When the Law Does the Opposite of What it Intends to Do: One Hundred Twelve Theses on Government Failure (Incomplete)

When the Law Does the Opposite of What it Intends to Do:
One Hundred Twelve Theses on Government Failure

First Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction (Including Eighteen Bad Basic Laws of Government)

I. First Introduction: Government Failure

II. Second Introduction: Five Reasons Why We Shouldn't Trust the Government

III. Three Clauses That Enable Legislative Action, But Are Used to Excuse Government Overreach

IV. Six Laws with Deceptive Names

V. Eight Self-Defeating Amendments (Plus the Draft)

Part 2: The Wars on Terror, Drugs, and Poverty (Including Seventy Bad Laws)

VI. The War on Terror: Fourteen Laws That Fail to Protect People from War, Terrorism, and Violent Crime

VII. The Wars on Drugs and Our Health: Twenty-One Laws That Failed to Achieve Affordable Health Care, Failed to Ensure the Legal Sale of Safe Drugs, or Failed to Protect the Environment

VIII. The War on Poverty, Part 1: Eleven Laws That Fail to Protect Workers' Rights and the Interests of Labor Unions
IX. The War on Poverty, Part 2: Seven Laws That Intended to Protect Minorities and/or Property, But Failed
X. The War on Poverty, Part 3: Six Budgetary and Monetary Policies That Have Led to Economic Ruin
XI. The War on Poverty, Part 4: Ten Laws That Intended to Make the Markets Free, But Rigged Them Instead


Part 3: Other Topics (Including Twenty-Five Bad Laws, and a Conclusion)

XII. Five Failed Laws and Policies Related to Insurance
XIII. Four Laws That Tried to Prevent Frivolous Lawsuits, But Go Too Far
XIV. Five Laws That Tried to Protect the Rights or Safety of Women and Homosexuals, But Failed
XV. Eight Laws and Programs That Fail to Protect Children
XVI. Three More Terrible Laws
XVII. Conclusion: New Laws Don't Work

Second Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction (Including Eighteen Bad Basic Laws of Government)

I. First Introduction: Government Failure

II. Second Introduction: Five Reasons Why We Shouldn't Trust the Government

III. Three Clauses That Enable Legislative Action, But Are Used to Excuse Government Overreach

     1. The General Welfare Clause
     2. The Necessary and Proper Clause
     3. The interstate Commerce Clause

IV. Six Laws with Deceptive Names
     4. The Citizens United decision
     5. N.A.F.T.A. (The North American Free Trade Agreement)
     6. The 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (E.E.S.A)
     7. The Protect Life Act
     8. The Restoring Internet Freedom Act
     9. The Defense of Marriage Act (D.O.M.A.)

V. Eight Self-Defeating Amendments (Plus the Draft)
     10. Amendment I
     11. Amendment II
     12. The military draft
     13. Amendment III
     14. Amendment V
     15. Amendment VIII
     16. Amendment X
     17. Amendment XIII
     18. Amendment XIV



Part 2: The Wars on Terror, Drugs, and Poverty (Including Seventy Bad Laws)

VI. The War on Terror: Fourteen Laws That Fail to Protect People from War, Terrorism, and Violent Crime
     19. Incarceration in jails and prisons
     20. The death penalty
     21. Life sentences
     22. Gun-free zones
     23. Laws requiring publication of gun owners' home addresses
     24. Gun personalization requirements
     25. Gun buyback programs
     26. The War Powers Act of 1973
     27. The state's monopoly on violence
     28. The War on Terror
     29. The 2001 A.U.M.F.
     30. The U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act
     31. Laws allowing warrantless searches and wiretaps
     32. The Whistleblowers Protection Act

VII. The Wars on Drugs and Our Health: Twenty Laws That Failed to Achieve Affordable Health Care, Failed to Ensure the Legal Sale of Safe Drugs, or Failed to Protect the Environment

     33. The taxation of health goods and services
     34. Federal negotiation of drug prices
     35. Subsidization of pharmaceutical companies
     36. The ban on denying emergency room treatment
     37. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
     38. Ecstasy prohibition
     39. Heroin prohibition
     40. Marijuana prohibition
     41. Marijuana legalization
     42. Alcohol prohibition
     43. Corn subsidies
     44. The criminalization of purchasing alcohol for minors
     45. The criminalization of purchasing tobacco for minors
     46. Laws authorizing the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) to approve or deny pharmaceutical drugs
     47. Laws authorizing the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.)
     48. Federal vehicle emissions standards
     48. The Clean Air Act
     50. The Clean Water Act
     51. Bans on tree-line thinning
     52. The "Roadless Rule"
     53. Superfund sites

VIII. The War on Poverty, Part 1: Eleven Laws That Fail to Protect Workers' Rights and the Interests of Labor Unions
     54. The law that established Labor Day
     55. The Department of Labor and Commerce
     56. The McCarran-Ferguson Act
     57. The Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act of 1935)
     58. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
     59. State Right-to-Work laws
     60. Overtime pay laws
     61. The Federal Reserve's "dual mandate" on interest rates and unemployment
     62. Laws that established the U1, U2, U3, U4, and U5 unemployment measurements
     63. The Employee Free Choice Act, and the Card Check bill
     64. Disability and Medicaid provisions which limit people's ability to be employed and receive benefits at the same time

IX. The War on Poverty, Part 2: Seven Laws That Intended to Protect Minorities and/or Property, But Failed
     65. The federal minimum wage law
     66. The Civil Rights Act of 1964
     67. Redistricting laws
     68. Laws against sagging pants
     69. The Clinton omnibus crime bill
     70. Laws establishing racial quotas for police
     71. The Homestead Act

