5) Abolish Capital Punishment.

There are numerous good reasons to abolish capital punishment. For starters, you can never bring back the life of an innocent executed person. The number of prisoners released from death row by exculpatory DNA evidence suggests that many innocent people have been executed throughout America’s history. Of those executed, economically disadvantaged minorities have been the chief targets of the executioner. This suggests a denial of equal protection of the laws and the right to equality of the Declaration as incorporated by the 9^th amendment.

Another reason for ending state executions is that capital punishment runs contrary to the Right to Life of the Declaration of Independence as incorporated by the Ninth Amendment of the Constitution. The right to life is an individual and universal human right. It is our emotional attachment to retribution which has clouded our sense of humanity and has helped to desensitize the violence and inequity of war.

6) Add the Rights of the Declaration of Independence.

American revolutionaries put their lives and property on the line to secure the rights of the Declaration of Independence: Those were the “inalienable” rights to Equality, Life, Liberty, Safety, the Pursuit of Happiness, Happiness, itself, and the right to change or abolish the form of government. Would 9/11 occurred or would government preparation for and response to Katrina been so ineffectual had there been a constitutional right to safety? If Americans had a long recognized constitutional right to safety, the right would have been litigated numerous times over the decades and Supreme Court cases would have discussed the many different kinds of safety and the varying degrees of government responsibility. It might have been totally unconscionable and unconstitutional to allow the New Orleans levees to be inadequate and unsafe before Katrina had there been a constitutional right to safety. Would we have needed the 13th amendment or the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960’s, or unequal wages for women and men doing the same work had there been a constitutional right to equality since the Constitution’s inception? Would the Supreme Court have so blithely dismissed the right to an education had the pursuit of happiness been a stated part of the Constitution? Would our federal budget be so imbalanced in its allocation of resources if we had litigated what the right to “happiness” actually means? Would the right to safety to mean that all Americans were entitled to medical care? Would President Bush have at first dismissed global warning had there been a long established right to environmental safety? These questions might have already been favorably answered to the benefit of the people and the world had these rights been a part of the original Bill of Rights of the Constitution. By implication, the rights of the Declaration are already included in the Constitution by virtue of the Ninth Amendment. That amendment states that “the enumeration of certain rights in this Constitution shall not be construed to demean or disparage others retained by the people.” To what “other rights” was the Ninth Amendment of 1791 referring, if not the rights of the Declaration of Independence of 1776? Given the current composition of the Supreme Court, there is a greater chance of earth being hit by a large comet than the Supreme Court interpreting the Ninth Amendment to incorporate the inalienable rights of the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution. This means that the people will be the ones to make the important changes to the Constitution—as it should be.

There is another reason to include the rights of the Declaration of Independence in the Constitution. Certain rights of the Declaration appear to be a framework for a wider, more holistic and balanced body of rights than those found in the Constitution.* Given the Declaration’s statement that governments are “instituted” to secure the rights of the people, a balanced body of rights might lead to a fairer and more balanced distribution of government’s resources.

Finally, there may be a procedural problem in attempting to add all of the rights of the Declaration to the Constitution in one amendment. If so, seven or eight amendments may be required to accomplish the same goal.

7) Add the Right to Know.

It appears that the Bush administration has manipulated the truth as a matter of policy. This has been done in two ways: twisting the truth as it is (lying) or hiding information (lying by omission). As the most secretive administration in our nation’s history, the Bush administration has prevented the people from knowing just how responsible, effective, honest, and competent it has actually been. The people must have access to information on all of the actions and stated intentions of its government in order to hold its government accountable. In addition, citizens in their role of citizen bosses must have sufficient information regarding government activity so they can make the decisions necessary to direct their elected representatives. Information should be readily and openly available and not hidden behind the guise of “executive privilege”; a stratagem discredited by the Supreme Court in the Nixon administration but reborn again by the Bush presidency.

8) Add the Right to Political and Electoral Power.

The Constitution needs an amendment stating words to the effect that all political and electoral power originates and is vested in the individual. This language will reinforce the paramount right to vote and discourage laws or regulations that interfere or restrict the right to vote other than minimal requirements of residence.

9) Add the Right to Love.

