Local gets things done!

"All politics are local." --Tip O’Neill

Change does not start in Washington, it begins at the municipal and county level. If this sounds ludicrous consider the patchwork of Cannabis laws across the United States right now; Federally it is a Schedule one drug and possession could land you tens of years in a federal prison, but in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia, it is legal to posses and use as you see fit so long as the feds don't catch you. So why is it legal in those eighteen states? Because voters took the imitative to lobby their state senators and representative, and in some cases their right to force the question "Should Cannabis be legal in our state?" to the voters via initiative petition drives. But Maura there are still a lot of states where it isn't legal! Yes and no. There are an additional fifteen states where it is legal for medicinal use thus leaving seventeen states where it is illegal or 34% of states.

The point here is that lobbying the Federal government for anything is pointless unless you have a very large purse.

Now local is a much more doable route, and if a concerted effort were to be put forth We The People could force an amendment to the Constitution of the United States (COTUS). Wait Maura! Only Congress can change COTUS! Nope the states also have that power!

The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. (Source)

Honestly this is probably a less Herculean task today than it would have been in the past. Now there is a downside to a Convention of the States, we don’t know for certain what will come out. The last time a Convention happened was in may of 1887 “Although they had gathered to revise the Articles of Confederation, by mid-June they had decided to completely redesign the government.” (Source) The outcome was our current COTUS. Now one can imagine what would come out today if very strict Tar and Feather-able offenses were not spelled out to the delegates before hand:

• Do NOT change any existing amendments!

• Stick strictly to the list provided!

• Do not try and sneak anything in.

• Each amendment shall be written in plain U.S. English! No foreign words. No uncommon among the general population terms or words. NO LATIN!

• No carve out exceptions for anyone or anything.

• No amendment shall exceed one half of one typed page on 8 ½ by 11 inch paper with ½ inch margins all the way around, single spaced, set in no less than 14 point Garamond font.

• Delegates shall be randomly chosen from among the general population of the state and shall not currently or previously hold ANY public office be it elected, appointed, or hired in.

So what issues need to be addressed in this script?

• Ballot Zombies or dead persons that are not cleared from the ballot roles.

• Executive Dictatorship or any governmental person using executive order to circumvent Congress

• Ballot Harvesting or persons who are not sworn to duty by their Secretary of Election to collect ballots in an official capacity.

• An addendum to the Fourth Amendment which currently reads as follows: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Now what would the addendum add? To be secure in our digital persona and possessions, to ban civil asset forfeiture.

• A right to privacy. This shall apply to all of our issues be they medical, digital, anything identifying such as digital searches, our home addresses, credit checks not signed off for by us, this list can and should be exhaustive!

• Reciprocity between states

• Term limits for all Congress persons so that no Congress person shall exceed twelve years in office be it by vote or appointment.

• Termination of all congressional pay, health care, pensions, in any form on the Congress persons last day in office. (If Social Security is good enough for the population then it is good enough for them.)

• All laws must Sunset and shall last no more than 20 years from date of effect. They cannot be reauthorized and MUST be fully re-voted upon and resigned by the President every time.

• All Governmental divisions shall fall under the purview of Congress and as such their administrators shall be discharge-able or impeachable by a vote of congress. There shall be no immunity from prosecution for any official who fails to to their job while upholding t an oath to COTUS.

• An end to Qualified Immunity.

• Make it a high crime for any law enforcement personnel to have any form of sex with any suspect or person in holding with no exceptions.

• Senators and Representatives shall be subject to recall by there states and by initiative petition by their constituents.

• No person working for the Federal Government shall invest in publicly traded stocks, or bonds, be they foreign or domestic.

• Congressional salaries shall be fixed to no more than 150% of the average hourly constituent of the area they represent. Presidential salary shall be fixed to 200% of the average Social Security beneficiary.

• In order to curtail lobbying efforts and bring control back to the local level Congress shall meet virtually from their local offices and shall not keep an office or domicile within the greater metropolitan area of the District of Columbia unless their district happens to be in that area.

• Statehood shall be offered to Puerto Rico and all other U.S. holdings.

I’m sure most all of you could add to this list but it’s a beginning and if we could get the States in place to do this we may start to wrestle some semblance of control back from the Federal beast again. Is it a pipe dream? Maybe, but this would be basically a revolution without firing a shot, where no one gets more than their feelings hurt, and where we can honestly say “We the people in order to make a more perfect union did something other than complain to the void.”