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Date Posted: Sat 2003-08-02 11:19:41
Author: Redeye
Subject: Re: What would you say about the following suggestion for constitution?
In reply to: Redeye 's message, "What would you say about the following suggestion for constitution?" on Wed 2003-06-04 03:35:27

Article 1 – Definition
The United States is a democratic and federal nation, which observes the separation of powers, guards the people’s rights for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, abides by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and maintains the dignity and equality before the law of all human beings.

Article 2 – Freedom of Speech and Conscience
In order to promote diversity of opinion, the United States protects and promotes the freedoms of thought and expression. Therefore, no person may be prosecuted or punished for holding any belief, knowing any fact, having any personal conscience and ethics, or exercising the freedom of speech or of the free expression of any form of art. All forms of censorship, whether by law, lack of legal protection, or harassment, are strictly forbidden. There may be no legislation of morality beyond protecting the rights and person of any individual.

Article 3 – Political Freedom
Political parties and organizations may be formed freely.

Article 4 – Freedom of and from Religion
The United States protects the free exercise of religion as well as the right to practice no religion. It is a secular nation that observes separation of religion and state and is religiously and morally neutral.

Article 5 – Freedom of Assembly and Association
All people have the right to assemble peacefully, form associations, or petition to the government at any level. The government specifically protects peaceful protest, trade unions, and strikes.

Article 6 – Personal Rights and Freedom of Movement
Every person has the right to do whatever he or she wishes with his or her body and property as long as all people affected expressly consent. All forms of involuntary servitude, whether imposed by the government or by a private party, are prohibited; conscription and slavery remain abolished. Freedom of movement into, inside, and out of the United States is guaranteed to citizens and non-citizens alike, except in case of epidemics; therefore, immigration restrictions are abolished.

Article 7 – Property Rights
Private property may only be confiscated with due process, with proof that any alternative without confiscation hurts the general welfare, and with compensation at least fifty percent above market price.

Article 8 – Elections
Every citizen of the United States whose age is eighteen or more may vote in all elections in his or her state, district, or location, including all nationwide elections. Moreover, Congress or the relevant states must respect any petition demanding a referendum (including one on recalling an elected official) or a vote on a bill in Congress or in a State Legislature, if at least five percent of the eligible voters are signed. The Tuesday between November Second and November Eighth inclusive every year is a public holiday designated as Election Day, and all elections and referenda are on such an Election Day; however, a petition in which at least ten percent of the eligible voters are signed may initiate a referendum within nine weeks from the certification of the signatures. All elections must be fair and secret. All elections where only one candidate is elected use the method of approval vote; that is, every voter can either approve or disapprove of each candidate, without effect on the other candidates, with the winner being the candidate who has won the largest number of approving votes. As a single exception to the first sentence of this Article, every citizen may vote for no more than five Specialized Legislatures.

Article 9 – Privacy
Every person has the right to be secure in his or her private home. Therefore, no search or eavesdropping on any person may be done, except with a warrant from a judge, and no soldier or other employee of the government may be quartered in a private home without the homeowner’s expressed permission. Every person has the right to privacy in communications, including but not limited to the mail, telephones, and the Internet.

Article 10 – Loss of Liberty
No person may be arrested or detained without reasonable charges. Any person detained must be brought within twenty-four hours of apprehension in front of a judge, who must inform him or her of the reasons for detention, examine his or her case, and give him or her an opportunity to raise objections. The judge must, without delay, then issue a warrant of arrest setting forth the reasons for it or order his release from detention. No detainee or prisoner may be subjected to physical or mental ill treatment or torture.

Article 11 – Due Process
Every person has the right to enjoy a speedy, public trial, by an impartial judge or panel of judges, have no fabricated evidence presented for or against him or her, and enjoy the opportunity to bring evidence or witnesses in his or her favor. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Capital and corporal forms of punishment are abolished. No person may be sentenced when it is proven that he or she suffered from a mental disorder, in which case forced hospitalization may replace imprisonment, or when the felony is theft or robbery and he or she was on the brink of starvation at the time of committing the felony. All people are equal before the law. People are judged according to the law at the time of committing the suspected felony.