As used, love means the positive effort by government to attain an equal distribution of governmental resources directed towards the attainment of all human rights for each individual. The Declaration of Independence states that governments are instituted to secure the rights of the people. Since human rights are individual, every citizen has the right to depend on his or her government to provide the protection of and access to all of his or her rights. Each right carries with it an individual duty. Thus, each citizen has the individual duty to further those efforts. The right to love is a statement that this nation and its citizens recognize their obligation to help each of its citizens to attain their fundamental aspirations.

10) Add the Right to Survive.

A nation established on the foundation of securing the rights of the people cannot deny the needs of its people. The right to survive ensures that no person will be denied the necessities of life which includes the right to health and medical care (as distinguished from medical insurance), food, shelter, and clothing, and a job (including worker training that will enable the worker to adequately perform a job). Our nation has failed to provide approximately 50 million people adequate health and medical care (including mental health care) and hundreds of thousands of Americans are homeless. Let our nation focus on these two major problems and then find a way to find work for all of those who seek it. Let us stop thinking just in terms of “my rights” to a mindset of “our rights” and in the process, let us move to become a nation where, at a minimum, the basic needs of all of its citizens are met.

11) Add the Right to a Safe and Clean Environment.

There is no guarantee that the inclusion of the right to safety will necessarily mean the right to a Safe Environment. Thus, a separate amendment is necessary. There is no leeway for error in this era of global warning. There is no longer the option to argue that a cleaner or safer environment will hurt the national economy. Not only is that not a true statement, but when the existence of life on earth is endangered by wasteful and dangerous energy and environmental policies safety and survival cannot be compromised.

12) Add the Right to a Future.

The right to a future means that government must enact policies and programs, reflected by its budget and its governmental structure to maintain its infrastructure, national parks, forests, national resources, and environment for our progeny. Government must provide contingency funds by saving part of its budget to provide for unanticipated emergencies caused by man or nature.

Government must have planning departments or divisions in every agency to make an effort to anticipate future events. Such a right might have helped to anticipate 9/11 or the consequences of hurricane Katrina. The right to a future will help to ensure that government and its people no longer are simply reactive to events but, in many situations, will have anticipated them, giving the people a sense of security and control over them.

In order to be prepared for specifically unanticipated natural and human disasters, the federal government should be required to annually save up to 5% of its entire allocated budget to be used quickly by the executive branch for unanticipated events or emergencies such as the Katrina disaster or the sub prime crisis 150 billion dollar rebate. In this way, Americans could handle their emergencies without jeopardizing the stability of the dollar and without Congress bickering about the amount required to fix the problem.

13) Add Cultural Rights.

Humans are mental, physical, emotional, and creative/imaginative beings. At the macro level, our creative potentials become cultural rights. It is time for the nation to acknowledge that individuals have a right to express their artistic and creative selves and individual lifestyles on a level recognized and enforced to the same extent as educational and social rights. Until cultural rights are recognized, government leaders will fail to demand that a higher % of the budget be allocated to media and culture. Without a substantial increase in the federal budget for culture, music, art, will continue to be among the first subjects dropped when school districts cut costs. If education continues to deny cultural subjects as an essential part of the school curriculum, then much of the public will remain unaware of their creative potentials and their cultural rights. The lack of awareness of cultural rights by substantial numbers of Americans will make it difficult to persuade other Americans that these rights are real and valuable to everyone. However, unless Americans dictate to their politicians that more public funds and planning should be dedicated to our cultural rights our nation will carry on with an inadequate number of publicly supported and financed theatre, live cultural activities, projects, celebrations, festivals, independent film, television and internet media activities, and other diverse creative activities not yet conceived. A substantial increase in the federal budget for art, music, and media will benefit the ordinary person in multiple ways. There will be expanded work opportunities in every phase of increasing cultural rights; from the entertainment and media artists, musicians, directors, producers, and all other supporting workers of a media industry, to the citizen who will both receptively and pro-actively reap the benefits of an enriched lifestyle. With the recognition of cultural rights, our country will have the increased opportunity to mine our entire nation for the vast untapped and dormant creative resources of our people.

14) Establish a National Board of Governmental Oversight.