X. The War on Poverty, Part 3: Six Budgetary and Monetary Policies That Have Led to Economic Ruin
     72. The Agricultural Adjustment Act
     73. Laws establishing natural resource extraction permits
     74. Property tax laws
     75. Sales tax laws
     76. Income tax laws
     77. Laws providing for Unconditional Basic Income programs

XI. The War on Poverty, Part 4: Ten Laws That Intended to Make the Markets Free, But Rigged Them Instead
     78. The Enumerated Power which authorizes Congress to coin and regulate money
     79. Laws limiting usury
     80. The Sherman Antitrust Act
     81. Laws enabling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

     82. Executive Order 6102 (which enabled gold confiscations)

     83. The Emergency Banking Act of 1933
     84. Laws authorizing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (F.D.I.C.)
     85. Laws enabling the Securities and Exchange Commission (S.E.C.)
     86. The Glass-Steagall Act
     87. Laws authorizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (C.F.P.B.)


Part 3: Other Topics (Including Twenty-Five Bad Laws, and a Conclusion)


XII. Five Failed Laws and Policies Related to Insurance
     88. Insurance regulations
     89. Home insurance regulations, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.)
     90. Laws establishing public firefighting forces
     91. Insurance regulations regarding emergency medical care
     92. Insurance regulations regarding public school students' medications

XIII. Four Laws That Tried to Prevent Frivolous Lawsuits, But Go Too Far

     93. Legal immunity for gun manufacturers
     94. Legal immunity for the military and police

     95. Laws enabling the granting of L.L.C. designation

     96. Statutes of limitations on reporting rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment

XIV. Five Laws That Tried to Protect the Rights or Safety of Women and Homosexuals, But Failed
     97. Laws requiring fees and licenses to get married
     98. The Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision
     99. Legal limitations and prohibitions on abortion
     100. The Violence Against Women Act (V.A.W.A.) of 1994
     101. Legislative proposals to require women to register for the draft

XV. Eight Laws and Programs That Fail to Protect Children
     102. Laws establishing minimum ages for consent to sex
     103. Laws establishing minimum ages for consent to marriage
     104. The federal law establishing a minimum age for consent to sex
     105. Laws requiring registration as a sex offender
     106. Laws establishing Child Protective Services -type agencies
     107. The federal law which established the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
     108. Policies against establishing laws requiring minimum ages for tattooing and piercing
     109. Social Security Title IV-D (child support)

XVI. Three More Terrible Laws
     110. The Enumerated Power which authorizes Congress to "fix the standard of weights and measurements"
     111. Laws which regulate identity theft, in regards to banks' and credit agencies' customer information
     112. Laws which regulate identity theft, in regards to immigrants' Social Security

XVII. Conclusion: New Laws Don't Work 

Content

Part 1: Introduction (Including Seventeen Bad Basic Laws of Government)

I. First Introduction: Government Failure

     Can you name a law that has ever worked? A law that has worked the way it was intended?

     In our society, we're used to talking about market failures; high prices, high profits, price manipulation, monopolies, etc.. But I submit that we're not talking enough about government failures. Things like regulatory capture, and the erection of corporate privilege. Those things are every bit as important to talk about as market failures, because they cause most of those market failures in the first place (giving businesses power by handing them taxpayer money and/or writing special privileges for them into the law).

     In this essay, I will name ninety-five laws (or types of laws) in the United States – most of them federal laws – and explain how they achieve the exact opposite of their desired or intended effect. In explaining this, I will defend the idea that most attempts by the voting American public, to secure some equal liberty or new positive right – in many different policy arenas – have historically resulted in surrendering more decision-making power to the government regarding those policy issues, instead of resulting in more freedom or equality for the people.

     I will focus on two basic sets of policy areas:

     1) general constitutional powers which enable or limit government; and

     2) the failures of the “War on Terror”, the “War on Drugs”, and the “War on Poverty”.

In discussing the failures of those “wars”, I will explain how putting too much trust in the government to solve problems, has led to disastrous declines in the quality of policy regarding the military, policing, health care, legal and illegal drugs, and various economic issues pertaining to relations between workers and employers (and the government).

     And all of these issues are interrelated, I might add. Our police and military enforce not only the “War on Terror”, but they also defend (or decline to defend) ourselves and our property, enforce the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Poverty”, they enforce the financial and business and labor regulations.

     Whether it is constitutional that those agents enforce those laws – that is, whether the enforcement of these laws, is itself “legal” in the first place – should be considered an issue of extreme importance. So should the issues of whether the police, or other government officials, publicly-protected companies, should do what they're told; as well as the matter of whether the policy works in the first place; and, at that, works they way it was intended to work.

     [Note: The fact that I have included a specific law, or types of law, below, should not necessarily be construed to mean that I believe that such laws, or types of laws, could never work, nor that I believe they do never work. In many cases, I do doubt whether such laws could ever work; but in some of the cases listed below, I am merely criticizing the manner in which those laws have been historically implemented, and saying that the laws did not work as they were intended to work.]

II. Second Introduction: Five Reasons Why We Shouldn't Trust the Government

     There is a popular libertarian saying whose author is unknown. It was popularized by Barry Goldwater, often mistakenly attributed to Thomas Jefferson, and began circulating in 1950s American newspapers. It goes like this: “A government that is big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take it all away.” Whomever said it, it certainly seems true.

     We should not trust the government to solve our problems, for five main reasons; because of:

     1) the government's power to regulate ­ or not regulate – corporations (and to break up, or not break up, monopolies);

     2) the government's power to create monopolies and to create corporations;

     3) the corruptibility of the licensing and permit systems;

     4) the moral hazard involved in trusting the government and only government to solve our problems; and

     5) regulatory capture (the process whereby an industry comes to be “regulated” by the same people who work in that industry).

