re: Time machine allows you to go back in time. The one caveat is simple ....

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Any chance you can hook me up with one of those powdery wigs and some stockings?

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JacketFan desires a wig and stockings.

Spreadsheet updated.

First of all I would begin by having any reference to simply being born in this country for automatic citizenship removed ... and would instead make it a generational thing. 2nd, or even 3rd, generational births would be automatic provided the previous two generations were also Citizens on at least once genealogical side.

Otherwise, even if born here, the path to Citizenship would require a term of service to State, not Federal, but to State governments.

More on that later ... that "State" versus "Federal" thing.

I would also make it read so that budgets are adhered-to and, without an agreed-up budget and a means to replay within a reasonable frame of time the government would be shut down ... with the exception of military personnel.

I would also be very clear about taxes ... forbidding the formation of any sort of IRS and laying a clear and narrow path for future tax law that would force all government towards Flat Taxes free of write-offs while still favoring investment in employees and equipment.

Think of how banks and Wall Street might flourish under such a system ... simply by changing, or adding/subtracting, a few words here and there.

I would also forbid Government Unions. Let the Unions do all they want to private business/corporations ... but forbid the unionizing of Government employees on any level.

I would also make closed shops unlawful.

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KSGamecock

I'd clarify the second amendment.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear assault rifles, handguns, machine guns, flamethrowers and any type of chemical, nuclear or biological weapon, shall not be infringed.

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I too would suggest they clarify the 2nd Amendment through their wording to read as follows:

"A well armed Citizenry, being necessary to the security of a free State against the tyranny of Federal government, the right of the law-abiding Citizenry free from crimes of a high and seriousness nature, to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

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Pavoloco83

Scrooster, this is too much responsibility for any of the nuts on this board.

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I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best.

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TbirdSpur2010

I would strongly encourage them to make clear the binding finality of joining the Union.

None of this secession bullshite.

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Why not consider this instead TBird? Why not consider changing the wording that caused, or led to, secession and Civil War?

Let's begin by abolishing slavery but offering an alternative rather than backing the South into a corner. Let's begin by adding wording that prevents the North, with their large population base, from basically raping the South economically. By separating certain Rights and granting them on a State level, including enforcement, and then let God and Nature take-over from there.

There are ways it could have been done.

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LittleJerrySeinfield

I would have them include term limits on those elected to Congress.

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So would I, but I would not stop there.

I would also have them include salary caps to read no more than thrice that (of the average income) of the country's citizenry. And no POTUS or member of Congress would be allowed better retirement benefits or, insurance benefits, than those afforded the average citizen.

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JacketFan77

And why are these dudes going to listen to me? I'm a "giant" man with tattoos, speaking with a strange accent and possessing no letters of introduction. I'm gonna be lucky if I make it the year before being hanged or thrown in a bunk next to Queequeg on some whaler. Any chance you can hook me up with one of those powdery wigs and some stockings?

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The three men mentioned originally, those three Founding Fathers, they had the foresight to recognize and accept your bonefides if you presented yourself properly, regardless of your appearance.

Besides, don't worry about that ... that would be taken care of by your initial placement and certain items you would have in your possession.

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derSturm37

It's a good question, OP. It really is. If nothing else you made me go back and read the damned thing for the first time in like 10 years.

Just the other night right here on tRant I said something like: If Jefferson had known what idiots we would become he probably wouldn't have supported democracy in the first place. But when you really consider the prospects of amending The First Amendment you're forced to consider much. Do we get free speech and press except what's bad for us? Who's us? What's bad? And how much? It's probably better off left untouched. We're destined to fruitcake our way back to the stone age because of it, but who wants to go to the trouble to list ALL the shite you should never write or say? frick us. Just let us be fricked.

I might go for an extra 2 Amendments in the BoR. To make for an even 12, a number as good as 10. (Cuz 11 would kinda suck). This just to prevent some future bothersome bullshite. One would say something like: "Congress shall make no law favoring the rights of the yet borne fetusse over those of its mother when the rights of the two seem discordant." Or some such.

The other would prohibit prohibition by stating that the role of law is to protect the individual from others; that protecting the sane, sound, adult individual from himself would be an intolerable tyranny.

I mean since we're GOING to fruitcake our asses back to the stone age, anyway, we might as well do so with uninhibited whores, drugs, and slot machines.

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Free Speech is one thing ... but lying, hypocrisy, mendacity are other things altogether.