The Bush administration’s policy of secrecy has made Americans painfully aware of their need to know more about the activities of their government. Government’s actions are often not known until years later when it is too late to hold officials accountable or to change or reform practices which are abusive, inefficient or incompetent. The Freedom of Information Act is an insufficient tool to accomplish this goal. There is a need to establish a National Board of Oversight to oversee all branches of government. The establishment of what might be equated to a fourth branch of government would be costly. However, there is a way to reduce costs considerably and use an experienced labor pool which is currently underutilized. Members of subordinate oversight boards, serving under the umbrella of the National Board, would be elders serving without compensation, but remunerated for costs and expenses. Many financially secure elders would be eager to add a sense of purpose to their lives by keeping a disinterested watch on the performance of these branches, independent agencies and their employees. A Board of National Oversight could help to tighten the governmental budget, by reporting on government’s efficiency, wastefulness, and effectiveness. Positive actions of government would also be reported and would help to restore public confidence in government.

The actions of the 2001-2009 Bush administration can teach us how the calculated secrecy of government keeps the people from knowing enough to hold their government accountable. Without governmental openness and disclosure citizens cannot do their jobs as citizen bosses. Thus, the Oversight Board would also be responsible for approving the classification of all government data.

15) Limit the Tenure of all Federal Judges and Supreme Court Justices, to Twelve Consecutive Years. Provide that they Cannot Serve as Federal Judges Again until Four Years have Passed.

Let us face the fact that judges come to the Supreme Court come to Court with their own set of values, perspectives, and predilections. In other words, Justices are political. A group of like-minded Supreme Court Justices can have momentous influence on culture and society for many decades. It took 58 years for the Supreme Court to overturn the Separate but Equal doctrine of the 1896 Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson. A dominant and regressive court could impede a natural spirit of reform and progressivism. Ours is a government of checks and balances. Currently, there is no adequate check to an appointed-for-life Justices opinion. The best way to check an out of touch judge or Justice would be to limit the individual terms of tenure. The reason for recommending a four year gap between judicial employment is to prevent an avoidance of the intent of the amendment.

16) Limit the Consecutive Terms of Congressmen (Representatives and Senators) to Twelve Consecutive Years.

There is a potentially vast reservoir of talent ready and willing to serve as Senators and members of the House of Representatives. In order for that to happen, private financing of public elections must occur. However, even under the current system of privately financed elections, the 90+% re-election rate of incumbents speaks volumes about the lack of accessibility to congressional membership. Incumbents have a natural advantage over their election opponents and many of them make a near lifetime career of Congress. It is a privilege to serve one’s country as a legislator, not an entitlement. More citizens should have the opportunity to serve their country as members of Congress. If you wonder whether we can afford to release talented legislators, think on this: Death proves that no one is indispensable.

As a counterbalance, there is no sufficient reason to totally prohibit former members of Congress from returning to Congress A lapse of four years before a former member of Congress could run again would serve to make a rerun for Congress more competitive.

17) Repeal the Two Term Presidential Term limit of Amendment 22 and reenact a Three Term Limit for a Maximum of Twelve Years of Service.

In reaction to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four elected terms, in Amendment 22 was passed to limit the office to two terms (or ten years if a Vice-President secedes to the presidency). The current lame duck period, even for a popular president, begins too early in the second term, and the President loses influence. Sometimes, six or eight years is an inadequate period of time for a President to change policies in a direction that if established for a decade, could be more enduring and beneficial for the country.

18) Repeal Article II, Section1, Clause 4, Requiring the President to be Native Born. Require Ten Years of Residence to Become President.

There is no evidence to suggest that being born an American makes someone a better citizen or President than a naturalized citizen. Otherwise, we are admitting to a governmentally sanctioned two-tiered citizenship. A period of U.S. residence for ten years would be required so that the President would be adequately familiar with the U.S. culture.

19) Prohibit thePresidential Powers of Pardon, Commutation, and Reprieve of Article II, Section 2, Clause 1.

These powers are leftover vestiges of the arbitrary power of Czars and Kings. Use of this power is invariably political, subjective, and arbitrary. Its use creates a cynical disrespect for justice. How did you feel when President Clinton pardoned Marc Rich’s crimes or when President Bush commuted Scooter Libby’s sentence? In this context, justice denied is power abused.

