia, Constitutional Convention:

Amendment—The Sixteenth Amendment is hereby repealed. No direct taxes shall be levied upon living persons, real or artificial.

Amendment—Federal expenditures shall not exceed ten percent of Gross Domestic Product. An estate tax, not exceeding fifty percent may be levied on estates over ten million dollars in current dollars upon portions of those estates exceeding that amount. The figure of ten million dollars shall be adjusted annually in accordance with the rise in cost of living as determined by the Consumer Price Index.

Amendment—The Social Security and Medicare tax is repealed. Current interest holders in the Social Security system shall have their money repaid within ten years at an interest rate of nine percent.

Amendment—Within ten years from the date of enactment of this amendment the Congress shall not have the right to delegate its authority under the constitution. The Congress shall reduce the manpower of currently existing agencies to which it has delegated its authority by ten percent per year.

Amendment—No one shall be elected to any office of the federal government more than twice in succession, three times in life, or twelve years total.

Amendment—Every four years, in conjunction with the election for the presidency of the United States, each ballot shall list all the members of the United States Supreme Court. That justice of that court whose name garners the greatest number of votes in that election shall be forever disbarred from a seat on the Supreme Court or any federal elective office.

Amendment—At any time when a majority of the governors of the states shall vote, in joint session, to overturn any decision of the Supreme Court impacting upon the rights of the sovereign states under this Constitution, that decision shall be overturned. Thirty such governors shall constitute a quorum.

Amendment—The Second Amendment is hereby repealed. The federal government shall insure that no private individuals keep or possess nuclear, chemical or biological weapons of mass destruction. All other forms of weapons may be owned, borne and possessed by the citizens of the United States without restriction or registration. Such weapons may not be taxed.

Amendment—No suit against the United States, or any of its states, for any grievance which accrued more than twenty years prior to the enactment of this Amendment, shall be maintained or sustained.

Amendment—The Regular Armed Forces of the United States shall be no greater in manpower than half of one percent of the population of adult citizens of the United States. In the event of war requiring greater levels of manpower, the states are required to provide further troops, up to six percent of the state's population as determined by the most recent census.

Amendment—Neither the federal government, nor any of its branches, shall make any rule limiting or interfering with the free exercise of religion on the part of any of the lesser polities of the United States or the citizens of those polities.

Amendment—A human being shall be defined as an implanted, fertilized ovum of the human species, or any later stage of development of that implanted ovum. All human beings within the United States shall be entitled to the full protection of the law.

Amendment—It shall be the right of citizens and lawful residents of the United States to speak in plain, standard and traditional English. It shall be illegal and actionable against any citizen, resident, business entity, educational institution or government to make any attempt to limit that right on the part of a citizen.

Amendment—Federal law enforcement personnel are restricted to not more than one twentieth of one percent of the adult population of the United States.

Amendment—Whereas responsibility and authority must be equal, and whereas it has been demonstrated that abuse of authority is inevitable at some point for some responsibilities, so the United States Government is relieved of the following responsibilities: to ensure the economic well being of individuals of any class or by any means or for any period of time, to regulate commerce except that no state shall be permitted to set up tariffs against any other state or states, to conduct economic planning, to ensure the rights or presumed rights of any group as a group, to engage in social engineering, to interfere with or aid education at any level.

How retarded is it?
 
:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Amendment—The Social Security and Medicare tax is repealed. Current interest holders in the Social Security system shall have their money repaid within ten years at an interest rate of nine percent.

Amendment—Whereas responsibility and authority must be equal, and whereas it has been demonstrated that abuse of authority is inevitable at some point for some responsibilities, so the United States Government is relieved of the following responsibilities: to ensure the economic well being of individuals of any class or by any means or for any period of time, to regulate commerce except that no state shall be permitted to set up tariffs against any other state or states, to conduct economic planning, to ensure the rights or presumed rights of any group as a group, to engage in social engineering, to interfere with or aid education at any level.
Screw you, New Deal!

Amendment—Every four years, in conjunction with the election for the presidency of the United States, each ballot shall list all the members of the United States Supreme Court. That justice of that court whose name garners the greatest number of votes in that election shall be forever disbarred from a seat on the Supreme Court or any federal elective office.

Amendment—At any time when a majority of the governors of the states shall vote, in joint session, to overturn any decision of the Supreme Court impacting upon the rights of the sovereign states under this Constitution, that decision shall be overturned. Thirty such governors shall constitute a quorum.
Screw you, "activist" judges!

Amendment—No suit against the United States, or any of its states, for any grievance which accrued more than twenty years prior to the enactment of this Amendment, shall be maintained or sustained.
Screw you, Indians, Blacks, Japanese, and probably several other groups!

Amendment—A human being shall be defined as an implanted, fertilized ovum of the human species, or any later stage of development of that implanted ovum. All human beings within the United States shall be entitled to the full protection of the law.
Screw you, pro-choicers!

Amendment—It shall be the right of citizens and lawful residents of the United States to speak in plain, standard and traditional English. It shall be illegal and actionable against any citizen, resident, business entity, educational institution or government to make any attempt to limit that right on the part of a citizen.
Screw you... uh... I really have no idea. Honestly, WTF?
 
