My America

The Country I Would Like to See

Imagine you are in your favorite place to relax. For the moment, you have let go of all your worries and cares. You free your mind and imagination to roam wherever it will. As you do so, you begin to visualize a place much like where you live, yet a country which has yet to be born.

It is my country, my America, and your country, your America, that has yet to be brought into fruition, an America I want to help create, to bring to reality.

The list I have made of the changes I would like to see in "My America" encompass a variety of issues, the majority of them involving individual freedom and economic opportunity. Go ahead, take a moment, and read through them. Some of them are obvious, some of them less so; some of them you will immediately agree with, and some you assuredly will not. Whatever your initial assessment of these ideas, you are sure to think about them and they will undoubtedly suggest some changes you would like to see in this great land.

Here is My America...

In my America, I would make all of the following changes to return my country to greatness:

RESTRICTING THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION BASED ON THE DOCTRINE OF ENUMERATED POWERS

o the Federal Government would be reduced in size to deal with only these constitutionally delegated areas of authority;

- the defense of the United States

- the roads and highways of the United States -- building, preservation and repair

- the postal service of the United States

- the coinage of money of the United States

- the patent rights of individuals

o The following major departments (assuredly there would be others) would be completely dismantled and eliminated from the Federal Government:

--The Department of Energy

--The Department of Health

--The Federal Housing Authority

--The Food and Drug Administration

--The Department of Education

--The Federal Communications Commission

--The Environmental Protection Agency

--The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

--The National Endowment for the Arts

--Housing and Urban Development

--The Transportation Security Agency

--The Drug Enforcement Administration

--The Federal Aviation Administration

--The Social Security Administration

(more to be announced)

o all laws passed by congress would first have to go to a committee to prove that they

1. were authorized under the Constitution of the United States

2. did not violate any of the Bill of Rights in any way

TAXES, MONEY AND BANKING

o there would be no Internal Revenue Service

o there would be no tax on income; there would only be taxes on goods and services, and tariffs upon the importation of goods

o there would be no central bank, and the “Federal” Reserve Bank would be terminated -- permanently

o all Federal budgets would have to be balanced; no loans or lending to fund the Federal Government or any of it’s “programs” would ever again be tolerated. The national debt would be eliminated -- permanently

o the money of the United States would return to silver and gold coin; and greenbacks would again be denominated and exchangeable for silver and gold via a fixed redemption schedule found in the Constitution of the United States.

o No tax of any sort could be imposed upon the country or the people of the United States by any other body, including the United Nations.

o Federal “bailout” or loan guarantees to any business, institution or individual would be permanently banned.

o By Federal law, banks would be required to keep 100% of all deposits as collateral for cash they have lent as loans. No "fractional reserve" banking allowed!

EXECUTIVE BRANCH

o Only two more executive orders would ever be issued:

1. the second to the last executive order would reveal and make public every detail of every executive order ever issued;

2. the last executive order would ban all further executive orders forever.

o all Executive Pardons must be published and publicized 30 days in advance of the pardon in the Congressional Record and on the internet web site of the Executive Branch of the Federal Government, with public commentary invited.

o any treaty commitments or obligations created solely by the signature of any President of the United States without the consent of Congress through a direct vote on the issue at hand would be null and void.

o the legality of all "Signing Statements" by any president of the United States would be null and void, and the practice of any president saying ANYTHING while signing a bill into law would end. Statements of personal opinion could be made both before and after the signing of a bill, with the express legal understanding that no utterance by any president in the past, present or future would have any bearing or validity upon any aspect of such bill being signed into law.

o The Office of the Vice President of the United States would be affirmed to be a part of the Executive Branch of Government.

LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

o there would be no lobbyists; lobbying of any sort, at any time, anywhere, by any business, company or corporation, would be a felony. All requests for legislation from any business or individual or groups would have to be made in writing and posted on every congress person’s web site for public scrutiny and commentary.

o there would be no “amendments” allowed to be added to any bill at any time; all bills must be voted upon based on their merit alone;

o The direct election of Senators by their respective state legislatures would once more be the law of the land.

o The Power to declare war and make treaties would once more be vested -- permanently -- in the Congress of the United States.

o Only one profession -- lawyers -- would be permanently barred from the Senate or House of Representatives unless they could prove that at least 20% of their income was derived from an honorable profession.

o Term limits (12 years for Congress, 12 years for the Senate) would be strictly enforced; politics would no longer be viewed upon as a profession, but rather a true public service to be ended at a specific date in time where one could return to a more honorable way of earning a living.

o all “closed door” sessions would be forbidden; all sessions, meetings, committees, etc., would be available to public scrutiny.

o all 'RICO' laws could only be applied to members of the Federal Government, including the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branch of our government; any civilian directly involved in the procurement of arms and weapons or services or accessories for any branch of our military; and every member of every arm of the U.S. military services; to permanently preclude mysterious cost overruns and disappearing funds. RICO laws could not be applied to any U.S. citizen, unless such citizen were actively engaged in business activity with or seeking the favors of any members of the Federal Government or the U. S. Military.

