A proposal for the 32st amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Section 1. No license or permit, or any other form of prior permission, shall be required to engage in any activity, except that a law made by the Legislature of the State, within which the activity takes place, shall expressly require the same. All such laws shall enumerate the grounds upon which a license or permit may be denied, which enumeration shall be construed as exhaustive, and which grounds shall be objective; and if no such grounds are enumerated, then no license or permit required under that law may be denied. Likewise, all such laws shall enumerate the grounds upon which a license or permit is revocable, which enumeration shall be construed as exhaustive, and which grounds shall be objective; and if no such grounds are enumerated, then no license or permit required under that law may be revoked. No license or permit shall be denied on account of the number of existing or pending licenses or permits. No status as an official or employee of the United States or any State in any capacity, or any lack of such status, shall affect the granting of any license or permit. The burden of proof for denial or revocation of a license or permit shall rest on the authority so doing. The maximum penalty for engaging in an activity without the required license or permit shall be a fine no greater than double the fee for the required for the lawful issuance of a license or permit, except in those instances where the license or permit was lawfully deniable, or where the license or permit has already been duly revoked, in which case the penalty shall be as provided by law, and the due process for such shall be trial by jury. No person shall be required to surrender any documentation of a granted license or permit, except when lawfully revoked. Officials desiring to examine a license or permit may only require that it be displayed, and may not take physical possession of it. The sum of payments required for a license or permit shall not exceed five dollars. No issue of any permit or license shall be conditioned on the waiver of any right.
I've had it with municipalities which use the licensing process as a way to outlaw things that aren't in their authority to outlaw, grant de facto monopolies to cronies, or fleece the public. Section one is rather wordy here because of all of the ways the process has been used to abridge people's rights.
Section 2. The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be subject to any system of governmental consent or license. Furthermore, no citizen, who is at liberty, shall be denied the right to keep and bear arms except as punishment for a crime in which bodily harm is caused, threatened, or attempted.
The right to keep and bear arms is precisely that, a right, but some people need to have things explicitly spelled out.
Section 3. Neither the United States nor any state shall make any law concerning the population or survival of any species of life, nor shall any person be denied any use of his property on account of any species of non-human life dwelling or present thereon. Furthermore, neither the United States nor any state shall grant any right to non-human life.
The Endangered Species Act is not authorized by the Constitution, and is for that reason alone unconstitutional, but again some people need to have things explicitly spelled out. And people are more important than animals, anyway.
Section 4. The best interest of the child shall be the sole criterion in all custody decisions made by the States.
The federal government needs to get out of the foster care business.
Section 5. The legislature of each state shall have power to preempt legislation on any matter by the cities, counties, townships, parishes, and other communities within that state. No failure of the legislature to exercise jurisdiction in the preempted matter shall be construed to affect that preemption in any way.
The legislative power of a state should be explicitly paramount to those of its subdivisions.
Section 6. The rights of the people shall be subject only to those restrictions that are enumerated in this constitution. Furthermore, no situation, no matter how intolerable, shall be held to increase the powers of the United States or the several States, or to curtail the rights of any person. Furthermore, any appearance of conflict between a right enumerated within this constitution, and a right not so enumerated, shall always be resolved in favor of the enumerated right.
Every would-be dictator looks to crises to justify the expansion of his or her powers.
Section 7. No personal information shall be collected by the United States or any State, except in consequence of law. No such law shall be valid, except that it shall enumerate the purposes for which the information is collected, direct the immediate removal of information no longer needed for the specific purpose for which it was collected, prohibit the use of that information for purposes not enumerated in that particular law, provide criminal penalties for all officials who violate these requirements, and provide civil remedy for victims of any such violations. Furthermore, the records of any person's personal information, maintained by the United States or any State, shall be made available for examination upon that person's demand, errors noted by that person shall be corrected without delay, and any official act based on erroneous information in such records shall be fully reversed.
We don't need our government spying on us.
Section 8. A petition of one percent of the registered voters of any State shall be sufficient to place a referendum before the electorate of that State, to be voted upon at the time of the next election of members of that State's legislature. If a majority of votes favors the referendum, it shall be fully implemented, otherwise it shall be of no effect. A referendum may repeal any law passed by the legislature of that state, remove from office any appointed official or judge of that State, amend the Constitution of that State, ratify a pending amendment to the Constutition of the United States, or withdraw that State's ratification of a pending amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Such referenda are not subject to review by the courts of that state. Furthermore, any such referenda, once approved by the people, shall nullify in toto any conflicting law, regulation, or court ruling of that State.
"A just government derives its powers from the consent of the people."
Section 9. The United States shall own only those lands used in the exercise of the powers reserved to the United States. The United States shall return all property taken for other purposes. Furthermore, the States shall own only those properties used in the exercise of the powers enumerated within their respective constitutions, and shall return all other properties.
The Left is always telling us we can't have stuff we don't need, whether it's guns or extra pocket money. It's time to take the Left at its word and apply this principle to the government.
Section 10. No condition of race, gender or religion, either in the alleged perpetrator of a criminal act or other persons alleged to be affected by that act, shall affect the characterization or penalty of any criminal act. Furthermore, no belief or attitude of the alleged perpetrator of an act, regarding the race, gender, or religion of affected persons, shall affect the characterization or penalty for any criminal act.
There should be one law for everybody.
Section 11. Parents and guardians of children have the right to be fully informed of all matters affecting their children. Neither Congress nor any State shall make any law denying to parents or guardians the right to be fully informed of everything peculiar to their respective wards. No official of the United States or of any State shall abridge this right for any reason. Nothing in the laws or the Constitution of the United States or of any State shall be construed to set aside this right.
Government should stop undermining the natural authority of parents.
Section 12. Neither the United States nor any State shall have or exercise the power of eminent domain.
When citizens abuse a right, the government takes it away. Turnabout is fair play, and the history of eminent domain has been a history of chronic abuse.