Constitution – KensView

Power of a King?

In this land where justices toy with might,
A ruling’s been cast in ancient light,
Where king and president can entwine,
And ambition subverts Founders’ design.
The Court, with corrupt intent and a sneer,
Has penned a future so very drear,
Where winner wears both crown and pin,
And scales of justice shift and spin.
A President with sole sovereign sway,
Would leave precedents in disarray,
Where once were checks and balances tied tight,
There would reign a Chief of singular right.
No longer bound by common chains,
The leader’s will like thunder reigns,
Just as savants of the past foretold:
A realm where honors, favors are all sold.
The one who wins November’s race
May lead the land with little grace,
And hold high a scepter in one firm hand
To bring the Constitution to an end.
Yet in this time of wayward scheme,
The People’s voices, often shunned, scream
That for freedom and rights to be upheld
Our Democracy’s foes must be expelled.
So observe with care, and mark this hour,
As power’s scope grows vast and dour,
Every wannabe tyrant’s acts so bold
Must be soundly beaten ten million fold.

Bill of Rights: FDR and more

In his State of the Union address delivered over the radio from the White House on Jan. 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt offered a blueprint for the future of the United States. He proposed a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all regardless of station, race, or creed:

“The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.

“The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.

“The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.

“The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

“The right of every family to a decent home.

“The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.

“The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

“The right to a good education.”

Suggestions:

To this visionary list, we should add:

The explicit right to vote and to be free from discrimination in the voting process.

A guarantee of equal legal rights for all U.S. citizens regardless of sex.

The right to marry whomever one chooses regardless of sex, race, ethnicity.

The right to be free from the threat of armed violence, which would require sensible regulation of all weapons.

Right to privacy in all communications unless an individual is explicitly offered (mandatory default option for all communications would be NO) and chooses to opt out of this right or is served with a search warrant.

Constitution: Allegiance and obedience

After leaving office, many members of the Trump administration and staff have written books, conducted interviews, and even testified about the crimes and misdemeanors they witnessed in the White House. Some have also spoken about how they batted down Trump’s election lies—but they never went public with all the threats he posed during their tenure when it could have made a difference. The country needed courageous whistleblowers, but never got them.

Suggestion:

Prospective government office holders and staff members should be required to memorize their oath of office, and once in office periodically be tested to see if they still remember it and asked whether they are still upholding that oath.

To Avert January 6, We Needed Whistleblowers—and We Never Got Them

Americans Rarely Resign on Principle

This video speaks volumes on the serious political consequences of the cowardice of RepubilCON leaders and how they have abandoned their oath to defend the constitution and remained instead in their positions (!coarse language):

Anti-Trump Republicans, this is your fault, too

Constitution: Fatal Flaw

During the Constitutional Convention, most states wanted representation based on population, but a few small states wanted equal participation by state. A proposal initiated by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut became what is known as the Great Compromise. It created the Senate, in which each state gets two members, regardless of population. However, growing disparities in the populations of US states established a vocal minority with growing, unintended political power — far more political power in far fewer hands proportionally than they had during the Great Compromise.

Suggestion:

Allocate one seat to each state automatically to preserve federalism, but apportion the rest based on population. This change may be possible through legislation without changing the Constitution.

Start with the total U.S. population, then divide by 100, since that’s the size of the current, more deliberative upper chamber. Next, allocate senators to each state according to their share of the total; 2/100 equals two senators, 3/100 equals three, etc. Update the apportionment every decade according to the official census.

The Path to Give California 12 Senators, and Vermont Just One

Constitution: Second Bill of Rights

“The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation.

“The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation.

“The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living.

“The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

“The right of every family to a decent home.

“The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health.

“The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment.

“The right to a good education.”

Suggestions:

There is of course much work to do to implement FDR’s visionary list. While we are at it, the following should also be added:

The explicit right to vote and to be free from discrimination in the voting process.

The guarantee of equal legal rights for all U.S. citizens regardless of sex.

The right to marry whomever one chooses regardless of sex, race, ethnicity.

The right to be free from the threat of armed violence, which would require sensible regulation of all weapons (A well REGULATED Militia…).

The right to privacy in one’s home and in all communications unless served with a legal search warrant or explicitly offered (mandatory default option for all actions and communications would be NO) and chooses to opt out of this right.

Democratic Constitutional Republic

Republicans often claim that the US is a republic and not a democracy. They use this argument to justify minority control of our institutions, primarily the Senate and House when they have majorities, and all presidential elections via the Electoral College. They believe that democracy implies “one person, one vote” which, if true, would keep them out of power.