Article 12 – Health Care
Every person has the right to government-paid health care. This Article does not cover plastic surgeries or any other medical operation not based on medical necessity, but it does cover abortion.

Article 13 – Abortion Rights
All rights expressed here, including those to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, begin at birth and end at death. In conjunction with Article six, therefore, every woman has the right to terminate her pregnancy at any point before the actual birth.

Article 14 – Prohibition on Discrimination
The United States may not discriminate among people on the grounds of sex, creed, conscience, race, ethnicity, or individual behavior or characteristic that does not violate any other article of this document and prohibits individual businesses from doing the same. Discrimination on the basis of qualifications is allowed even if it means that a group is over- or underrepresented, as is discrimination meant to temporarily help economically disadvantaged groups.

Article 15 – Treason
Treason is not a crime; in those cases when suspected treason is indistinguishable from crimes against humanity, the United States must turn the defendant over to an international court when possible, or try him or her according to international law and Article eleven otherwise.

Article 16 – Ban on War
The United States may not declare war against any nation, and may not engage in acts of overt war, unless attacked or provoked. It may have a standing army only in order to guard its borders, and, with the approval of the United Nations, keep and promote peace and international cooperation in the world.

Article 17 – Education
A Federal Board of Education must ensure that students finishing high school meet a certain level of knowledge of critical thinking and ethics, as well as skills including but not limited to the English language, mathematics, science, the humanities and arts, and foreign languages; similarly, it must ensure that students receiving university degrees meet specific, higher levels of knowledge in the same areas. Public education up to and including high school is free and compulsory, except that parents may enroll their children in recognized private schools, or school them at home under the guidelines of the Board of Education. Public schools may only teach what is in humanity’s best knowledge, and may not indoctrinate students in any ideology, including patriotism.

Article 18 – The Environment
The United States respects the environment, and may not hurt, deplete, or destroy it except in extreme circumstances; similarly, it prohibits others from deliberately doing the same.

Article 19 – Freedom of Information
All information regarding the laws, bills, motions, actions, or treaties of the United States must be revealed to the public as soon as possible. The government must keep a journal of all executive orders, legislated bills including a list of members of Congress voting for and against, and Court decisions including a list of judges agreeing with and dissenting from the majority decision.

Article 20 – Citizenship
Every person born or naturalized in the United States is a citizen. No person may be deprived of his citizenship against his will, and no person may be forced to keep an American citizenship. Every person persecuted for political or religious reasons in another country has the right to asylum, unless the reason for persecution involves a crime against humanity.

Article 21 – Ban on Nobility
The United States may not grant titles of nobility or any other hereditary honors.

Article 22 – The Legislative Branch
All federal legislative power in the United States is vested in a bicameral Congress that consists of a House of Representatives and a Senate and in subordinate Specialized Legislatures.

Article 23 – The House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is composed of four hundred members. The election for the House of Representatives is on every other Election Day for a term of two years; the actual term starts on the first working day of the year after election. All parties wishing to contest the election must submit an unordered list of candidates five weeks prior to the election; as under Article nineteen, the list must be revealed to the public along with information about the candidates’ backgrounds. Then, on the day of election, voters may vote for one list, on the basis of proportional representation by Sainte-Lague’s method, except that every list receiving less than two percent of the vote is disqualified, as well as for one candidate within the same list, on the basis of limited voting. No candidate may appear on more than one list, and every person appearing on a list for the House of Representatives must have never been sentenced to a term in prison, be a citizen of the United States, and be at least twenty-one at the beginning of the new term.

Article 24 – The Senate
The Senate is composed of one hundred members, elected in fifty Senate districts that have two Senators each. Senators are elected for a term of four years, and each district elects one Senator every two years; the election for the Senate coincides with the election for the House of Representatives, and each Senator’s term starts on the first working day of the year after his or her election. The House of Representatives determines the Senate districts five weeks before every election to the Senate. The number of eligible voters in every Senate district must be between four and a half and five and a half percent of the total number of eligible voters, the district boundaries must conform to state and county boundaries whenever possible, regional culture and economic unity must be taken into account, all districts in the contiguous United States must be territorially contiguous, and the total length of district boundaries should be as small as possible given the other criteria. No candidate may contest more than one district in one election, and every candidate must have never been sentenced to a term in prison, be a citizen of the United States, and be at least thirty at the beginning of the new term.

