What Amendments to the Constitution I Support

Our Constitution has been around since the beginning, 1789. It has undergone some Amendments over the years. Here are a few ideas that will make our nation better.

- Jan. 2018

1. A Balanced budget

2. Term limits for members of Congress

3. Term limits for Supreme Court justices

4. Civics test for all elected officials

5. English as official language

6. No citizenship rights for anchor babies

7. Photo ID required for elections

8. Public Education mandatory and no social promotion

9. Federal Judges cannot legislate from the bench

10. Federal government cannot print money and FICA cannot be merged into the general fund. (No pyramid scheme)

1. A balanced budget amendment is the last resort. You would hope our elected officials would know how to manage a budget. Apparently, that is not the case. They found it easier to just spend and borrow till there is no tomorrow. This is very irresponsible. Of course it should not be cast in stone. With exceptions like a major war or natural or man-made disasters, we should spend within our means. We should also try and be as diligent as possible in managing our revenue resources. There should be accountability of all major expenses and spending. This should be a way of life in all officials working for us. The money they spend are our money and should not be wasted or abused. This is just common sense. If I had a preference, I would not want an amendment but prefer the elected officials do so because it is part of their job. It is only called into being because we now have a national debt of $22 trillion and there seems no end in sight. But, ther is an end. All good things and not so good thinks do come to an end.

2. Term limits for Congress. This idea is long over due. When the founders wrote the Constitution, they never intended or envisioned a career politician. It was meant to be a public service sacrifice like serving on a jury. A person would go to Washington DC and serve his term of 6 years for Senate, or 4 years for the House of Representstives and return home to resume his main career...as farmer or lawyer or just a private citizen...

Now, we have developed this professional class of politicians who are there to make a whole career of it. Fund raising non-stop and currying favors and making deals at the expense of the public. It is time to put a stop to this common practice. Let’s restrict the Senators to two terms (12 years max) and House to 4 terms (8 years max).

This way, each politician would know the amount of time they may serve and focus their energy not on reelection but on doing the business of his constituents.

3. Term limits for Supreme Court Justices. The latest event with the health of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in question should open the discussion for a term limit for justices. How many years maximum should a justice be allowed to serve? Perhaps it should not even be limited by years. It should depend on the physical and mental health of the individual justices. For some, it could be 90 but for others 65. It depends on whether that person can perform the duties of a justice of the court. What would King Solomon do in this case?

4. A basic civics test. What is civics? It is how our government suppose to work. It is the details of the election process and transfer of power and the balance of power as outlined in our Constitution. If someone is elected to high office in our federal government, he or she is expected to have the basic knowledge under his or her belt.

Yet, our system have been perverted such that a new inexperienced person can be elected to high office by an uninformed public. This is insane. If someone does not know how it suppose to work, how can he or she propose legislation or rule on the law or execute the law under our system? It cannot work.

Thus, a person being elected, must pass a simple civics test. One that he or she can prepare for and given ample opportunity to learn and be tested. Is that too much to ask?

5. English should be made the official language. It is time we have a single language that every citizen should understand and communicate with. Our country is made up of a nation of immigrants. But, we need to all speak the same language. Our schools all operates with English. Our courts should also be the same. All businesses of our legislature are conducted in English. Our commerce use English as the main way of communication. Therefore, our elections should also be conducted in English.

I am not saying it should be the only language. Many countries have multiple languages spoken. There is no problem if someone wants to speak a different language at home. What I am saying is all official business should be conducted in English only. One of the traits that uniqely identify a country is its language. The other two are borders and culture.

There is no reason why we should have duel languages like taking a driving test, or voting or conducting a court hearing... This is not the UN, we don’t need translators between our people.

6. An end to citizenship for babies born of undocumented mothers. The ”anchor babies” is a derogatory term. However, the problem is real. We have a cottage industry of people helping birth mothers from another coutry to come here and give birth and automatically earning a citizenship for their babies. This policy should end. When our country was formed, we welcome all people from all over because we were a growing nation and this was a large country in terms of physical size. We needed workers. That is no longer true. We are a matured nation.

7. A photo ID for all elections. when the Constitution was written, there were no cameras. Now, we have all forms of identifications. Drivers license, passports, green cards, and assorted forms. It is time we have a voting system that is modernized. A photo ID is a way to insure someone is legal to vote and also vote only once. In Iraq, after the war, when they have democratic elections, they have a purple ink to mark those who voted. It was a simple and cheap scheme but it serves the purpose.

Now on 2019, we need a modern method to insure someone is who they are when they vote. For those who charges voter suppression, it is not. Everyone has an ID. You cannot survive in our world without some form of identification. When you apply for benefits, when you apply for a job or when you apply to attend schools...

There is no good reason why anyone cannot present an ID.

8. Every person should be given the opportunity to attend Public schools up to the high school level and paid for by the State. This must be validated with standard tests at each level. We should not promote someone to the next grade if they have not learned the curriculum. This social promotion hurt not only the student but society as a whole. We need an educated work force.

9. Federal judges cannot legislate from the bench. This is very simple. A judge does not have the power to create a new law or change an existing laws. His duty is to rule whether a law, written by the legislators, conforms to the Constitution or not. That is all. If it is fine, if it isn’t, it should be kicked back to the legislature to re write it.

10. The federal government cannot print more money. This so called “quantitative easing” is not a good thing. It devalue our currency and plays havoc on our financial markets. The federal government can only raise taxes or lower spending. They cannot print more paper money.

Amending the Constitution is very difficult. It was designed that way by the framers. They want it to be debated and take time to convince a super majority of citizens.

These are my wish list. I have no delusion thinking they could be achieved anytime soon. However, we can all hope. It is just common sense.