Burly Early: January 2014

I thought it would be fun to take an old Facebook note about what I think needs to be done with regards to this grand experiment known as the United States of America. Over time, my views on politics and policy will naturally change — there's always new information to digest and integrate, after all — so I figure why not update my wishlist from time to time?

During the past few years, I have made a marked shift from being fairly "constitutional-conservative" to being more "voluntaryist libertarian/minarchist/not-quite-anarchist" I am unconvinced that society can function civilly without the state, but at the same time, I think the answer to almost any problem of public policy is "reduce the scope of government."

Anyway, without further ado, here is my political wishlist:

Constitutional Amendments:

Clarify the 2nd Amendment with the following text:

No municipality within these United States shall pass or enforce any law limiting the rights of the people to keep and bear arms. This means that the federal government, the various state governments, county or parish governments, individual townships, cities, or any other government entity has absolutely no authority to:

stop individuals from owning weapons of any sort, nor from selling them to each other, nor to place undue burden on such sales.
stop individuals from possessing, carrying, or transporting weapons of any sort, whether concealed or openly
stop individuals from using weapons of any sort, provided such use does not cause harm to another person.
register or license individuals for the ownership or carrying of weapons of any sort.

However, any person may not possess any weapon of any sort while incarcerated.
However, any person convicted of using a weapon to cause harm to another person for any reason other than defending a person or a person's property against imminent aggression, shall have their right to possess, carry, or transport weapons suspended for a time not to exceed 10 years.
However, any person convicted of using a weapon to kill another person for any reason other than defending a person or a person's property against imminent aggression, have their right to possess, carry, or transport weapons suspended indefinitely.

Changes to Congressional Process:

No member of Congress shall serve in a house of Congress for a total period longer than two full terms over the course of their lifetime. To be clear, it is acceptable for a Congressman to exhaust their term limit in one house, and then seek election to the other house, and serve two terms there prior to retiring from Congress completely. Should a member of Congress join Congress in the middle of a term, their tenure shall be treated as though they joined Congress at the beginning of that term.
The Congressional session shall last 90 days, starting August 1 of each year, except when the President calls an emergency session.
The President may only call an emergency session in order to request a declaration of war.
Congress shall maintain an Internet web site where all bills will remain posted for no less than 30 days prior to voting. Yes, this means that the first 30 days of Congress shall involve writing bills, the next 30 days publicly posting those bills, and deliberating, and the next 30 days voting.
All votes shall be roll-call votes. Every representative or Senator's vote shall be transparent.

Modify Government Remuneration

Remuneration for all government employees, including members of Congress, the President, Supreme Court Justices, military members, and all bureaucrats, shall be in United States Dollars. The government shall cease providing medical insurance, pensions, peacetime medical treatment, or any benefits whatsoever to any of its employees other than monetary payment.
Notes:

The intent here is to force government to pay honestly and openly, and to force Congress to write laws that support the free market as much as possible. They can buy insurance on the open market like the rest of us; maybe then they'll be more interested in improving the health insurance industry rather than taking it over.
I realize that this would effectively privatize the V.A. system, which likely scares a lot of military types. I only ask that you consider this: the V.A. system repeatedly comes up with failing grades for providing service to veterans, because it is only accountable when bad press rears its head. This means that veterans are essentially begging for medical treatment most of the time. My proposal is that rather than have government-provided healthcare for our servicemen, we should pay them enough that they can buy "Cadillac" insurance for themselves. Further, the "peacetime medical treatment" bit explicitly allows battlefield and MASH style hospitals in time of war.

Eliminate the tyrannical Income Tax and replace it with the FairTax.

Explicitly disallow the government from providing moneys, goods, or services to individuals or corporations unless those moneys, goods, or services are explicitly allowed by Constitutional amendment.