     If we trust the government to regulate corrupt companies, and tax owners who profit off of the public dime, then the government will do exactly that. I'm not doubting the government's ability, nor its will, to do those things. But shouldn't corrupt C.E.O.s, and people who embezzle taxpayer money, go to jail, instead of just having their taxes raised, and new “restraints” placed on them?

     But the issue isn't just that we're not jailing criminals if they happen to be wealthy; it's also that the government usually incentivizes wealthy criminals to commit their crimes. It does this through giving them special legal and financial protections, and devoting more money and police resources towards protecting the rich and their investments than the poor and their homes.

     Why should we trust the government to break up or regulate companies, or tax them adequately, or decline to abuse their privileges? For two simple reasons: 1) Government cannot be trusted to regulate nor break-up monopolies, because government (that is, state government) is a monopoly. 2) Why would government want to limit the power of corporations, when it's the government that's creating all of these corporations in the first place?

     Another endemic problem with our government is political; the manner in which large companies manage to secure taxpayer money and privileges for themselves, having asked for those things as a consolation for being taxed and regulated. Those companies and their lobbyists make it impossible to pass meaningful economic reforms that help the poor, because wealthy companies get away with insisting to legislators that all laws designed to help the poor, help them less than they help the rich.

     For all of these reasons, and the following, trusting government is a terrible idea, and here are ninety-two reasons why.

III. Three Clauses That Enable Legislative Action, But Are Used to Excuse Government Overreach

     The first three laws I will discuss, enable government but intend to severely limit it. They do the opposite of what they intend to do, because their language is abused by legislators, so as to excuse more government overreach and more distortion of the meaning of the law, instead of abiding by the limitation originally intended.

     These three laws are the General Welfare Clause, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the Interstate Commerce Clause.

     1. The General Welfare Clause.

     The General Welfare Clause is a part of the Taxing and Spending Clause (found in Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution). It is the first clause of the “Enumerated Powers”; the eighteen specifically authorized powers of Congress.

     The General Welfare Clause empowers Congress to “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;”.

The General Welfare Clause does the opposite of what it intends to do, because the meanings of “general” and “welfare” in “General Welfare” Clause are being distorted.

     “General” means that duties, imposts, and excise taxes shall be uniform throughout the country. Basically, it means that the burden of taxation must be equal (at least in regards to those types of taxes). However, even if the burden of income taxation fell on states equally (which it doesn't), there is no proof that income taxation is good policy even when it can be done constitutionally.

     Additionally, “welfare” meant “well-being” when the Constitution was written, so it is arguable as to whether something like a “Department of Health, Education, and Welfare”, or modern welfare programs, are permissible under this clause of the Constitution.

     Thus, distortion of the terms “general” and “welfare” has permitted an uneven income tax burden across the states, in order to spend that money on - not the general welfare (which really just means the equal benefit of all people across the country), but – the vague or specific welfare. Any and every type of spending is allowed, to benefit any and every particular social safety net project or corporate welfare giveaway. And so, with no rationale as to why we're spending this money on these particular people and causes, we justify taxing people with no rationale as to whether we're taxing them equally.

     The General Welfare Clause enables government overreach, although its intent was to limit government. But I say “its intent”; the law doesn't have any intent. I mean to refer to the intent of the legislators who wrote it. And they, of course, worked for the government. We should expect no less, for as Thrasymachus explained, justice always serves “the advantage of the stronger”. This is to say that any government we can elect, will always rule in its own benefit; in favor of incumbents, and in favor of continuing the same style and structure of government.

     The General Welfare Clause would better be called the “Specific Welfare Clause”, the “Vague Welfare Clause”, or the “General Harm Clause”.

     2. The Necessary and Proper Clause
     The final clause in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, empowers the Congress “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States...”.

     The Necessary and Proper Clause is often used to excuse doing whatever people think is necessary and proper for the government to do. But the term, as used in the Constitution, does not mean that at all. What is “necessary and proper” here, is not for the government to do whatever it wants, nor whatever the people wants; the intent here is to limit government's ability to do anything other than what is necessary and proper to execute “the foregoing Powers”.

     And what are “the foregoing Powers”? The Enumerated Powers. The preceding seventeen powers of Congress which are named before that sentence in the Constitution. The powers to create military and diplomatic policy, and monetary and treasury policy, and to punish piracy and regulate slavery, protect scientific discoveries, designate post roads, and little else.

     Congress was never intended to have the authority to do anything other than the seventeen things listed in Article I, Section 8, and the eighteenth congressional power enables Congress to do what is necessary to do those other seventeen things, and nothing else.

     The Necessary and Proper Clause would better be called the “Unnecessary and Improper Clause”, or the “Do What You Feel Clause”.

     3. The Interstate Commerce Clause
     The third clause in Article I, Section 8, empowers the Congress “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.”

     Today, this clause is used to justify regulating not only business activity which substantially affects interstate commerce, but also anything that could remotely be described as economic activity, which could theoretically be construed as subtly affecting interstate commerce in any small way.

     The power to regulate interstate Commerce Clause is not even used; much less as intended. The clause intended to restrict economic regulation to what is necessary to prevent states from passing preferential laws that unduly favor the domestic commerce occurring within those states, over commerce from other states. Today, states are allowed to propose laws like this – for example, a law proposed in Minnesota that would have imposed a tax on craft beers from out-of-state - without anyone noticing that they violate the interstate Commerce Clause.

