Rewriting the Constitution

If you were rewriting the Constitution, who from Wordforge or in general, would you want in the convention?

I'll post my answers tonight after I think about it, but I was interested to see what everyone else thinks.

I have a better question. Why do you think the Constitution needs to be re-written? I would imagine, given many of your comments here over the years, you'd like to give the Congress and President more power than what they already and have assumed.

1.Congress shall make no law with regards to race, religion, national origin, etc.

2.Any increases in Taxation or the national debt shall be decided by 2/3 vote in congress and 2/3 vote of the people via referendum.

3.The judicial branch shall not make decisions on matters of national or state spending, that being the sole responsibility of congress.

4. Data traveling over the internet shall remain private. The government may not track, retain, follow, investigate any person or business on the internet, nor allow any private company to do so without a written court order from a Federal court of law. Data transmissions shall be treated with all the respect of the US mail.

5. All trials for capitol offences shall reach completion within 90 days and any appeals reach completion withing a farther 90 days, with sentence to be carried out at the expiration of the second 90 day period.

6. The sentence of death shall not be considered cruel and unusual punishment, nor shall a person's mental state be considered by the judiciary when charged with a capitol offence, that being the sole consideration of the jury.

7. In the interest of the people, all laws, amendments, etc shall be 500 words or less in length and reviewed by a jury of randomly selected citizens to insure they can be read and understood by the people. If the jury finds otherwise, then the law is to be put in a form that is easier to understand or never to be made law.

Muad Dib. Elwood. Tamar. Storm. Bulldog. me
And not so much as rewrite it but restore it.

[action=Spaceturkey]scratches EP off the list.[/action]

Constitution is fine.

Are we doing Nick's fucking homework again?

I would want to be in on it myself. I would also want Paladin there, as well as Mike (the one from Florida) and maybe tafkats. I'm a firm believer in a bi-partisan approach; I firmly distrust any decision-making body that is dominated by one political philosophy, even my own.

I already have my degree.

I have an even better question, who let you out of your cage?

I'd want evenflow, Paladin, Order2Chaos, Asyncritus, Raoul the Redshirt, John, MikeH92467, The Defender, and Demiurge at a bare minimum.

Why rewrite it? We hardly use the one we already have.

Can't be done. Too many people view the Constitution as a document where you can stuff some favored law to immunize it from challenge.

The only way you can get a decent constitution is by dissolving the federal government, and then letting the states decide how much they want to cede to the new fed.

You might think a bunch of liberals would be thrilled to write a 20,000 page US Constitution. But even the most Democratic, bluest state legislature would think twice about surrendering their own power to the fed.

The trick is to make sure they get used to having that power to themselves first. Everybody wants the power where they can control it. Nobody wants to put their own power where someone else is going to be wielding it.

I'd probably just want me

Hmmm... Let's set it up like a 90's sitcom.


1. Elwood, the leader of the pack that doesn't always make the best decisions, but is loved by the cast and audience for his direct social tactics and humor.

2. Async, the voice of reason. Kind of nerdy, who's comedy comes from his having to put up with the rest of the cast, but does so with light-heartedness. A Dr. Poole from Oscar sort of character.

3. Paladin, Async's more aggressive roommate. The nerd with attitude, who is usually the one pulling Async into the crazy adventures of the cast.

4. Tamar, the fiery red-head that doesn't put up with anyone's crap, which sometimes gets her into trouble with authority side characters such as a boss or police officer.

5. Lethesoda, the kind-hearted gay neighbor that the producers added to the cast for the sake of diversity, but ends up a beloved character because he strays so far from the typical "here it comes floating around the room" flamers that dominate mainstream gay entertainment.

6. Diacanu, the hermit neighbor that fancies himself a philosopher with biting wit. He tries to take part in the adventures of the primary cast, but his social skills cause friction. A sort of cross between Newman from Seinfeld and Gunther from Friends.

7. And Garamet, Diacanu's mother, who owns the apartment that they live in. No way to describe this character except a cross between Jane Lynch and the mother from Everybody Loves Raymond.

8. And Chuck, the guy at the end of the hall that leaves cookies outside his door with a little sign that says, "Take as many as you like."



We could call it, "The Constitutables," and it would run on UPN for one season before being cancelled only to become an underground success.

Sounds almost like the cast of Family Guy.

It isn't very often that people think I'm the less aggressive of just about any two people...

I dunno. I'd like to do away with the 16th amendment myself.

Wouldn't matter. They did away with the 18th amendment and we still have prohibition.

And before the 16th amendment they had income taxes whenever there was an "emergency." Repealing 16 would simply start a never ending string of emergencies.

Personally, I'd like to see the 17th repealed. It's done more damage than 16, I assure you.

dk, but its ok. I'll probably be asking for WF help in one of my classes this summer.

Hell, the Iranian hostage crisis's emergency still isn't over.

And apparently the Color Code's been stuck on Orange since 9/12/2001.

I don't know if that's supposed to be funny, but it's not true. It was stuck on orange from 2006 until its discontinuation last year, but prior to that it fluctuated between yellow and orange, and I believe was red once for about a day.

So whattaya think? Are we safer or in greater danger now that it's been discontinued?

That's cause Congress can't agree on what the third primary color is.

Are you saying you don't trust the Obamessiah?

On topic, I pretty much agree with CD's list, plus Elwood and maybe Starchaser and Alphaman.

I have no idea who that is.

I'm saying the Color Code was ridiculous from the get-go.

I seriously cannot fathom the mindset that could provoke such a nonsensical question.

You are not programmed to respond in that area?