20) Provide that Presidential Signing Statements Have No Legal Validity.

This issue would not deserve constitutional protection were it not for President’s Bush’s opinion that he could disregard laws or parts of laws by attaching his dissenting or contrasting opinion when signing legislation. It would be wise to add this provision to the Constitution so no other President uses these signing statements as legal precedent for presidential power.

21) Provide that Americans Residing in Territories or Commonwealths of the United States have the Right to Vote for President and Vice President.

When the Constitution was written, there was little thought given to the voting eligibility of Americans residing in American Territories and Commonwealths. As it stands, only those Americans residing in states and the District of Columbia can vote in federal elections. The second class citizenship of these island Americans must end. These Americans, too, have lost sons and daughters in America’s wars and other military conflicts. What more do they have to prove so they can vote for President?

22) Provide that Federal Elections shall be Co-managed by Federal and State Election Officials; and that Federal Election Laws, Including those for Voter Eligibility, shall Preempt State and Local Election Laws.

Florida’s manipulation of the 2000 Presidential election remains one of the great travesties of the American electoral and political process. In the 2000 Presidential Election, thousands of African-American men residing in Florida were denied the vote because the state improperly denied them voter eligibility based on erroneous records of criminal convictions. Another problem in that election was that the head state election official had a vested interest in the outcome. One set of federal rules could serve to improve the reliability, verifiability and fairness of election procedures. No state should ever again be allowed to change the will of the American people. This will not occur if the federal government assumes a more direct role in federal elections.

23) Provide that Congressional Districts Are to Be Created by State Redistricting Conventions.

Few Americans have been satisfied with state political leaders having the power to decide and frequently gerrymander the boundaries of congressional districts. In order for more persons to get involved in a fair process of establishing congressional districts, there ought to be State Redistricting Conventions. Delegates to Redistricting Conventions could be chosen by the people in statewide publicly financed elections requiring the election of roughly the same percentage of unaligned delegates as there are unaligned registered voters. This requirement would tend to check a tendency to abuse power and deny fairness by the dominant parties. Redistricting Conventions could be held every ten years, so as to utilize the latest demographic information from the U.S. Census.

24) Repeal Article I Section 3 Clause 3 of the Constitution and to Remove the Vice President as President of the Senate.

Have you ever thought it strange that the second highest ranking official of the Executive Branch presides over the Legislative Branch’s Senate when it is in session? Imagine the Secretary of State presiding over sessions of the House of Representatives and consider how the House members would like that. If you were a Republican Vice President presiding in a Senate controlled by Democrats, would you recognize your Republican friends in a more timely fashion than Democratic Senators during a floor debate? In the event of a tie, would you always cast the deciding vote consistent with the President’s wishes? Is this intrusion by the Vice President into legislative matters a part of the doctrine of checks and balances or does it substitute the commingling of powers in place of the separation of powers? Should this political aberration be allowed to continue? If this provision weren’t in the Constitution it would be unconstitutional. Let us return to meaningful separation of powers and get the Vice President out of the Senate.

25) Require Mandatory Voting in Presidential and Congressional Voting.

Only sixty per cent of eligible voters voted in the last Presidential election. If we cared enough, we would consider this statistic to be a national disgrace. Out of 192 countries surveyed the United States ranks 139th in voter turnout. All eligible citizens should take part in a democratic government. Voting is one of the least onerous and yet important responsibilities of citizenship. More than thirty democratic countries have mandatory voting and it seems to work well.

Some might misconstrue the concept and say that voting should be voluntary. Mandatory voting would not force a citizen to vote, it would simply penalize them for not voting. Let’s say the fine would be $150.00 for not voting with the fine added to your tax return, adding minimal enforcement duties to the I.R.S. Would this fine be any more objectionable than paying taxes, registering for the draft or paying for a speeding ticket?

We have struggled to get young Americans to the polls and young adults have continued to demonstrate low voter turnout. Mandatory voting would be successful with the young because they are statistically less likely to be able to afford a fine than their older fellow and sister citizens.

26) Abolish Slavery for Convicts.