Response:

The underlying premise of our polity starts with the Declaration of Independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.”

After the defeat of the British, the Founding Fathers worked out the details of our to-be-democracy and decided that it should take the form of a democratic constitutional-republic (even though it was limited at the time to being just free white males who could vote). However, the Founding Fathers were also concerned with protecting minority rights. These were not minority rights as we understand it today—protections for trans people, immigrants, etc., but the rights of the opulent.

Accordingly, many of the Founders did not believe that the United States should be a direct democracy, which is how they understood happened in ancient Athens. They thought that that was very unstable and risky. Therefore, they established through the Constitution that elected officials would serve as representatives of the people, indirect but still founded as a democracy empowered by the will/vote of the citizens. Our government is not a republic as happened in ancient Rome. That “republic” which consisted of three parts (consuls, senate, and assembly) had only the assembly as a body elected by eligible citizens. Our Founders opted for means election based on the votes of citizens—walking and chewing gum at the same time.

Pledge of Allegiance Revamped

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy. Bellamy, a Baptist minister who believed in the absolute separation of church and state, had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.

Original version:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1923, the words, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added.

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

In 1954, in response to the unwarranted fear of communism, Congress added the words “under God.”

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Suggestion:

Change the Pledge to: “I pledge allegiance to the Constitution and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

Press/Journalism

The purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments. Its practices should be based a systematic process of verification aimed at finding not just the facts, but also the “truth about the facts.” (American Press Institute)

“Truth about the facts” is something in accord with what actually happened, how it happened, and why it happened.

The role of the press/journalists is to hold leaders in society (political, business, religious, and so on) accountable by challenging their positions based on verifiable facts.

For many decades, the public has received news, the product of journalism, vis the print, radio, and television. The economic model for the support of journalism has shifted resulting in the decline of print journalism and the emergence of news as entertainment and even propaganda.

Suggestions:

1. Find a way to create an independent funding mechanism such as a foundation that would be large enough to fund independent journalism and journalistic projects to serve the public good. Potential journalists would send in research proposals and via an independent board consisting perhaps mainly of other current and retired journalists receive grants large enough to fund their projects and their livelihood during their research. At the minimum such a foundation would fund investigative journalism to support the type of political check and balance alluded to in our Constitution.

2. Restore the Must Carry rules and the Fairness Doctrine to broadcast news and apply them equally to cable news networks.

3. Regulate ownership to eliminate corporate propaganda pretending to be “news” or “news reporting.” This could be done by enforcing antitrust laws to break up media conglomerates to bring back locally-owned newspapers, radio stations, and television stations. Congress should also bring back media ownership limits to where they were before being gutted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

4. Establish newspapers/online media entities own/run by foundations such as the Guardian or owned by publicly traded companies that limit ownership of shares to prevent control of information flow. (The case for ending private ownership of news media and banning hate speech)

5. Taking a cue from science and medicine the news industry could establish the a certification of “peer review” that offers a “Good Newskeeping Seal” to media outlets that subscribe to it in order to help news consumers know who’s most likely to be trustworthy and who’s most likely to be creating or repeating misinformation.

6. Avoid Legacy/Corporate Media (CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, Fox Propaganda, NYT, Washington Post, Politico, Axios, Associated Press). Instead look into more legitimate news sources: ProPublica, Ground News, Mother Jones, ResistanceLive, The Bulwark, Occupy Democrats, MeidasTouch, Daily Kos, etc.

Finland is winning the war on fake news. What it’s learned may be crucial to Western democracy

Can American Democracy Survive Fox “News”?

America has a “Fact”, “Reality” and “Media” problem

Calling forth My Rights

“I most definitely decline to respond
to your question based on
my Fifth Amendment
constitutional protections
with all due respect”

On halting Congress’s joint session
On raising a privilege question
On parleying with Hawley, Cruz, or Lee
On consulting the Federalist Society
On colluding with state legislators
On concocting “alternate electors”
On conspiring with turncoats like RoJo
On caballing at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
On blocking votes from being certified
On calling the violence “justified”
On compensating election schemes
On seizing Domain voting machines
On stashing funds for “Stop the Steal”
On pursuing a pardon deal
On giving my age or home’s location
On stirring a coup against the nation
On plotting with Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
On conniving other seditious ploys

I, most loyal MAGA, must thus entreat
Once on the J6 committee’s hot seat!