The American Change Party

If we get people in every representative position on every ballot in every state, we could have a very peaceful revolution.  You can be that person!

  
Term Limits
        A law could be created that would limit any citizen of the United States to a total of ten cumulative years of elected public service during a lifetime. After ten years of elected service in any combination of offices, the citizen would no longer be allowed to run for elected office; the citizen can be appointed to positions, but not elected. Congress people who vote for this law will have their ten cumulative years of elected civil service “grandfathered-in” and therefore they will have their full ten cumulative years of elected civil service available to them no matter how long they have actually served. Those who do not vote for it will not be “grandfathered-in”.

 

     One-Term Presidency
        The presidency should be limited to only one term, perhaps six years instead of four, and impeachment proceedings could be altered to make it easier to sue the president, remove him from office or to fine him in extraordinary terms. For example, each impeachment proceeding could carry with it an automatic penalty, just for going to court, of decreasing the president’s retirement income by one-half each time he’s brought up on impeachment charges. The first time it will be reduced to one-half of its original amount; the next time it goes to one-fourth; the next time it goes to one-eighth; and so on.

Restore The Line-Item Veto

Restore the line-item veto back to the executive branch and create an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing its place in the executive branch for as long as the executive branch exists in this country. It should have never left the executive branch and it never should leave again. The line-item veto is the biggest, and one of the few, tools the executive branch has in its toolbox to keep the balance of power; the president uses it to keep Congress in check, which is what it was designed to do from the beginning. Without it, the ‘pork’ and ‘entitlements’ that get attached to bills are so numerous and frivolous that they make the news fairly often; and yet no one seems to mind. It begs the question of ‘why?’ The only reason the line-item veto was somehow taken away from the executive branch could only be to limit the powers of the president, thus tilting the balance of power back into Congress yet again; and yet no one seems to mind.

 
 
MORL privilege of voting. Mortgage, Own, Rent or Lease – MORL. A person’s name and signature on any one of these documents for at least two months allows this person the privilege of voting. That is, any citizen of the United States Of America who mortgages, owns, rents, or leases any fixed property has the privilege of voting.
 

Health Insurance Companies as Non-Profit Organizations

There may be several changes necessary in the future, but, to start with, a law should be created that mandates all federal insurance underwriting requires the health insurance company to obtain and maintain non-profit organization (NPO) status. That is, all health insurance companies must have NPO status to be federally underwritten. To make the switch to NPO status, the current shareholders could have the value of their shares amortized toward their health insurance premiums over their remaining years with a bump at age 65 to compensate for retirement; much the same as a reverse mortgage. At death, the remaining sum, if any, would be paid out as a life insurance payment to a previously designated beneficiary; much the same as term life insurance. The federally underwritten health insurance companies will all be non-profit organizations, thus all insurance company employees still get paid, profits are funneled back into lowering premiums and the insurance lobbyist in Washington loses most of the reason for staying in Washington and remaining as an insurance lobbyist

 FairTax / Flat Tax Combination

        The FairTax should be made into law and followed almost exactly as the book suggests. There may be some adjustments to be made, but for the most part, the book has it right. However, the Fair Tax can’t do it alone.
 The only possible way is a combination of a smaller sales tax and a smaller flat income tax. The FairTax could be set at 20%, instead of the intended 23%, and only applicable to purchases less than $10,000. The Million Dollar Federal Flat Income Tax could be set at anywhere from 1% to 5% of annual gross income over one million dollars, whether that entity is a person, corporation, small business, etc.; any entity whose gross income is over one million dollars must pay 1% to 5% of their gross income, not the net income. This would eliminate the current federal income tax and the corporate tax; afterall, if BP pays 1% to 5% of their gross ($284 Billion in 2007, Smith Barney), other taxes would not be necessary. Both taxes used together would be very simple for people to figure out, economically beneficial and sufficient to fund the government.

 

 
Sell off the remaining slices of the pie to highest bidders, including services, land, buildings, equipment, etc. Allocate eliminated postal jobs to such departments as the FDA, FTC, FEMA, etc. Allocate remaining funds to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
 
 
Internet voting and the abolishment of the Electoral College. This is long overdue and easily accomplished securely and efficiently.