The 13^th Amendment to the United States Constitution did not completely abolish slavery. Involuntary servitude and slavery were abolished “…except as a punishment for crime….” That’s right. Tens of thousands of prisoners in the United States are legally slaves. It is sadly ironic that a substantial number of those in prison are descendants of former slaves. The 13^th Amendment to the Constitution should no longer sanction any form of slavery or involuntary servitude. You might ask, if prison is not involuntary servitude, then what is it? It doesn’t matter what you call serving time in prison, let’s just get this exception to slavery out of the Constitution. It’s a national embarrassment.

27) Felons and Ex-Felons Shall Not be Prohibited the Vote on Account of their Status as Felons or Ex-Felons.

All laws which exclude a felon and ex-felon from voting continue a system of punishment and exclusion damaging to the individual and society. We know about the deplorable high rates of recidivism for those who have served time in prison. Is part of the reason for our failure because our system emphasizes punishment and isolation rather than rehabilitation? Felons may be bad citizens, but they are still citizens and should have a voice and a vote in all elections.

28) Provide that the Federal Government’s Annual Expenditures Cannot Exceed Revenues except in a National Emergency or War to be Decided by a 2/3 Vote of Both Houses of Congress.

Americans need a balanced budget in order to begin paying off the prior deficits of other financially neglectful administrations and to reclaim the value of the dollar. Americans now owe over 9 trillion to other bondholders and countries; mostly Japan and China. Think on this: If the interest and administration on 9 trillion of federal deficit spending is 7% per year (some say that the national debt maintenance is as high as 10%), then the annual interest and administrative costs are $630 billion before compounding interest. The money used to administer and pay off our national debt is money is taken from current tax revenues, further exacerbating a chronic lack of funds for all the necessary services of government which we are not providing. The Republican Party’s reputation for fiscal responsibility has been shattered by a cumulative nearly three trillion dollar deficit in the 2001-2008 Bush administration. There is simply no way to trust the spending obsession of a majority party when it controls both houses of Congress and the Presidency. Consequently, the people must respond with reasonable constitutional spending limitations so that our progeny will have a right to a future. As citizen bosses, Americans have a duty to pay down this debt so that someday their descendants will have a strong and flexible government without having to compromise its values when dealing with certain countries who have bought large amount of United States bonds and whose human rights values fail to reach universal standards. Requiring a 2/3 majority vote of both houses of Congress to declare a national emergency for no longer than one year at a time will help to ensure that our government maintains its fiscal responsibility.

29) Provide that Only the Congress has the Power to Make and Declare War by a Two-thirds or Three-fourths Majority of Each House, and that the Military Invasion of a Country or a Declaration of War Cannot be Delegated to the President.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution gives the exclusive power to declare war to Congress, but that power has been frequently delegated away by Congress to the President Congressional resolutions have enabled Presidents Johnson and Bush to extend and wage wars in Vietnam and Iraq where there were insufficient facts to justify either extending or waging war against a sovereign nation. Both wars were costly mistakes and arguably transgressions of international law. The war power of the President as commander-in-chief of the armed forces (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1) is clearly subordinate to the war power of Congress; the authorizer and financier of war. War is such a destructive and grave, and terrible force that the power to declare war or the Power to Invade a Country should not be trusted to one person, but should be done by both houses of Congress with a two-thirds or three-fourths majority requirement of each house.

30) Provide for a Constitutional Convention Every Ten Years and Require a National Ratification of All Amendments Passed at a Constitutional Convention by ⅔ of the Voters.

It is hoped that as you scroll the lengthy list of proposed constitutional amendments you will come to realize that there are a number of good reasons why the Constitution should be amended. Not all of the proposed amendments on this list will pass the first time they are proposed. With the passage of ten years, some of these or other proposed amendments would pass as the perceived needs and remedies for certain national problems will seek a national democratic solution—a Con Con–independent of our established political institutions. Ten years between constitutional conventions is a sufficient passage of time to consider whether the Constitution continues to provide for our fundamental rights or is anyway detrimental to the practice of representative democracy and the fair distribution of governmental services and resources.

