Forum Post: A New Constitutional Convention
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 4, 2011, 7:07 p.m. EST by hakim
(10)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Our main demand should be to form a New Constitutional Convention. Here we can elect delegates with true democracy. Corporations and existing politicians would have no greater voice than ours. Revolution is necessary, the founders knew this.
This is a feasible solution. It is possible, and it's legal. In order not to marginalize the 99% we cannot advertise violence or totalitarianism via opposing our views, even though progressive, upon the masses. We must disarm the government from taking away our liberties while giving them the power to punish those who harm another, whether that be physically, economically an environmentally.
The future does not have to be complex. We can learn from our mistakes as a species and improve. Communism and Capitalism don't work. However they both teach us a lot about ourselves and what we can do better now. I don't have the answers, but we must adapt to the present, to globalized world we live in.
We must change. We must adapt. We can do this via the New Constitutional Convention..
If this is a revolution, let's be serious about it. The future is in our hands. No one else will do it.
Folks, the whole idea of a Constitutional Convention is a great one and in my view needs to be implemented. However, there are some cautions. First, the Occupy Wall Street movement is proposing its own Convention which is fine and good, but it must be remembered that a PRIVATE Convention is not the same as a LEGALLY authorized National Constitutional Convention. The Constitution specifically stipulates in Article V that a LEGITIMATE Constitutional Convention originates from the state legislatures
Secondly, do you recall all the squabbling that happened at the original Constitutional Convention and the great difficulty they had in arriving at the final document? Well that scenario will be EVEN WORSE this time around, and here's why. We now have 50 states, not 13. The chances of getting anything accomplished with that great a number of states involved would be almost impossible. However, being the all-knowing and benevolent instigator that I am ; ), I have devised a plan that will enable a Convention in our modern day America to succeed. See the link below for more info:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NationalConstitutionalConvention06
Article V should really be the main slogan. The politicians aren't going to change the system without it.
Agreed.
I think I've read this constitution before, "Animal Farm?"
If you would like to hold one in Tampa during hte RNC, I would be glad to help you.
Protesting is not the way..A people's Constitutional Convention to change the system is the way. See Below...contact me at 1 970 403 2956 chi.tevin@gmail.com see below...
HOW TO CHANGE OUR SYSTEMS NATIONAL PETITION INITIATIVE WE THE PEOPLE PETITION THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO HOLD A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION We the undersigned citizens as registered voters of the United States of America, petition ourselves to hold a Constitutional Convention by and for the citizens of the United States of America, to be held as soon as possible. Only when the Citizens of our country have the first and final say in all issues by majority vote, are we a government by and for the people. An Initiative is a process by which a referendum or change in how we govern ourselves can be triggered by a petition of voters. The Citizens of the United States have the right to choose by majority vote how to govern and care for their needs. The citizens have the right to petition themselves to create a new or a modified Constitution, and Governance. Because we the people are powerless within a representative Government to make law, and enforce the Constitution of the United States upon our representatives at the state and federal level, we the people desire a governance by and for the people without money influencing our vote and our lives.
This Constitutional Convention is not for any government agency of the United States of America to perform, except to exercise each individual registered voter’s right to sign this petition and have one vote per citizen, per issue during the Constitutional convention.
We the people charge the experts in all the fields of life in the United States of America to cooperate with each other to inform and educate our citizens without prejudice so that our citizens-voters can choose and vote from self empowering, truth filled knowledge of the subjects and issues in hopes of benevolent and wise intent by the citizens-voters, for the well being of all life at the Constitutional Convention and beyond. By signing this petition we affirm that we choose to be responsible citizen-voter’s of all matters local and national for the well being of all life in the United States of America. Print and sign your name and address perfectly and legibly. Thank You!
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION IDEALS
Liberty and Democracy By and For The People
The Petition for a Constitutional Convention is signed by the vast majority of the citizens of the United States who agree that the Federal Government, State and City governments, and to many Corporations, including most Television and Radio media, and the banks are corrupt. Also, too many citizens of the U.S.A. believe the lies they are told by the Media, and the Government, and the uber Rich. We the people will improve the constitution to eliminate corruption in Government and unnecessary suffering for everyone.
In order to have a sufficiency of need, want and opportunity for all life and a healthy planet to live on, please consider the following ideals for governance by the people. Living by these ideals, we are no longer slaves of a politically correct work place, or socially afraid to say what we think is true. With each of us living in autonomy, we can afford to be responsible people sharing abundance and fairness with all life.