Article 25 – The Sessions of Congress
Congress must convene for at least one hundred and forty days per year, at most two hundred and ten days per year, and at least once per six months. When Congress is in session, neither house may adjourn without the consent of the other.

Article 26 – Procedure Outline
A simple majority in the House of Representatives is enough to pass ordinary legislation. However, all legislation pertaining to the exact details of this Constitution, including setting up the bodies mentioned in it, may be passed only with an absolute majority in both houses. Moreover, the Senate may veto any bill in the House of Representatives with a majority of three-fourths of the Senators. All votes on recalling an elected official must have a majority of three-fourths of the members of the House of Representatives except for those concerning recalling a Senator, which require a majority of three-fourths in the Senate. All bills become laws twenty-four hours after they are passed, unless they explicitly say otherwise. A quorum of half of the members of either house is enough to hold sessions in it. All bills must be debated for at least twenty-four net hours over at least three days and be passed in three readings in the house voting on them. Every member of Congress as well as the Cabinet as a whole and a successful petition may initiate legislation or declare a referendum, which takes place on the first Election Day after the declaration, and which may include a recall vote on any elected official not elected by proportional representation.

Article 27 – Committees
Each house selects its committees and its offices by majority vote. The House of Representatives selects the office of Speaker, who enforces the rules of speaking and discussion that it decides and manages its everyday operations; similarly, the Senate selects the office of President of the Senate. Each house must have at least one committee for every Cabinet Department.

Article 28 – Relation between State and Federal Law
Each house may require a state to vote on a bill on an issue about which the states have exclusive jurisdiction. The House of Representatives must debate and vote immediately on any law passed in a majority of the states.

Article 29 – Vacancies in the House of Representatives
If a member of the House of Representatives dies or resigns, then all people appearing on his or her list for the previous election move one place up, and the first person on the list not to enter Congress in the original election enters Congress.

Article 30 – Vacancies in the Senate
Each Senator, prior to his or her election, appoints a person qualified to run for Senator as his or her Deputy Senator. If a Senator dies or resigns, then the Deputy Senator replaces him or her, and immediately appoints his or her own Deputy Senator. No person may be the Deputy Senator of more than one candidate, and no Deputy Senator who replaces a Senator may appoint a Deputy Senator who is already a Deputy of another Senator.

Article 31 – Specialized Legislatures
Congress and the various committees of each house are responsible to subordinate Specialized Legislatures, each of which may as a whole initiate legislation in its area of specialization. Each such legislature has two hundred members and is elected on the same date and by the same method of the House of Representatives, and the qualifications for candidates for Specialized Legislatures are the same as those for the House of Representatives. Unless Congress determines otherwise by law, there are thirty Specialized Legislatures, one for each of the following issues: education, defense, labor issues, the environment, health, energy, international trade, taxation, foreign policy, industry, commerce, the interior, agriculture, transportation, communications, scientific research, housing and development, immigration and naturalization, crime, race and gender issues, the civil code, urban policy, the media, infrastructure, welfare and social security, civil liberties, firearms and explosives, religion, small business, and the arts. Specialized Legislatures have the same jurisdiction of the House of Representatives in their respective areas and follow the same procedures, but the House of Representatives may repeal, change, or override their laws.

Article 32 – The Executive Branch
All federal executive power in the United States is vested in the office of President, who is both Head of State and Head of Government, and in a Cabinet composed of him- or herself and the Secretaries of the Departments.

Article 33 – The President’s Term
The President’s term is four years. The Presidential election coincides with every second Congressional election, unless the President dies, resigns, or is removed from office, in which case the next Congressional election is also Presidential. The President’s term begins on the first working day of the year following the election.

Article 34 – The Cabinet
The President appoints Secretaries with the consent of the appropriate Specialized Legislature and dismisses them at will. He or she determines and is responsible for the general policy guidelines of the Departments, within which each Secretary conducts the affair of his Department independently. In case of differences of opinions between Secretaries, the Cabinet votes on its position, with each person having one vote.