     The Commerce Clause thus enables Congress to regulate any and all economic activity, and enables states to consider laws that violate the Constitution and destroy the fairness of the American free trade zone, when the clause originally intended to strictly limit the power of the federal government to regulate interstate commerce, and to limit the power of the state governments to pass laws that protect local state business interests over the interests of other states.

     The interstate Commerce Clause would more appropriately be called the “Let the States Unfairly Protect Their Own Companies Clause” or the "Let the Federal Government Regulate Whatever it Wants Clause".

IV. Six Laws with Deceptive Names

     There are many laws in America – the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act and the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, for example (which I'll get to later) – which have deceptive names. These deceptive names reveal precisely how the law does the opposite of what it states it is trying to do.

     4. Citizens United

     The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision allows unlimited campaign donations; on the basis of the idea that donations to political campaigns are a form of free expression which is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution. The ruling has divided the country.

     “Citizens United” would better be called “Citizens Divided”.

     5. N.A.F.T.A. (The North American Free Trade Agreement)

     The 1993/1994 North American Free Trade Agreement was a multilateral trade compact (or treaty) between several national governments. Its intention was to promote free trade, but it only worked towards a zero-tariff scenario and real free trade.

     Furthermore, N.A.F.T.A. went backwards on protecting property, the environment, and the sovereignty of foreign countries. It did this by allowing the Mexican Constitution to be amended so as to allow the exploitation of native land in Mexico by international property developers (among other negative consequences of the deal).

     Moreover, trade deals can be negotiated without governments, and they are probably even best negotiated without governments. Thus, N.A.F.T.A. achieved the opposite of free trade; it was a government-managed trade deal.

     Some criticize N.A.F.T.A. for creating a “North American free trade zone” that threatens to flood America with cheap products, cheap labor, or both. But that is to criticize the deal for making trade “too free”. I criticize it because it makes trade too unfree.

     The North American Free Trade Agreement would more appropriately be called “the North American Unfree Trade Agreement” or the “Make North America Submit Economically to the United States Agreement”.

     6. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act

     The 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (E.E.S.A) was a congressional bailout measure intended to mitigate the damage of the 2007-08 financial crisis. While its stated intention was to “stabilize the economy”, what it actually did was authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to buy up to $700 billion in troubled assets.

     The E.E.S.A. was just the first in a series of bailouts, which affected nine major companies. Financial analysts have argued as to whether the total cost of the bailouts and restructuring ended up amounting to $10, $12, or even $29.6 trillion dollars, as opposed to the initial $700 billion troubled asset purchase authorization which made the Troubled Asset Relief Program “necessary” to create.

     Thus, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act would better be called the “Emergency Economic Destabilization Act”, because it was a risky piece of legislation that put the economy in further peril.

     7. The Protect Life Act

The Protect Life Act, which was passed by Congress in 2011 but not signed into law, would have prohibited Obamacare funding from being spent on abortion. Its express purpose would have been to protect the life of the unborn fetus.

     However, that proposed law also would have made it legal for hospitals to deny abortions to pregnant women even if they have life-threatening conditions.

     Thus, the Protect Life Act would more appropriately be called the “Protect Fetus' Lives Only Act” or the “Let Women Die in Childbirth Act”.

     8. The Restoring Internet Freedom Act

     The Restoring Internet Freedom Act, enacted in 2018, destroys the freedom of the internet - its open-source, collaborative commons, peer-to-peer nature - because it prohibits the F.C.C. (Federal Communication Corporation) from classifying I.S.P.s (internet service providers) as common carriers. The law also prohibits the F.C.C. from “imposing certain regulations on providers of such service”.

     Thus, the Restoring Internet Freedom Act, would more appropriately be called “the Destroying Internet Freedom Act”.

     9. The Defense of Marriage Act (D.O.M.A.)

     The Defense of Marriage Act, which was federal law from 1996 to 2015, prohibited married same-sex couples from collecting federal benefits.

     Thus, the Defense of Marriage Act defended solely the marriages of heterosexuals, in treating same-sex couples in a discriminatory manner. So it doesn't defend marriages; if it did, then it would defend all marriages (between consenting adults), and it would want there to be more marriages. But the people who wrote and approved D.O.M.A. didn't want that.

     That's why the Defense of Marriage Act would better be termed the “Defend Straight Marriages Only Act”, the “Destruction of Marriage Act”, the “Preferential Treatment for Straight Couples Act”, or the “Offend Gay Marriages Act”.

[Explanations for examples of government failure #10-#110 will appear on this page at a later date.]

Written on July 27^th, 2019

Based on Notes Taken in June and July 2019

Written for the Bughouse Square Debates, held in Chicago, Illinois on July 27^th, 2019
and delivered in part at the debates

Edited on August 13th, 2019

Towards a Free, United Populism: Proposal of a Humanitarian Party Platform

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. The Platform

   1. Humanitarianism

   2. Giving

   3. Popular Reforms

   4. Elections

   5. Corruption
   6. Shrink the Federal Government

   7. Budgets, Taxes, and Money

   8. Employment
   9. Health
   10. Ecology

   11. War and Foreign Relations

   12. Policing, Surveillance, etc.

   13. Life

   14. Family

   15. Youth Issues

   16. Sweeping Changes
   17. Amendments Borrowed from Public Suggestions

Content

     

I. Introduction

     The following set of slogans, guiding principles, and policy proposals, was written in order to begin crafting a platform which would appeal to the broadest possible swath of disenfranchised American voters, without regard to their social or economic values and dispositions.
     I compiled this set of proposals while discussing how to create such a platform with three friends; two Green Party members and a conservative. I contributed my own ideas, mostly inspired by a politically libertarian, minarchist, and original intent -oriented interpretation of the Constitution. Each of us pitched the topics we thought Americans could get along on, regardless of economic or social persuasion.
     I have done this in order to avoid as many possible points of disagreement which would risk forestalling progress towards a more equal protection under the law, a more equal opportunity in the economy, and reforming and limiting the power of government (especially to keep alternative political voices out of debates, elections, and polls).
     That is why I feel that the most important topics to start with are things like caring for one another and giving, reforming elections and increasing voter access, ending corruption in government, taking care of our veterans, rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, making common-sense reforms to our economy that everyone can agree on, taking care of the environment, and ending wars and government spying.

