Well, I really don't have a problem with some of these amendments at all.
Many of them stem from christian-conservative ideology and seem silly and intrusive but many are truly libertarian in nature. And given that most of the previous posters seem to have no idea what libertarians believe or how the growing nanny-state actually stiffles economic growth and personnel prosperity its no surprise that they are shocked by these amendments.
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Amendment—The Sixteenth Amendment is hereby repealed.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.
Essentialy, ends the income tax. I'm not sure what is meant by artificial persons, but I don't know of any libertarians who would end taxes on corporations. In fact nearly all of them are against all kinds of corporate welfare and want to see a more open and fluid economy where small upstarts can truely compete with multi-nationals.
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.
A smaller federal government would be a blessing, returning more power to the states and giving voters more say in the laws that affect their daily lives.
Amendment—The Social Security and Medicare tax is repealed.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.
Both of these programs are government sinkholes that waste more money than any good that they do. Private health care unfettered by government regulation would be more affordable and flexible.
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.
This just means that government agencies such as the EPA, TSA and many others cannot make rules that become defacto laws. I think this is a good thing as it gives voters the ability to decide what rules they want and re-establishes checks-and-balances.
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.
Just the age old question of term limits. Libertarians are split by this because some feel that if the voters want to continue to elect the same buffoon every time who are we to sa they can't. Also limiting the stay of elected officials would just give more power to lifetime government employees.
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.
This amendment is dubious as it would politicize the Supreme Court. Most libertarians realize that activist judges are only bad when they rule against something you like.
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.
See above. This would just lead to renewed sectionalism I think.
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.
As the 2nd Amendment was intended.
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.
This just sets up a statute of limitations on cases against the government. I don't have a problem with preventing cases that put a generation on trial for the crimes of a past generation.
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.
Again limits on federal power are okay, but I don't really agree with putting a cap on the size of state raised forces.
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.
Ignores atheists, agnostics and humanists, but as these amendments seem to be written more by a conservative than a libertarian, I'm not surprised by this. All this really does is to move the "seperation of church and state" down to the state level. This was not the founders intent and could lead to some nasty theocratic situations in such places such as Utah.
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.
Again truly showing the christian-conservative influence on these amendments. Most libertarians are pro-choice, but many recognize that late term fetuses must have some rights, especially since a criminal can be charged with homicide if they cause the death of a fetus while a mother can not even if she aborts said fetus.
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.
This is just an anti-immigration/bilingualism amendment. Most libertarians see no problem with bilingualism though they recognize the dangers that can arise when legal documents are written in two languages and do not say exactly the same thing upon translation.
Amendment—Federal law enforcement personnel are restricted to not more than one twentieth of one percent of the adult population of the United States.
This would porbably end the ridiculus war on drugs, which given the many accidental deaths caused by the frequent no-knock warrents and poor policing is a good thing.
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.
This just returns America to the pre-New Deal situation. And while many modern Americans have sadly come to believe that only government intervention can provide economic stability, they fail to realize that it is almost always government intervetion that caused the problem in the first place.
See
www.reason.com if you want to understand what libertarians really believe.
Benjamin