There are those who will argue that the listing of more than 3 dozen proposed constitutional amendments trivializes the Constitution. The counter rationale is that Americans have been taught to treat our Constitution with the same reverence as given to holy objects and have been unwilling to analyze what, in effect, is a governmental organizational document. Maybe it’s time for a 200 year tune-up.

Others who fear that a 2^nd Constitutional Convention might create too much instability may not be aware that more than 200 state constitutional conventions have been held in the United States since 1788. How extreme can a constitutional convention be? Consider the experience of the people of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth of our nation since 1978. In their Constitution, the people of the Northern Marianas are required to hold a constitutional convention every ten years. The Commonwealth last had a Con Con in 1998 and the delegates passed one amendment for ratification by the people. The people refused to ratify the amendment and the Constitution remained unchanged. Any fear of a runaway constitutional convention was put to rest. People need to trust in themselves. So, be daring or run the risk of being without a remedy in an inequitable political system. The U.S. Constitution provides for ratification of constitutional amendment by ¾ of the state legislatures or by ¾ of the delegates at State Ratification Conventions. The ratification procedure is clearly anti-democratic as the outcome is based not on proportionate representation, but on a system where the votes of smaller states are equal to the votes of larger states.

When amendments are passed at a Constitutional Convention, ratification by the state legislatures is not representational of population and, therefore, anti-democratic. Let Americans eliminate the middlemen (state legislatures) in the ratification process by requiring ratification not by delegates, but by popular vote. A ⅔ vote requirement for ratification would be more democratic than the present onerous ¾ requirement.

31) Provide that the Federal Government’s Annual Expenditures Cannot Exceed Revenues Except in a National Emergency or War As Decided by Congress.

Americans need a balanced budget in order to begin paying off the prior deficits of other financially neglectful administrations. Americans now owe over 9 trillion to other bondholders and countries; mostly Japan and China. Think on this: If the interest and administration on 9 trillion of federal deficit spending is 7% per year, then the annual interest and administrative costs are $630 billion before compounding interest. The money used to administer and pay off our national debt is money is taken from current tax revenues, further exacerbating a chronic lack of funds for all the necessary services of government. The Republican Party’s reputation for fiscal responsibility has been shattered by a cumulative two trillion dollar deficit in the 2001-2008 Bush administration. There is simply no way to trust the spending obsession of a majority party when it controls both houses of Congress and the Presidency. Consequently, the people must respond with reasonable constitutional spending limitations so that our progeny will have a right to a future. As citizen bosses, Americans have a duty to pay off this debt so that someday their descendants will have a strong and flexible government without having to compromise its values when dealing with certain countries who have bought large amount of United States bonds and whose human rights values fail to reach universal standards.

32) Prevent Members of Congress from Giving Themselves an Automatic Pay Raise.

During the late 1990’s Congress passed a law that automatically gives them a pay raise of about 4% each January 1st. There are no hearings, no debate, and no embarrassing votes required. Members of Congress have made it more difficult for the people to hold them accountable. Simply require a voice vote on this issue and members of Congress might even debate the issue.

33) Prohibit the Offensive Use of Nuclear Weapons.

America has been spending a great deal of time trying to prevent other countries from developing nuclear weapons. Perhaps the best way to limit nuclear weapons is for the only country that has used them against humans is to stand as a role model and to prohibit their use (except when attacked by nuclear weapon(s) and authorized by a 3/’4 vote of Congress. Human rights are universal. Everyone is entitled to a safe world and that is not possible in a world where nuclear weapons are used as an offensive weapon.

34) Clarify and Re-establish that only Individuals have Human Rights.

This proposed amendment would not be necessary except for the fact that the Supreme Court has stated that corporations have rights. Please, let’s get this correct. Neither states, corporations, nor any kind of imaginable group has rights. There are only individual human rights. Let’s get this right.

35) Provide Universal, Preventive, and Comprehensive, Medical, Mental, and Dental Health Care with the Federal Government as the Sole Provider.