Article 1 § 8 is hereby repealed and replaced with the following text:

The United States may not provide money, goods, or services to any person unless the money, good or service is explicitly allowed by this amendment.
Congress shall have the following powers:

To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common defense of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow Money on the credit of the United States, but only to pay for wars declared pursuant to this Amendment.
To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.
To establish a uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;
To coin money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures; But this power shall not be delegated to any private entity; But this power shall not place any restriction on the right of individuals to trade in alternative currencies so long as said currencies are clearly not attempted counterfeits of US currency.
To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current coin of the United States;
To establish transit routes for public use, including roads, rail, waterways, and air routes.
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
To constitute Tribunals inferior to the Supreme Court;
To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations
To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water, but this power shall not be delegated to the President, and declarations of war may only be made in retaliation for direct attacks on the United States, its territories, or its citizens.
To raise and support a military force, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces
To provide for calling forth the military to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the military, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the military according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over the District of Columbia (not exceeding ten Miles square), and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Military bases, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

All Goods and Services provided by the government that are not explicitly listed here shall be phased out within two years by incorporating each department into a private corporation and giving each citizen 1 share of ownership in that corporation to trade as they please. Programs which provide pensions, like Social Security and Medicare, will have their trust funds immediately repaid in US treasury bonds to be owned by the resulting corporation, and citizens will be given 1 share for every dollar they have paid into the system, to trade as they please.
The federal government shall not purchase or hold any assets other than roads and such assets as are necessary to the existence and efficacy of the military. It shall not own any interest in manufacturing concerns. Any such interest so held at the time of passage of this amendment shall be sold at auction within 30 days.

Notes:

This means that parks, AmTrak, Social Security, the Post Office, etc., would be privatized. Charitable government organizations, like the Peace Corps, would essentially become mutual aid societies.
This removes much of Congress' ability to trade pork for votes. About the only opportunity for pork barrel spending would be to get the Feds to buy land to build a military base (yay for defensive preparedness!), to build a huge Interstate in BFE Mississippi, or to improve the waterways.
This also removes Congress' ability to allow the Fed to exist and eliminates the Federal Reserve System.

Surplus amendment, because why should we settle for a balanced budget?

Congress shall not spend more than 10% of GDP per year, except to pay for wars declared pursuant to the amendment listed above.
The United States shall not collect more than 200% of spending as revenue per year.
The taxation cap shall therefore be 10% of GDP, plus 5% for debt repayment, plus 5% for the war fund.
The first 10% of GDP collected shall pay current expenses, interest, and principle on the United States debt.
The next 5% of GDP collected shall pay the United States debt. If the debt is paid off, this 5% shall be removed from the taxation cap.
The next 5% of GDP collected shall accrue in the war fund. Once the war fund exceeds 10 times GDP, this 5% shall be removed from the taxation cap.
Once 20% of GDP has been collected in a calendar year, the Federal Government shall stop collecting taxes altogether until the start of the next calendar year.
The war fund may only be used to pay for wars declared pursuant to the amendment listed above.
Congress may borrow money on the credit of the United States only to pay for wars declared pursuant to the amendment listed above.
Notes:

This forces Congress to get out of the "let's try to raise more revenue" game.
It also forces Congress to live within the A1§8-replacing-amendment - Congress can't spend more than 10% of GDP
Further, it makes it so that once all of the taxes are collected, prices on everything drop.
If spending is reduced per the A1§8-replacement, but revenue is kept constant, we would immediately be in surplus.

* Under auspices of Interstate Transit, build a canal system along our southern border to allow shipping from the Texas coast to the California coast. The canal should be at least 500 ft wide and 100 feet deep for the entire length (or larger as necessary to support the largest warships and tankers) and have shear walls on each bank. Benefits: shipping costs to locations in Nevada, New Mexico, and TX would plummet, competition with Panama for shipping lanes, national security enhanced by ability to move warships from Atlantic to Pacific without depending on foreign nations. Bridges over the canal would ensure the ability to continue to travel to and from Mexico. While we're at it, why not do the same on the Canadian border?

* Legalize all drugs and privatize the FDA. Why privatize the FDA? Well, first of all it doesn't fit in the A1§8-replacement above. Further, it seems to me that there is no reason to believe that an FDA trademark wouldn't be as trusted as a UL trademark for purposes of designating that a drug is safe to consume. Why shouldn't there be competition when it comes to proving the safety and efficacy of drugs? Why does this have to be a government function? Answer: it doesn't.

Burly Early

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Frankentractor update

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Early Party Platform 2014

Frankentractor Update and a "quick" project.