Article 35 – Vacancies in the Presidency
In case of resignation or death, the President is replaced by an interim President who is elected by the remaining members of the Cabinet and who must immediately be approved by an absolute majority in the Senate.

Article 36 – The President as Commander in Chief
The President, with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, is the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of the United States.

Article 37 – The Powers of the President
The President may make treaties, which the Senate must ratify within fourteen days of their signing, as well as appoint ambassadors and Federal officials whose appointment is not vested by law or by this Constitution to any other body, and grant pardons except in cases of impeachment.

Article 38 – Secretarial Control of Departments
Each Secretary appoints and dismisses subordinate officials in his or her Department.

Article 39 – Transparency in the Cabinet
The Cabinet must regularly inform Congress, the Supreme Court, and the people of the measures it has taken, as well as of the state of the Union.

Article 40 – The Qualifications of the President
Every Presidential candidate must have never been sentenced to a term in prison as well as have been a citizen of the United States for five years and be at least thirty at the beginning of the new term. Every candidate must also pass a National Knowledge Examination, written according to the Senate’s guidelines, as well as issue written, unscripted statements on a number of issues decided by the Senate. No person may serve as President for more than two consecutive terms, although the total number of terms is not limited.

Article 41 – The Judicial Branch
All federal judicial power in the United States is vested in the Supreme Court and in its subordinate courts, which include the Courts of Appeals and their subordinate Trial, Bankruptcy, Federal Claims, and International Trade Courts.

Article 42 – The Trial Courts
The Trial Courts hear all cases of federal civil or criminal lawsuits and decide in cases of disputes among citizens or corporations in their respective Districts.

Article 43 – The Bankruptcy Courts
The Bankruptcy Courts hear all cases of bankruptcy of individuals as well as corporations.

Article 44 – The Courts of Federal Claims and International Trade
All nationwide claims for money damages against the United States, disputes over federal contracts, and nationalization of firms or private property are made in a single Court of Federal Claims, and all nationwide claims involving customs and international trade are made in a single Court of International Trade. The Court of Federal Claims and Court of International Trade are the equals of the other Trial and Bankruptcy Courts but are not based in Districts.

Article 45 – Trial Court Districts
Each Trial Court is based in a district. No Trial Court district may encompass the territory of more than one State or Territory. Unless Congress rules otherwise, the boundaries of the districts are the same as those at the time of adoption of this Constitution. Bankruptcy Courts are based on the same districts of the Trial Courts.

Article 46 – The Courts of Appeals
The Courts of Appeals hear all appeals from Trial Courts and State Courts as well as cases that the Trial Courts would otherwise hear except that they span more than one District. Moreover, they judge officials in the States they are responsible to, and may strike down State laws contrary to this Constitution.

Article 47 – Appeals Court Circuits
All Courts of Appeals but one are based in Circuits. All Circuits encompass one or more States; however, no State may be split between two Circuits. Unless Congress rules otherwise, there are twelve such Circuits; the first Circuit includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the second includes New York and New Jersey; the third includes Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; the fourth includes Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; the fifth includes Georgia and Florida; the sixth includes Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky; the seventh includes Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan; the eighth includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas; the ninth includes Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; the tenth includes Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Alaska, and Hawaii; the eleventh includes California; and the twelfth is not based in a Circuit but rather hears appeals from Courts in territories and from the Courts of Federal Claims and International Trade.

Article 48 – The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court decides on the interpretation of the Constitution when it is in doubt, and on the compatibility of a federal law or bill with this Constitution. It also hears appeals from the Courts of Appeals, and disputes that the Courts of Appeals would normally hear except that it is between two parties not in the same Circuit. Whenever there is a lawsuit involving an interpretation of the Constitution or the constitutionality of a law or an act, the whole panel of Supreme Court justices hears and decides on the case.