World wide, we all need each other. Never-mind the differences less we find isolated groups oppressing each other. Certainly it is easy enough to help people since we don’t use force to solve problems.
Nature has the same rights as human beings and must be protected, nourished and respected by all of our actions.
Abolish Profiteering and the money systems. Every person receives Social Security from birth till death. This means housing, utilities, food, clothing, education, health care, transportation, communication and expression of our choice. This will eliminate 99 percent of all crime against all life including nature.
It is in the best interest of our country and our citizens to erase our government and start over again without representatives and the present laws. We can start with a few laws that don’t allow corruption to exist, or universal human rights violated. No more heads of state. No more leaders. We can replace representative government with the experts in each field of life whom as groups, will cooperatively report to the citizens, and the citizens will be truthfully informed and proudly vote on everything. Seventy four percent…80% of eligible voters must vote for any issue to be settled. A yes or no vote must have 80% of the votes cast. This is a government by and for the people.
All Radio and Television Medias are owned by the people and regulated by the people.
Cease all policing and transform our police departments into non arresting, peace making problem solvers for the community at large. Courts are no longer necessary for any reason…Each community will come together with those implied to resolve the issues and offenses amongst each other. This is the gateway to self awareness and peace amongst each other. Incarceration will only be for the very few who can’t help themselves. Keep in mind that without the burden of –CO$T- everyone has security and comfort and all is affordable for everyone.
Abolish military weapons and the manufacturing of Military weapons and apologize to the world for our military and political crimes. Transform the military into an international Global Service, to create a sufficiency of infrastructure for need and want for all life, while nurturing our planet back to health.
Replace all nuclear power facilities, coal, oil and natural gas burning facilities with renewable energy sources such as cold fusion, hydrogen, air compression, solar, organic batteries, photo voltaic and so on. Efficiency alone will reduce our energy consumption and waste problems by at least 75%.
Return to bulk distribution and (made local) when ever possible. If you make a good product people will want it. No need to produce for profit.
Stop the consumption of the oceans, lakes and rivers until the water ways regenerate and thrive again.
Stop most tree cutting and use the abundant plants such as Water Hyacinth, Hemp, and Knopf, Neem, and Lucatia trees for building material and medicines, fibers, textiles, paper, oils, binders…tackle, string, rope, furniture and thousands more products.
Replace chemical and GMO agriculture with organic biodiversity agriculture and aquaculture.
Retrieve all military satellites unless they can be used for peaceful reasons. Everyone is equal in importance and value. Poverty and unnecessary suffering, never exists anywhere at any time.
By and For The People
for each other, Tevin Chidester 1 970 403 2956 chi.tevin@gmail.com
This may be the only way. And, because the call for a Constitutional Convention from the states does NOT need to be for a united purpose, we could actually cooperate with other groups, including, of all things, the Tea Party, to get the required number of states calling for it. Everyone would then pursue their own agendas at the convention, and there will certainly be enough popular support for our cause(s) to get something done, and other groups would go their own way to find support for their cause(s) if they can. It's a viable idea and it will probably be necessary, since our Congress and Supreme Court are so involved with and dependent upon the top 1%-ers that they can't be counted on to forward real reforms for us through conventional means...
The whole point of a Convention is that it bypasses Congress by and large and that was the intent of the Founders. They realized that a time would exist(such as ours) when the federal branch of government would itself be the source of the problem.
What we have now is not Capitalism. It is corporatism. Real capitalism would work.
What doesn't work is a hugely bloated and powerful central government. Call it communism, call it fascism, both are systems designed to keep a few in power at the expense of the many.
Dylan Ratigan wants to amend the Constitution to separate money and state. It sounds like the start of a good idea, but I agree with others who have said - we have to be careful about amending the Constitution. If the process gets corrupted and is hidden from the people, we could be getting ourselves into serious trouble.
the people out there who don't realize what the issue is and receive their news in pre-digested form hear socialism/communism/fascism/economic equalization instead of whats actually being said, which is that our current perversion of capitalism isn't working and needs to be changed.
The main problem in our society is that we do not have ethically minded people in positions of authority. Institutions whether they be public or private are only as good as the people running them.
Is this a popular view of other occupiers? It seems like the most feasible solution.
What we must do is repeal the 16th Ammendment... and THAT WILL REQUIRE a constitutional convention... Congress will never vote away its power and neither will the corporations allow it...