It can no longer be ignored or tolerated that 45 million (and increasing) Americans are without basic health coverage; including comprehensive and preventive medical, mental, and dental, health care. Welcome to the New Dark Ages. Should the Right to Safety not be defined to provide for universal health care, this amendment will be required. All Americans—all humans have a right to survival—a right to the basic necessities of life. These survival rights are the responsibility of all Americans and we cannot wait longer for Congress to give the people comprehensive health care and health education. There is absolutely no need to involve HMO’s or any other form of private insurance in this plan. They are unnecessary and add costs to the plan. If a universal health plan is in effect by the time Americans have a 2nd Con Con and that plan includes involvement by insurance companies or HMO’s, the Constitution should still be amended to eliminate the mandatory involvement of private insurance of HMO companies.

An amendment to require a National Health Care and Nutrition Education for every American should be administered under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services. The basic structure for such a universal health plan is already in place under Medicare. The overall plan should be formulated by Congress within one year of its ratification.

36) Provide that Education is a Lifetime Right.

Even if the rights of the Declaration of Independence were explicitly included in the Constitution, there is no guarantee the “pursuit of happiness” would be interpreted to mean a right to an education. The Supreme Court has failed to recognize that education is a right and that leaves Americans with the necessary option of amending the Constitution to establish for Americans what many of them have assumed was a right. Not only should education be a right, but that right should be encouraged and secured throughout the life of an individual. The increasing numbers of high school dropouts is increasing at a discouraging and dangerous rate. These citizens should not be forgotten and should be allowed to turn their lives around at a later time in life when they finally realize the importance of a lifelong education in regards to their pursuit of happiness. Many young Americans find the cost of higher education so expensive that they graduate from colleges and universities owing tens of thousands of dollars. It is the mark of an uncaring society that allows thousands of young people to begin their professional lives in such a deep hole. Ireland gives all of its citizens the opportunity for a free higher education. There is considerable evidence that this right has enabled the Irish people to rise to the top of per capita annual income in Europe. Many Americans want to change their career choices at a later time but are discouraged by the high cost of education which otherwise would enable them to change their careers throughout their lives A free lifetime education would remedy that problem and open the doors of continued education for all Americans.

Let us recognize that the right to an Education is crucial to our national well being and that a substantial part of the federal budget should be allocated to our states. Education can no longer be viewed as a state or local matter.

37) Repeal the Second Amendment to Allow Local Control of Guns.

We believe that human rights are universal and are based on the attributes of the individual. From that perspective, there is no fundamental right to own or possess a firearm. The right to own a firearm is an American right because the James Madison and members of America’s first Congress said that was a right. We are not saying that the issue can simply be resolved on that argument alone. However, the fact that it is not a fundamental universal right makes it easier to take the following position. The issue of gun control is enmeshed with personal security. There are obviously some jurisdictions that require more gun control than others. This site supports the repeal of the second amendment to allow states and localities to determine the extent of gun control necessary for their security. Should the citizens of certain local jurisdictions such as cities, parishes, counties and townships, decide they need gun control, temporarily or permanently, let them decide without the impediment of the Second Amendment.

38) Legalize Marijuana.

Americans have spent far too much time in attempting to prohibit the use of a plant with medicinal and mood altering qualities. We have created far too many felons, who have been guilty of growing, using or selling small amounts. We are no closer to preventing its use than we were when it was first criminalized in the last century. The split between pro-marijuana and anti-marijuana forces reminds me of Prohibition. In order to pass the Eighteenth Amendment prohibiting its use, conservative Christian groups aligned themselves with other do-gooder Progressives, thinking they could improve society. They were wrong. Let us not choose a middle position of advocating the use of medical marijuana. It is a waste of time and an avoidance of the truth to debate the medical uses of marijuana for the purpose of determining its legality. Talking heads will argue over the value of its medical use for the next bimillenium. Let’s be honest about this issue. The truth is that millions of people smoke marijuana to get high and enjoy themselves alone or in social situations. The politicians don’t like this because they are ignorant of the primordial right to play. So, let’s grow up and acknowledge the pleasure marijuana brings to many people and put an end to this particular guilt and hypocrisy. We can regulate marijuana for purposes of safety in the same way we have done with alcohol (e.g., driving under the influence). Besides, we need additional sources for taxes, so let’s get practical and bring the underground economy into the open. It is time to move on and acknowledge that the use of marijuana is an important Cultural Right.