 

Campaign Reform

        A law could be created that states that any media broadcast of campaign advertisements has to be matched in length and duration of broadcast by the opposing candidate before the first candidate can broadcast.
        This includes everything except the spoken word and the unpublished written word. That is to say that if Mr. Rich wants to pay for two minutes of campaign advertisements, but his opponent, Mr. Poor, can’t afford it, then Mr. Rich will have to pay for Mr. Poor’s ad time if Mr. Rich wants to advertise bad enough. If not, then neither gets ad time.
        This law would be administered by a simple form that has to be completed and filed with the FCC, before the broadcast, that has both political opponents listed for equal time on the specific media station. Heavy fines could be levied for transgressions and the money put toward the victimized candidate’s ad time.

 
Currently, there are only two ways to select judges: appointments or elections. There should be a law that states the process by which a judge is selected starts with each legislative house, the House and the Senate on any local, state or county level. Both legislative bodies will research thoroughly and choose a qualified candidate to be placed on a ballot in the up-coming election each. The voters, in turn, will have their chance to vote between two well-researched candidates for a position that requires qualifying abilities that cannot be had through pure election nor through pure appointment. By utilizing both the Senate and the House, political by-partisanship will be regulated better than any other way. By giving the final vote to the public, irregularities, such as favoritism, bribery, etc, that occur with appointments, will be reduced due to futility in the end. Call it “Appointments AND Elections”.

 
Repeal Minimum Sentencing

        Minimum sentencing needs to be repealed which would free our judges to make their own decisions. One option is to change minimum sentencing to minimum guidelines for judges who are appointed to their positions and keep it as minimum sentencing for judges who are elected to their postions; eventually eliminating all elected judges in the country for appointed positions processed properly through proper committees in legislative and executive branches. 
        Additionally as a check, impeachment proceedings and removal of a judge from the bench needs to be made easier and simpler. Currently, to have a judge removed from a case, there is a head judge who makes that decision, thus self-administering themselves. This is wrong and needs to be eradicated. (See No Self Administration)

No Self-Administration

        Administration of the administration should be done by branches that do not administer themselves.
        For example, the legislative and executive branches could administer the judicial branch; the judicial and legislative branches could administer the executive branch and the executive and judicial branches could administer the legislative.
        Thusly, if Congress wants a pay-raise, they have to get it approved by unanimous vote between committees in the executive branch and the judicial branch; perhaps the majority of the White House office and majority of the Supreme Court.
        Accordingly on a local level, if a judge needs to be changed from one case to another, the complainant needs to have a signed document from the local executive committee and one from the local legislative committee to have the judge changed.
 
 Iraq and Afghanistan

        The quick pull-out. A pull-out would happen suddenly and without warning. No date would be given and most of the equipment would be removed prior to the pull-out.
        Also before the pull-out, all the remote equipment, such as satellites and naval contingents, would be in place to carry out Project Remote Control. Project Remote Control would consist of everything except foot soldiers on the ground. That list includes, but is not limited to, satellites, armed drones, cruise missiles, airplanes and an entire naval contingent parked just off shore at the constant ready to deploy anything necessary to kill terrorist activity.

States Rights To Pass Federal Laws

 When this nation started, there were 13 states to make a Congress. Today, people wonder why Congress is so messed up and yet they seem to forget we now have 50 states for a system that was designed for 13. There have been many times in the history of this nation where Congress passed federal laws that were wrong. They have virtually no retribution.
 The Constitution can be altered to include the ability for states’ congresses to pass federal legislation by vast majority; Congress retains simple majority. That is, it would take three-quarters (75%) of all the states’ congresses to create federal laws or over ride federal vetoes. Additionally, state-generated federal legislation has to have three-quarters of each state’s congress vote for it to pass the bill, along with three-quarters of all the states’ congresses, before it becomes law; this is called vast majority and is no easy task.
 Federal legislation passed by the states’ congresses would have precedence over the President and Congress in Washington, D.C

 Interested? jpgrund@hawaii.rr.com