If the 16th Ammendment were repealed all power would ultimately revert back to to the people as originally intended... this entire mess is a result of our nation's foolish adoption of the Federal Income Tax Ammendment in 1913... it gave the federal government not just the direct money, but it limits the States ability to interject in any way short of such a convention, thereby opening the door to all of the abuses and power grabs from Congress throughout the last 99 years.
www.savingamericaspromise.com www.chadrichardvanvoorhis.com
Theres nothing wrong with our Constitution, its the ones in office that are at fault, They don't respect or have any reguard for it. These corrupt politicians think they're above it. Its we the people who fell a sleep, I don't believe we would be here if it wasn't 9/11.After that they came in for the kill. but I know we can turn this around. One step at a time. The first thing we have to do is stop the payroll. Once the money dries up so will the bought politicians, then we'll put controls in place ensure this never happens again. Its we the people who are most productive and set the world class standards, not ceos or bought politicians.
Theres nothing wrong with our Constitution, its the ones in office that are at fault, They don't respect or have any reguard for it. These corrupt politicians think they're above it. Its we the people who fell a sleep, I don't believe we would be here if it wasn't 9/11.After that they came in for the kill. but I know we can turn this around. One step at a time. The first thing we have to do is stop the payroll. Once the money dries up so will the bought politicians, then we'll put controls in place ensure this never happens again. Its we the people who are most productive and set the world class standards, not ceos or bought politicians.
Theres nothing wrong with our Constitution, its the ones in office that are at fault, They don't respect or have any reguard for it. These corrupt politicians think they're above it. Its we the people who fell a sleep, I don't believe we would be here if it wasn't 9/11.After that they came in for the kill. but I know we can turn this around. One step at a time. The first thing we have to do is stop the payroll. Once the money dries up so will the bought politicians, then we'll put controls in place ensure this never happens again. Its we the people who are most productive and set the world class standards, not ceos or bought politicians.
They control the production and distribution of the currency though and therein lies their power. A Convention can change that.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NationalConstitutionalConvention06
The Constitution we have now provides a process for complete changing it.
You could, for example, pass an amendment that says the Constitution is null and void. This is crazy, of course, but we go anywhere with the Constitution we have already.
Trying to call a convention rather than advocating specific change doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.
There are built-in safeguards for such as what you describe above. Under a LEGAL Constitutional Convention, 3/4 of the state legislatures have to approve of any amendment coming out of a Convention. That pretty much rules out anything disastrous occurring.
i like it. i don't think it's as feasible as the existing movement (already 100,000 signatures) for "GET MONEY OUT" constitutional amendment.
further, the GET MONEY OUT is clear, simple, decisive, and effectively kills Wall Street's influence in one sweep.
and, there are hundreds of groups who are probably willing to stand with us in solidarity of a simple amendment (MoveON, DFA, etc).
another convention has never been done. however, amendments get proposed ALL the time, and there's a frame for understanding it, and an existing public understanding of it.
Remember though that Congress will never support any amendment that will limit its own power or influence. This is why the Convention method is really the only feasible approach. It basically bypasses Congress except for the formal calling of it after the states have voted to have one and in specifying how the Convention amendments are voted on---either by the state legislatures themselves or by special state conventions.
http://conconcon.org/
Exactly. Let's do it.
Careful guys...we could end up with the the Patriot Act becoming Article 24 or some such madness...Them conventions can get Very Tricky. Can of worms...
That would suck, however the people aren't in favor of the patriot act. They never were, which is why it was passed so quickly. We aren't any safer and we've lost the few rights we had.
haha omg that would be so terrible. Realistically, that is a possibility too. frickin scary
I actually think that what we need is Government Version 2.0. Like a software update. Keep the stuff that works, trash the functions that nobody needs, re-do the Civil Service Exam for the first time in 45 years to make it relevant, you know, basically a new version. Its a long way from 1776 without an update. Even Apple is faster than that...
That's all I'm saying. The convention is required to dissolve all existing spheres of influence. Most of the constitution should be kept, but it needs a complete revision. We need to be more specific on the restrictions of power for the executive and legislative branches. We also need to make it clear who the government should protect, the people, not companies.
The constitution is an amazing document, however it is outdated and it's vagueness in areas has lead to much of the stagnation we see in politics. Lets be clear on gun rights (citizens should have the right to bear arms in my opinion), let be clear on privacy (the 4th amendment gets abused daily).. that includes abortion!
Maybe interstate commerce needs to be defined a little bit more clearly..... and hey how about everyone has the right to marry..
It is a daunting yet necessary endeavor.