Man, all these crazy amendements and they didn't even ban the most blatant loophole in the Constitution: Dead people can run for public office.

Am I the only one who finds the fact that they decided levying a direct tax on artificial people was an amendement-worthy problem the least bit disturbing?

And don't we already have a law banning private citizens from having Jupiter missles in the basement?
 
Man, all these crazy amendements and they didn't even ban the most blatant loophole in the Constitution: Dead people can run for public office.

Am I the only one who finds the fact that they decided levying a direct tax on artificial people was an amendement-worthy problem the least bit disturbing?

And don't we already have a law banning private citizens from having Jupiter missles in the basement?

I'm not sure about the "artificial people" thing; I read it as taxes cannot be levied on corporations (legally persons) either.

And as to the spending cannot exceed 10% GDP: yeah, with a tax scheme like that you'd have a hard time exceeding 2%. My economics professor has just woken up with the cold sweats, and he doesn't know why...
 
I'm not sure about the "artificial people" thing; I read it as taxes cannot be levied on corporations (legally persons) either.
Me and my lousy knowledge of legal speak. I read it as the Government being so poor they started demanding taxes from fictional characters:eek::D.
 
Mmmmm mostly ideal amendments. Minus the whole unlikely sillyness of the idea.
Yeah screw you, stay out of my life and stay out of my wallet i say.
 

CalBear

Moderator
Donor
Monthly Donor
Well, Tom Kartman has some unique perspectives. He did say in a thread here, during his brief membership, that he had written this particular book on spec.

Based on his other works, I don't know if he would personally endore a couple of these (like the tiny military), but most of them aren't a surprise.
 

boredatwork

Banned
These are great ways to turn America into a 3rd World Country

Hardly - given that most of those were in place during America's rise from a collection of backwater colonies to a major regional power and one of the world's largest economies. Look at the proposals, and look at the US constitution as of, say 1900 or so. Not that massive a difference. If you compare the actual laws in place under the consitution at the time, the difference shrinks further.

It certainly repeals the expansion of the welfare state and federal scope of activity under FDR and later Johnson, but that's hardly enough to drop the US to Zimbabwe levels.

Welfare didn't make the USA rich. Thus eliminating it, won't, in and of itself, make the USA poor.
 
Hardly - given that most of those were in place during America's rise from a collection of backwater colonies to a major regional power and one of the world's largest economies. Look at the proposals, and look at the US constitution as of, say 1900 or so. Not that massive a difference. If you compare the actual laws in place under the consitution at the time, the difference shrinks further.

It certainly repeals the expansion of the welfare state and federal scope of activity under FDR and later Johnson, but that's hardly enough to drop the US to Zimbabwe levels.

Welfare didn't make the USA rich. Thus eliminating it, won't, in and of itself, make the USA poor.

May I note that by 2008 standards, 1900 USA was a third-world country?
 

boredatwork

Banned
your wallet, thats total bs, most of that money couldnt have been made without the social capital that supports your existence.

No, it's not bs at all. None of the money in that wallet would have been made if Constantinople hadn't worked for it. "Social capital" doesn't mean diddly squat if someone doesn't do the hard work. Constantinople did the hard work, the money is his reward for it. The existence of capital (human, legal, physical, financial) is already priced in to the market which paid Const. for his time and effort.

That little voice in our heads trying to come up with justifications for stealing Const's money is steeped in envy and laziness. We envy Const. his money, we're too lazy to work hard enough to make our own, so we try to take his and spend it on ourselves. If we did this directly, everyone would see it for what it is, theft. If we use a politician as a middle man, it becomes progressive taxation, high minded social policy, and fairness, that only nazis and puppykillers could object to.
 

Susano

Banned
Look, its Kratman. Its Tom "SS was great" Kratman. Just ignore him. Even this dismissal here gives him way more credit than he deserves. The TIMECUBE guy has better points than him!
 
No, it's not bs at all. None of the money in that wallet would have been made if Constantinople hadn't worked for it. "Social capital" doesn't mean diddly squat if someone doesn't do the hard work. Constantinople did the hard work, the money is his reward for it. The existence of capital (human, legal, physical, financial) is already priced in to the market which paid Const. for his time and effort.

That little voice in our heads trying to come up with justifications for stealing Const's money is steeped in envy and laziness. We envy Const. his money, we're too lazy to work hard enough to make our own, so we try to take his and spend it on ourselves. If we did this directly, everyone would see it for what it is, theft. If we use a politician as a middle man, it becomes progressive taxation, high minded social policy, and fairness, that only nazis and puppykillers could object to.

So you believe that only the rich and powerful should be able to steal, because that's basically what your saying. Power exists, its just how you use it. It can be used to moderate excesses of power or to worsen them.

Steve
 
Amendment - One year from the enactment of this Amendment, the manufacture, sale, and importation of soap, and all other substances, devices, and products for the purpose of cleaning, shall be prohibited.
 
Amendment - One month (30 days) after the enactment of this amendment, the vocal utterance of word "Belgium" shall be prohibited, except when diplomatically required.

Simon ;)
 
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