THE JUDICIAL BRANCH

o The Federal Bureau of Investigation would be restricted to investigate only FEDERAL crimes, and only within the borders and territory of the United States.

o Any Supreme Court Judge who, through writing or speech, indicated that they would make or implement law by their rulings, or consider the laws of other countries in arriving at the determinations of cases before them, would be summarily and permanently discharged from the bench.

o All "secret treaties" obligating the United States, in any way, to aid or compensate a person, group, business, region, country, association or organization, would be made public and the merits of such aid publicly discussed and voted upon by our representative government. Such "secret treaties" not able to survive the debate of public scrutiny would be terminated.

VOTING

o all citizen and congressional voting would be by paper ballots under television cameras with every single vote video taped or recorded on hard drives for later review.

o all computerized voting would be banned

o only people who owned property (land or buildings) would be allowed to vote;

o Polls and polling regarding political questions 90 days prior to any vote or legislation on such questions would be banned.

o The Electoral College (which is non-constitutional) would be abolished

o All political parties (which are non-constitutional) would be abolished

o Anyone from any walk of life, ethnicity, race, or religion could run for any public office providing they met the legal requirements for that office without party recognition or affiliation.

c Candidates for office would all receive the exact same amount of money from a common pool of tax dollars to publicize their views. Private funding of any political candidate would be prohibited.

o State and National elections would be held to determine which candidates, from Congress to the Presidency (skipping Senators), would be directly elected by the people to gain office.

o All Federal Ballots and ballot measures would only be in English

NATIONAL POLICY

o The Federal Government would officially proclaim that it is a creation of the 50 sovereign states of the United States, that it derives all money and all power from them, and that the 50 sovereign states of the United States have the right, at any time, for any reason, to secede from the Union of the United States, or withhold money from the Federal Government, when they feel their sovereign rights have been violated.   Such issues would be be adjudicated by the Supreme Court of the United States other than the right to secession.

The Federal Government of the United States will also state that the 50 sovereign states of the United States have the right to abolish the Federal Government they created at any time for reasons of their choice.

o The “interstate commerce clause” would finally be interpreted to mean enabling businesses to use the the roads, highways and bridges of the United States productively, rather than as a carte blanche license for the Federal Government to use the ICC as a wedge to meddle in all the affairs of the 50 sovereign states of the United States.

o The CIA would be abolished, to be replaced by the NIA -- National Intelligence Agency -- with all new people. Anyone who ever worked in or for the CIA in any capacity would be permanently barred from working for the U.S. government in any capacity for life.

o All CIA assassinations and human experiments would be made public, and restitution offered to the victims or their families for their diabolism.

o All “enhanced interrogation techniques” -- and any other polite euphemism advanced to continue an agenda of torture upon individuals by any agency or personnel of the U.S. or employee of the U.S. would be ended.

o All “renditions” (kidnappings) either done directly by the U.S. or “authorized” by any individual or agency of the United States would be terminated.

o All government support of charities would be abolished. All charities would henceforth be private, and run by individuals, businesses, or churches.

o All Federal educational and medical research grants would be abolished

o All demands for Federal quotas based on race, age or sex would be abolished

o All federally mandated school busing for the purpose of racial integration would be abolished

o All federally mandated “Affirmative Action” programs would be abolished

o All Federal prisons, with the exception of one located in Washington, D.C., would be closed.

o Whistle blowers from every branch of government would be eligible to receive 10% of any money they could prove to be stolen, wasted or diverted for private gain. Whistle blowers who accurately revealed corruption in government would receive high government honors, promotions, benefits and public praise. Whistle blowers, rather than being pariahs, would be the new Public Service Heroes of the United States.

o All “Federal” lands throughout each and every state of the Union would revert back to the ownership of that individual state. “Federal Lands” could only be kept, maintained and used for the housing of the U.S. military as military bases and for no other reason.

o All “National Parks and Forests” would revert back to the ownership of their respective states, including all oil, energy and mineral rights.

o All regional governments would be abolished.

o All NGOs (non-governmental organizations) would immediately cease to be funded by the U.S. government.

o All Health Insurance would be private; “public” health insurance for those unable to afford it would be donated by private charities. The Federal Government would have absolutely no involvement in health insurance in any manner whatsoever.

o All federal confiscation laws would be abolished.

o All sealed records (The JFK, RFK, and MLK assassinations) would be opened to public scrutiny.

o CARNIVORE, the program which allows various government agencies to intercept all electronic transmissions of U.S. citizens and residents, and ECHELON, which enables the CIA to “legally” spy on U.S. citizens by receiving prohibited information from Britain, Australia, New Zealand or Canada, would be terminated.

o The Patriot Acts I and II and the Military Tribunals Act would be abolished.

o Federal Law would no longer forbid the sale of any drug to any adult for any reason.

o All nonviolent “criminals” and all people in jail for simple possession or sale of drugs for any reason, for any amount, would immediately be set free. Jail would remain only for crimes of theft, fraud and violence. Drug abuse would be treated as the medical issue it is, like alcoholism. Drug sales to minors would remain a crime, punishable by State law in the locality in which it was committed.

o The U.S. Patent Office would no longer be able to permanently place under wraps and bury, under the guise of “national security,” any patentable idea dealing with the creation, extraction, harnessing, transmission, storage or utilization of any form of energy.