     I hope to turn this set of proposals into a survey; I would be interested in knowing what percentage of Americans support each of these reforms. I would recommend that all proposals receiving more than 70% support should be combined by topic, and introduced to Congress as comprehensive reforms of laws concerning each topic.
     I hope that whatever set of proposals survives such a survey, increases the focus on humanitarianism in society and politics. Whatever we may believe about the proper role of government in welfare, the Constitution can be amended constitutionally, and we have the right to alter or abolish our government, so theoretically no reform should be considered off-the-table (at least from the start).
    I hope that the results of a survey based on this also contributes to increases of freedom, equality, but most of all independence; independence of thought, independence of political disposition, and independence of government when and if possible. If a machine can be trusted to be autonomous, then it should be autonomous. If a man can be trusted to be autonomous, then he should be autonomous. If a regional government can be trusted to be autonomous, then it should be wholly autonomous. The subsidiarist principle should continue to guide American politics; we must advance past states' rights and dual federalism, towards more polycentric structures of government.

   Please email me at jwkopsick@gmail.com, or comment below, if you have any comments about which of the proposals below are your favorite, or least favorite. And feel free to make suggestions and edits, and ask questions for clarification.

II. The Platform

1. HUMANITARIANISM:

     A. Prioritize humanity first / Put people first.

     B. Prioritize people over profit.

     C. Establish “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

2. GIVING:

     A. (Through whatever methods,) relieve poverty, need, and suffering.

     B. Provide mutual aid to the poor, homeless, traveling workers, perpetually unemployed people, and overlooked veterans.

     C. Encourage people to give alms charitably; both often and of their own free will.

     D. Caution people that to simply pay taxes without giving to the poor, absolves a person of the personal moral responsibility to give to the poor directly, instead of waiting around expecting the government to do it on one's behalf.
     E. Help the poor whether it is illegal or not; regardless of whether the government tries to regulate charitable giving or require permission in order to give to the poor. Advocate for the repeal of any and all local city ordinances prohibiting giving out food, money, and other resources to the poor (as well as the repeal of ordinances prohibiting panhandling, busking, camping, and hitchhiking).

     F. Advocate for more cross-jurisdictional and cross-border cooperation in order to provide mutual aid to the poor. This could be done through advocated for increased funding of, and participation in, mutual aid societies such as Food Not Bombs, M.A.B.A.S. (the midwest Mutual Aid Box Alarm System), and Doctors Without Borders. Additionally, through advocating that food pantry access (in addition to library access, and park and beach access) not be denied to anyone on the basis of their location or jurisdiction.

3. POPULAR REFORMS:

     A. Pursue any and all apolitical reforms which stand a chance at being passed through bipartisan reconciliation; as long as those reforms are enacted at the level of government which is legally and constitutionally authorized to enact them. Including, but not limited to the following;

     B. Rebuild our crumbling public infrastructure; roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, airports, etc..

     C. Advocate for affordable mass transit and public transportation.

     D. Improve the standard of life of military veterans, not only through direct charity, but through ensuring that these public employees are adequately compensated for their service.

     E. Advocate for the de-politicization of the decision-making process, regarding how the three preceding issues are normally dealt with.

4. ELECTIONS:

     A. Support measures which ensure fairer ballot access for third parties and independents.
     B. End the grandfathering-in of the two major political parties when it comes to the number of signatures which must be collected in order to petition for a candidate's name to appear on the ballot.

     C. Let citizens choose their legislators; not vice-versa. End gerrymandering through politically independent methods; either by establishing a bipartisan redistricting panel, or by allowing congressional districts to be drawn by computer algorithms without regard for local voting patterns.

     D. Sue the “bipartisan” private corporation the Commission on Presidential Debates in order to limit its power, and invite the League of Women Voters or some independent association to host the debates.
     E. Find, and propose, legislative and legal remedies which will allow and assist third parties and independents to debate while bypassing the commission.
     F. In order to fully abolish poll taxes, advocate for prohibiting governments from charging fees for driver's licenses and state identification documents, for as long as such governments shall require those documents in order to vote. Require governments to provide identification documents to all residents, free upon request, in all jurisdictions in which such documents are required in order to vote.

5. CORRUPTION:

     A. Strictly limit the powers of government, and reduce its size and scope.

     B. Pass strict measures aiming to prevent or punish political corruption.

     C. Pass strict accounting regulations, and strict measures aiming to prevent or punish financial corruption and budgetary fraud.

     D. Pass meaningful term limits; at all levels, and in all branches, of government. End Supreme Court justices' lifetime tenures; but limit the terms of not only federal Supreme Court justices, the president, the Senate and House; but also of state governors. Pass additional federal and state judicial term limits.
     E. Amend the Speech or Debate Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1) so as to revoke federal congressmen's privileged protection against being arrested for misdemeanors.
     F. Create a Tenth District federal Circuit Court of Appeals, by splitting the Ninth District into two districts.
     G. Promote the rights of jurors and the accused, by spreading awareness of jury nullification, and awareness of the right to decline to enter a plea and demand a trial in certain cases.
     H. Abolish civil asset forfeiture.
     I. Abolish eminent domain; follow the Fifth Amendment by requiring: 1) public use; 2) just compensation; and 3) consent of the property owner, in order for the government to be allowed to expropriate private property.