Article 49 – Appointment and Number of Judges
The Supreme Court has nine justices, the Courts of Appeals have eleven judges each, and the Trial, Bankruptcy, Federal Claims, and International Trade Courts have twenty-one judges each. One of the judges in each Court is a chief judge, who presides over cases involving more than one judge and assigns judges to cases. All judges are appointed for life and may only finish their term by death, resignation, retirement, or conviction of a crime carrying a prison sentence. Justices, judges, and chief judges are appointed with the approval of three out of the four following bodies: the Cabinet, the Senate, the American Bar Association, and the National Lawyers’ Guild.

Article 50 – Freedom of Conscience of Judges
Judges and justices are bound only by this Constitution, the law, and their own conscience.

Article 51 – The Federal Reserve
All monetary authority in the United States is vested in a private and regulated Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve coins and prints money and is the sole authority concerning monetary policy.

Article 52 – Incompatibility
No federal or state official may hold more than one position of trust in the United States or in its individual states.

Article 53 – Allowances of Elected Officials
The Treasury pays monthly allowances to all federal officials. Officials holding the same position in the United States are paid the same allowance; therefore, all members of Congress save the Speaker are paid the same allowance, as are all judges or justices in each of the three levels of Courts. The allowance changes each year to fit the price index; however, Congress may only change the real allowance provided that it affects only officials elected or appointed after the needed legislation is passed and that all changes to the real allowance of its own members, of a President, or of the Secretaries are approved by a referendum.

Article 54 – State Borders
Only a referendum may change the borders of the states. In any such referendum, the final border agreed on should take into account regional culture, geographical features, contiguity, and the votes in the referendum down to the precinct level while taking margins of vote into account. Such a referendum results from a petition in which at least five percent of the voters in the area concerned are signed, or from a call for referendum by Congress or by a Legislature in one of the states affected. States may merge and split under the same guidelines.

Article 55 – Principles Binding the States
Each state must maintain the principles of democracy and separation of powers, as well as follow the rights listed in Articles two to fifteen, seventeen to nineteen, and twenty-one. Should these be threatened in any state, it is the duty of the federal government to intervene. All state legislatures have at least one house elected by proportional representation.

Article 56 – Status of State Law in Other States
Each state respects the laws and regulations of the others as well as contracts made in other States. Consequently, no State may offer asylum explicitly or by default to any criminal fleeing from any other State.

Article 57 – Secession
States may secede from the Union, provided that in a referendum, three quarters of the voters in the State and an absolute majority of the eligible voters approve of secession. The United States may not use secession alone as a reason to engage in military or economic warfare against seceding states.

Article 58 – Admission of New States
New states may be admitted into the United States by referendum in the new states’ territory and by an absolute majority in Congress. The United States may not hold any territory for more than five years without offering it statehood, and therefore all currently held territories must be offered statehood within five years of the ratification of this Constitution.

Article 59 – Federal and State Authority
The federal government has exclusive authority on foreign policy, monetary policy, naturalization, tariffs, the military, post offices, and regulation of natural monopolies. The state governments have exclusive authority on regulation of state roads and buildings, the police, and extracting natural resources. The federal and state governments share authority on education, health care, regulation of firearms and explosives, civil and criminal codes, standards for incorporation, scientific research, regulation of the economy, promotion of the arts, fiscal policy, and taxation. However, federal law always overrides state law. The combined federal and state sales tax may not exceed fifteen percent, the combined income tax may not exceed sixty percent, and the combined corporate and dividend taxes may not together exceed sixty percent. In all cases except monetary policy, Congress has the exclusive power of exercising the federal government’s power according to this Article. All federal powers here require simple majorities for legislation in the House of Representatives or the appropriate Specialized Legislature, except for the budget, which requires an absolute majority in both houses of Congress. In any case, no retroactive law may be passed.

Article 60 – Debts
Except in cases of bankruptcy, the United States pays all of its debts on time; all debts dated before this Constitution are still in effect.

Article 61 – Amendment
All amendments to this Constitution require a three-fourths vote in both houses of Congress and a majority in a subsequent referendum. Any law passed contrary to this Constitution or judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court may be passed again as an amendment. The Supreme Court may temporarily resolve contradictions among various Articles and sentences of this Constitution if it finds any, but Congress and the people must amend the latter according to the first sentence of this Article within two weeks.

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