My Dad always says, (so do all of we Children of his by default), that "In a nation where anything goes ... everything eventually will."

Think about that for a moment.

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OH HELL YES! Among other things one must do to earn one's citizenry ... definitely you must be a tax payer.

Some will jump to conclusions when I type this, but Robert Heinlein probably had it right in his Meritocracy portrayal of Starship Troopers where suffrage was earned through service ... where "responsibility" was encouraged, even stressed.

As far as regulating commerce ... that's a touchy subject right there but I agree, there could probably be some sort of wording written into the Constitution that would guarantee certain boundaries if a business or corporation wanted to do-business within, and under the protection of, our Federal and/or State governments.

Federal infrastructure, roads, highways, waterways, bridges, etc., should be job one for the Federal Government. That and our military.

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I always felt like this should be a requirement. Either you give of your time with military/civil/foreign service, or you give of your wallet, but if you get to vote, you should have some skin in the game. I get it that this is seen as racist (due to a disproportionate amount of blacks being poor) but its really more common sense. You pay money or pay time, otherwise, why not just vote for whoever gives you more from other people's pockets?

The commerce clause is used as justification for everything from the FCC's existence to Obamacare. There is some need for national programs or oversight of commerce, however it's a lot easier to use it than it should be to ram through legislation that controls too much detail.

Infrastructure is a requirement for commerce, industry, transportation, and prosperity. The Fed can throw it's sheep guts on the floor and decide what to set for interest rates, but there isn't a nation in the world with poor infrastructure that is ever going to be a winner.

I'd also add a provision about not being able to run a debt of greater than 5% of the federal revenues except in times of *declared* war, or national emergency (not to exceed a 3 year period, and emergency may not be declared within 10 years of a previous period's end).

I'd tell them to save the teacher that's going to ride her wagon into Clayton Ravine and die.

Seriously, I'd clarify the general welfare clause to make it less ambiguous. How? I dunno.

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Why not make them the same offer we made for ourselves?

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Which was...?

I wouldn't establish a national church, which the Founders were adamant to avoid, but I would lobby for an amendment the declares that Christianity was the preferred or official religion of the country. Modern Germany has a similar position, and it avoids all of this "all faiths are created equal" garbage. I would make it very clear that this doesn't mean that the church will be consulted on any matters of the state, but that the state would not bend over backwards to accommodate the sensibilities of other faiths in matters. This intention of this isn't to require all Americans to be Christians (which is ludicrous), but it would clearly and unequivocally state that this country is founded on Judeo-Christian principles. The Ten Commandments are welcome in the courthouse, for instance, and we wouldn't have people trying to sue high schools from offering a prayer before a football game. You're welcome to practice whatever you wish in your home or church, of course, but you can't expect the state to be willing to give equal time to Islamic/Hindu/Satanic monuments.

Other business, is that any state is welcome to leave the union at any time if that state's legislature approves secession with a 3/4 vote. The only condition is that the state must pay its per capita share of any debt the Federals have incurred. Basically, a no-fault divorce clause.

I would also include an amendment or clause that declares a base minimum 7% protective tariff for all international imports. This would kill free trade, but not be so punitive to kill international economics. Purely meant to help encourage domestic production and manufacturing.

I'd also severely neuter the power of the executive, and further concentrate power in the legislative. This includes an easier path for impeachment, and the ability for the congress to remove judges with a 3/4 vote.

I would put clearer language into the expansion clauses (inter-state commerce and necessary & proper clauses), put in clearer language protecting the 1st amendment, and attempt to use my knowledge of the future to convince southern delegates to agree to a sunset clause on slavery, where after a certain date, the children of slaves are no longer slaves, but full citizens once they turn 18, and a ban on slave importation after a certain date, with the hopes of politically preventing both the Civil War and the disastrous presidencies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and U.S. Grant.

Basically, I could use my knowledge of the future to close the wiggle room that lawyers, judges, and our government have used in the past to expand its power like Civil Forfeiture, civil rights, popular sovereignty, imminent domain, marshal law, voter fraud, regulation of utilities, public sector unions, ect.

If I can correct all of the grey areas to make the Federal government smaller, more free, and more efficient, while still giving it teeth to prevent states from abusing the rights of their citizens, I feel like I could prevent many of the issues we face today as a nation.

Honestly I don't remember that thread. Have you performed a "search" for the word "time travel"?