6. SHRINK THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:

     A. Consider limiting government severely, by promoting sweeping changes to the size and scope of the federal government; specifically, abolishing entire federal departments which we no longer need. These include, but are not limited to, the following (five proposals):

     B. Abolish the Department of Commerce, in order to move towards ending government support for businesses. Take additional steps to end all public support for business associations and business lobbying organizations which disguise themselves as official government departments of commerce.

     C. Abolish the Department of Energy, in order to eliminate energy subsidies which distort and rig the market for fuels.

     D. Abolish the federal Department of Education, in order to restore local and state control to our education system.

     E. Abolish or shrink the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in order to reduce the risk of the government insuring too many people to live in areas prone to natural disasters (floods, ocean level rise, etc.).

     F. Abolish the Department of the Interior - in order to reduce the amount of land area which is owned, claimed, and/or managed by the federal government - returning that land to the people.

7. BUDGETS, TAXES, AND MONEY

     A. Audit the Federal Reserve System thoroughly and annually. Abolish the Federal Reserve System. Return monetary policy to Congress.

     B. Legally mandate balanced budgets in all jurisdictions. Support reforms to budgetary accountability which ensure that every single dollar is accounted for, whatever the tax rate or the size of the government budget happens to be. Examples could include “Cut, Cap, and Balance” type legislation, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or other meaningful budgetary reforms.

     B. Repeal the 16th Amendment, abolish the federal tax on income, and urge states to repeal and abolish taxes on ordinary income below $30,000 in all states.
     C. Freeze property tax assessments, or limit property tax increases to either the inflation rate or the Consumer Price Index, in order to prevent taxes from rising with inflation.
     D. Require the approval of referenda by a supermajority of the voting public, before new tax increases can be passed.
     E. Reduce the burden of property taxes on ordinary people, by enacting split-rate taxation, wherein the value of land is taxed at a higher rate than the rate of taxation to be imposed on improvements upon the land (such as residential and commercial buildings).
     F. End the double taxation of income. Enact prohibitions on the taxation of income, sales, and property, etc. by more than one level of government in the same territory. Take steps towards  devoting each level of government to a particular form of taxation, in order to affirm the separation of powers and maintain the system of checks and balances in regard to taxes.
     G. Abolish the tax credit for employer-provided health insurance, in order to get rid of the market incentive which it causes; that is, the incentive to apply for, or keep working at, a job you don't want, because you don't want to lose your insurance. After the employer health insurance tax credit is abolished, employed people will no longer have an unfair advantage over non-employed people when it comes to affording health insurance (which they do with the help of their employers and the government).

     H. Oppose “pork-barrel spending”; that is, oppose the expenditure of public taxpayer funds on wasteful programs, ineffective programs, earmarks, special interests, projects which benefit certain regional interests unfairly (rather than every member of the public equally).

     I. Encourage local independence and experimentation regarding economic issues: Allow, states and local governments, to enact Land Value Taxation, citizens' dividend, universal basic income guarantee, and state public bank -type reforms.

     J. Achieve a sound U.S. Dollar, with a stable and increasing value.

8. EMPLOYMENT

     A. Reform and revamp the Federal Reserve's “dual mandate” of keeping inflation low while Pursue monetary and budgetary policies which would aim to keep inflation low, but without sacrificing the need to ensure that a sufficient percentage of people are employed.

     B. Establish either a “chained-C.P.I. minimum wage” or an “inflation-pegged minimum wage”. Support minimum wage increases, but only on the condition that those increases are tied to either: 1) the Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.), or 2) the inflation rate. Such wage adjustments should be updated every 6 or 12 months.

     C. Support increases in the minimum wage, only on the condition that more workers be covered by said wage laws. We must spread awareness that a “$15 minimum wage” would primarily benefit federal workers, and workers covered under the National Railway Labor Act. For local government workers, people employed in the private sector, and especially the unemployed, a $15 minimum wage functions not so much as a “minimum wage law”, but as more of an optional suggestion.

     D. Spread awareness – to workers, bosses, renters, and landlords alike – that a worker will earn less and less money each year, if his raises do not keep up with inflation and/or increases in prices of ordinary consumer goods.

     E. Amend the Wagner Act; so that either: 1) a lower percentage of workers' votes than 50% can prompt negotiation with management, or 2) all unions, and all sets of two workers or more, may negotiate with management, regardless of the number or percentage of votes they receive in union elections. Amend Section 9 of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) so as to protect concerted activity, help members-only collective bargaining spread, and make dual unionism and minority unionism fully legal (by protecting the right of either: 1) any two workers, or 2) some predetermined percentage of workers below 50, to file complaints against management in a manner which requires response and negotiation).

     F. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, allowing consumers to engage in concerted boycotts across multiple industries without asking the government for permission.

9. HEALTH:

     A. Repeal legal barriers to importing legal and unregulated drugs from overseas.
     B. Require the F.D.A. to legalize all pharmaceutical drugs approved in all industrially and medically modern countries within 30 days.
     C. Abolish the F.D.A.
     D. Repeal legal barriers to terminally ill people trying experimental drugs which could save their lives.
     E. In 45 states, legalize the interstate purchase of health insurance policies which are consistent with state law.
     F. Repeal the federal H.I.P.A.A. tax credit for employer-provided health insurance plans, or extend the tax credit to all people regardless of employment status.