The “national security” excuse formerly used by the U.S. Patent Office to force any inventor to turn over all their research and blueprints on any subject deemed to touch on “national security,” especially whenever it involved alternate energy, and the Patent Office’s ability to place such an individual inventor under direct court order never to reveal, discuss or write about their discoveries for the rest of their lives, would be permanently removed from law.

Instead, the Patent Office would now operate under changed federal statute authority: to publicize and disseminate, to the widest possible audience, any verifiable, replicate-able discovery that could be theoretically or practically utilized for energy creation.

THE ARMED FORCES

o all foreign military bases of the United States would be closed and all military personnel of the United States would return to the territories of the United States

o all training of all foreign military personnel, and all housing of all foreign military armed forces within the territory of the United States would forever cease.

o The National Guard of the respective state governments could no longer be commandeered by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government to serve outside the territory of each Guard’s respective state base. Members of The National Guard could never again be used in any foreign country.

o No member of the Armed Forces of the United States could be a non-citizen, an illegal alien, a citizen of a foreign country or a dual citizen. They must all be “natural born citizens” of the United States.

o No soldier of the armed forces of the United States could ever again be placed under the command of any military commander of another country, including NATO or the United Nations.

o Any military aircraft of the United States and all surface to air missile batteries of the United States will be authorized and ordered to fire upon and destroy any aircraft flying above the skies of the United States and its territories that does not have number, insignia and other identification. (bye-bye chemtrails...)

CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION

o No dual citizenship would be allowed to exist for anyone serving in any branch of the Federal Government for any reason whatsoever.

o citizenship would no longer be granted by the expediency of birth within the borders of the United States; it would have to be earned by taking a written or oral test, ONLY IN ENGLISH, regarding the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States. Whoever did not pass this test would not be eligible to become a voting citizen.

o Every square foot of our Northern and Southern borders and our coast lines would be guarded by human beings or remote, pilotless aircraft.

o All illegal alien invaders who crossed our borders would be captured, fingerprinted, photographed and returned to their country of origin ; their country of origin would receive a bill for these services, payable in the form of additional tariffs levied on their goods for sale in the United States. These invaders would then be permanently barred from ever legally applying to become citizens of the United States.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

o all foreign aid to any foreign state, government or individual would END immediately.

o All UN “World Heritage” Sites throughout the United States would revert back to the People of the United States.

o The United Nations would be asked to leave and establish itself in another country. The United States would withdraw from The United Nations, its delegation reduced to “observer” status.

o All treaties and agreements crafted and created in the United Nations which were not formally ratified by the House and Senate of the United States would be terminated.

o All laws of the United Nations irreconcilable with the laws of the U.S. Constitution and The Bill of Rights would be terminated.

FREEDOM RESTORED

o All “hate” speech and “hate” crimes would be eliminated.

o There would be absolutely no restrictions on “freedom of speech” whatsoever. Anyone could say anything at any time for any reason, while also legally bearing the full consequences of writing or speaking anything which could later be proven to be knowingly untrue.

o All laws for “possession” of anything would be eliminated. Anything could be legally “possessed.” Only crimes actually committed (not planned, thought about, imagined, discussed, fantasized or “conspired” about) could be prosecuted. All “conspiracy laws" would be eliminated.

o The right to “Keep and Bear Arms” would be recognized to actually mean what the Founding Fathers meant: anyone could possess any weapon (other than a bomb) and wear it, hold it, and keep it, openly or concealed, on their person or property.

Only the unlawful use of a weapon (used in a crime of force or violence) could be reason for prosecution. All laws to restrict the access and acquisition of any firearm or any weapon (other than bombs) by any adult not in jail would be permanently eliminated.

Oh, and just one more....

o Any person running for the Presidency of the United States must prove he or she is a “natural born” citizen of the United States by providing an original long-form birth certificate to the proper authorities before their nomination.

There you have it -- the changes I would make off the top of my head to “My America.”

I’m sure there are many other agencies I would probably abolish had I thought about them; and many other safeguards I would have insisted upon while trying to return My America back to the roots of its greatness.

However, this exercise is only meant as a small first step, an inspirational step, if you will, so that you and others like you and I who love and care deeply for this unique country can find a forum to air our ideas and suggestions to return our country to greatness.

So now it’s your turn.

What would you add, subtract, or change to what I have written to make My America, YOUR America?

L.C. Vincent

lcvincent888@gmail.com

Copyright 2009, L C Vincent, all rights reserved.  No portion of this material may be reproduced in any media, in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of the author.