10. ECOLOGY:

     A. Prioritize the planet over profit.

     B. Preserve the ecology, protect the environment, and conserve scarce and fixed natural resources.

     C. Ensure that all economic development going forward, is environmentally sustainable.

     D. Ensure that neither humans nor animals are prioritized over the other, when it comes to physically developing our surroundings in order to support habitats capable of sustaining life.
     E. Re-negotiate N.A.F.T.A. (and other trade treaties) in a manner which protects the ecology and indigenous peoples both in America and in the foreign countries involved, while lowering barriers to free trade, and setting a good example by taking unilateral steps towards a zero-tariff environment without regard to which country takes the first steps to get there.

11. WAR AND FOREIGN RELATIONS:

     A. Prioritize peace over profit.

     B. Be more cautious about getting involved in wars, civil wars, and military and economic interventions overseas.

     C. Establish “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none”.

     D. Repeal the 1973 War Powers Act.

     E. Either establish a Department of Peace to replace or balance-out the Department of Defense, or else start using the Department of State for peaceful diplomatic purposes as originally intended.

     F. Abolish or significantly reduce all U.S. aid to foreign countries.
     G. End and abolish registration for the Selective Service.
     H. Establish an all-volunteer military, formally and permanently abolish the military draft through a constitutional amendment.
     I. Prohibit governments from enacting "mandatory civilian national service programs" and other programs which are military drafts in disguise.
     J. Bring home all troops and military contractors from Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, and others.
     K. Dismantle between 800 and 1000 U.S. military bases overseas, ending our massive military presence abroad.
     L. Limit the distance from U.S. shores our military can travel during peacetime; to between 12 nautical miles and 90 or 100 statute miles.
     M. End all foreign aid: Support all legislative efforts to reduce and abolish the disbursement of U.S. taxpayer money to foreign regimes.

12. POLICING, SURVEILLANCE, etc.

     A. Use the police to protect people, not property. Make the (supposed) police duty "to protect and serve" a real legal obligation. Advocate for the reversal of the 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Warren v. District of Columbia, which held that the police have no responsibility to protect and serve the general public, nor any particular one of its members, unless a private agreement or contract has been made between the police and the person(s) to be protected. Ensure that the police follow the law, and revamp the police so as to replace "beat cops" with "officers of the peace".
     B. Use the military to protect people, not property. Prohibit military intervention for the sake of protecting property and profits; do not commit troops nor private military contractors for the sake of protecting anything except human beings.
     C. Either alter or abolish the 1033 Program established under the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act (N.D.A.A.)., or else amend the 1997 N.D.A.A.'s 1033 Program so as make it in compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act. Allow police departments to have tanks and drones, but prohibit police cooperation with military and National Guard while using such devices, and also prohibit their use by police departments except in the event of foreign invasion, so that tanks and drones cannot be used by police against the citizens they are supposed to protect.

     D. Repeal the 2001 A.U.M.F. (Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists).

     E. Abolish all agencies operating under the D.H.S. (Department of Homeland Security) which were created after September 11th, 2001 or have no proper constitutional authority, including the N.S.A. (National Security Agency) and I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

     F. Among the set of 17 intelligence agencies operating under the Department of Homeland Security, enfold any properly constitutionally authorized agencies which remained, into-under either the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, or the Department of State.

     G. End surveillance on American citizens by their government; pass laws ending warrantless wiretaps on Americans, and abolish the National Security Agency (N.S.A.).

     H. End the surveillance of foreign governments (especially our allies) by the United States.

     H. Establish legal and/or economic penalties for companies which survey (spy on) American citizens without their permission and awareness.
     I. When it comes to companies using customers' search information to make money selling ads: Require companies to offer customers the choice as to whether to be paid for their information, or else to opt out of having their information monitored.

     J. Pass laws prohibiting all law enforcement and military officers from using of torture in interrogations, and end all forms of torture excused as "enhanced interrogation".

     K. Pass laws prohibiting the indefinite detention, and especially the detention without trial, of all people suspected of crimes, regardless of the citizenship status or nation of origin of the suspect. Non-citizen suspects can't be charged with violating our laws, if they're not subject to our laws. And if they're subject to our laws, then they're subject to the protections in the Bill of Rights.

     L. Oppose the use of drones, to strike and spy on suspects in foreign countries, unless such actions have been properly authorized, through:

          1) permission from that country, or lacking that,

          2) a formal declaration of war on that country by Congress.

13. LIFE:

     A. Protect life as the key to protecting liberty.

     B. Support the legality of abortion whenever it is necessary to save the life of the mother.

     C. If a person is considering abortion, there are almost always other alternatives (including adoption, surrogacy, and potentially even fetal transplants a few years down the line).

     D. Aim to reduce and decrease the number of abortions.

     E. End the expenditure of taxpayer funds on abortion services, and end the expenditure of taxpayer funds on organizations that provide abortion services.

     F. Advocate for the abortion industry to cease operating on a for-profit basis in America.
     G. Prohibit infanticide, and prosecute partial birth abortion as infanticide, in all jurisdictions.

14. FAMILY:

     A. Make no-fault divorce the norm in divorce courts (unless child abuse is suspected).

     B. Make 50/50 equal custody the default arrangement in child custody hearings (unless child abuse is suspected).

     C. If the above two measures cannot be achieved, then abolish family law courts.

     D. If none of the above measures can be achieved, then move to repeal Social Security Act Title IV-D (child support).

15. YOUTH ISSUES:

     A. End the physical abuse and emotional torture of children; by educators, police officers, and school security guards.

     B. Insist that any measure funding public schools, be passed only on the condition that sufficient resources are spent to combat school bullying.

     C. Insist that any measure funding public schools, be passed only on the condition that sufficient resources are spent to protect children from being molested by teachers and fellow classmates (24 kids are molested in American schools every school day, and that's just what's reported).

     D. End the school-to-prison pipeline.

     E. End the trafficking of children through courts to for-profit prisons.

     F. End the trafficking of children through the courts and C.P.S. (Child Protective Services).

     G. End the trafficking of children by I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

     H. Advocate for a full investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's former employees, as well as Donald Trump, Alexander Acosta, Ghislaine Maxwell, and all persons of interest named in Epstein's black book and/or logs of flights on which Epstein flew (including but not limited to Alan Dershowitz, Michael Mukasey, Ehud Barak, Steven Pinker, Kevin Hart, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, several members of the Trump and Clinton families, and more).
     I. Advocate for a full investigation of James Alefantis, as well as Sasha Lord and Alefantis's other employees, David Brock, John and Tony Podesta, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Anthony Weiner, Laura Silsby-Gayler, Tamera Stanton Luzzatto and David J. Leiter, Jim Steyer, Herb Sandler, and all persons of interest in the Pizzagate case.

     J. Prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, any and all politicians, troops, and defense contractors, suspected of engaging in sex trafficking rings, whether international or domestic.

     K. In all jurisdictions, fully criminalize the act of marrying a person under the age of 16.

     L. Raise the federal age of sexual consent from 12 to either 15 or 16.

     M. Oppose and reverse all attempts to raise the tobacco and alcohol purchase ages any higher than 18 and 21.

     N. Urge more states to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, as long as they'll turn 18 before the relevant general election.

16. SWEEPING CHANGES:

     A. Call for a constitutional convention, as long as one can be held without putting the Bill of Rights at risk.

     B. Support a “New Federalism” -type position regarding entitlements (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) wherein the funds for those programs would be block-granted to the states by the federal government, but otherwise left up to the states to administer and enforce.

     C. Commute death sentences to life in all jurisdictions wherein the death penalty still exist (or could exist). Abolish the federal death penalty.
     D. Repeal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in all "victimless crime" and "vice law" cases in which there is no actual victim (aside from the accused person and/or the public), including in any drug law cases in which no acts of fraud nor violence were committed.
     E. Remove cannabis from Schedule I, and release non-violent marijuana offenders from prison. 

     F. Pass legislation prohibiting the taxation of marijuana, and also prohibiting its regulation for any purposes (other than to prosecute acts of violence undertaken during marijuana exchanges, and to prevent marijuana from falling into the hands of minors who do not have medical justification for using it). Support all laws which would decriminalize, normalize, and fully legalize marijuana, hemp, cannabis, and other cannabis-based products, while opposing proposals to tax marijuana sales and opposing proposals to regulate the trade and use of marijuana by anyone except minors lacking medical need.

17. AMENDMENTS BORROWED FROM PUBLIC SUGGESTIONS

     [Author's Note: The following ten proposals are taken verbatim, without permission, from a set of proposed amendments which has gained popularity circulating on the internet among libertarians, conservatives, and Constitution lovers.]

     Proposed Amendment XXVII:
     Amendment XVI of the Constitution for the United States is repealed. Congress shall not tax the people directly. Congress shall not tax imports. Congress shall not enact excise taxes. Congress shall pass a budget two years in advance and shall only tax the states apportioned by population to meet the budget requirements for the following year.

     Proposed Amendment XXVIII:
     Amendment XVII is hereby repealed; each State shall appoint its Senators as befits the State.

     Proposed Amendment XXX:
     The Federal Reserve Bank is abolished; Congress shall be prohibited from establishing legal tender or otherwise interfering with the free market in money.

     Proposed Amendment XXXI:
     Congress and the Treasury shall be prohibited from selling bonds or otherwise becoming indebted.

     Proposed Amendment XXXII:
     The proportion of the House of Representatives shall be so regulated by Congress that there shall be not less than one representatives for every fifty thousand persons.

     Proposed Amendment XXXIII:
     Congress shall not vote on any bill or piece of legislation that regards more than one item.

     Proposed Amendment XXXIV:
     Any bill that increases taxes, regulations, or spending shall be approved by a 2/3 majority in each house, and then shall be presented to the public in referendum at the next biennial election and shall pass with a 2/3 majority of the electoral college (359 currently) and with a 2/3 majority of states (34) and the president shall have a line-item veto. Any bill that decreases taxes, regulations, or spending shall be passed with a simple majority in both houses, or by referendum with 50% of electoral college voted (269 currently), or by referendum by 50% of the states (25) and the President shall not have a veto,

     Proposed Amendment XXXV:
     The U.S. military shall not be used without a 3/4 majority in each house first declaring war, except in the case of immediate defense of the territory of the States.

     Proposed Amendment XXXVI:
     Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this constitution expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

     Proposed Amendment XXXVII:
     Gerrymandering shall be prohibited to the States. All congressional districts shall be designed by computer algorithm with emphasis on following municipal boundaries, contiguity, equal population, and compactness.


     Proposed Amendment XXIX: The Sunset Clause Amendment
     Each law shall contain a sunset clause. All military expenditures must be strictly limited to two years, as provided in the Constitution (including foreign aid bills).

     Proposed Amendment XXX: The Equal Rights Amendment
     Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

     Proposed Amendment XXXI: Titles of Nobility Amendment
     If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain, any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, price or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.

Written on July 25th and 26th, 2019

Published on July 26th, 2019
Edited and Expanded on July 27th and August 19th and 24th, 2019

Written in consultation with conservative and Green friends,

whom the author would like to thank for their helpful suggestions