The Buffet Manifesto for fixing the economy

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Carol Forsloff- A recent email message advised a journalist to “forward the enclosed information to at least 20 people with whom you correspond” but for more than a million online readers of GHN, this means the information making the rounds and what a growing number of people are saying is the best idea of the century for fixing the economy and why the message needs to be communicated everywhere.

If the Congress doesn’t pass a bill on it, active conversation and public pressure might just make it happen are what the Buffet backers believe could fix the budget.  Whether it’s Occupy Portland or Occupy Wall Street, the people are looking for change.  And some say change might come a good bit faster with Buffet’s big idea.
The 26th amendment was passed in three months and eight days because the people demanded that 18-year-olds have the right to vote.  The other 26 amendments took less than a year to pass.  Article V allows for a Constitutional Convention where changes to the Constitution can be proposed.

The Convention and a law that will force Congress to act responsibly needs public action.  As for posting it on the Internet, it is already a blog on its own called “Popular Amendment” with Buffet’s proposition and the wording ot the bill in its entirety.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*
1.       No Tenure / No Pension.  A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2.      Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.  All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3.      Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4.      Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise.  Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5.      Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6.      Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7.     All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12.

While CNBC’s follow up of the interview mentions Buffet may have been half joking when he made the suggestion, an attorney in St. Louis, Missouri by the name of Jarrad Holst told CNBC how a bill can be enacted without the cooperation of Congress.  Under Article V of the U.S. Constitution, a "Convention for proposing Amendments" is convened when called for by the legislatures of two-thirds of the states.  A proposed amendment would then need to be ratified by the legislatures of three-quarters of the states.   That process would, however, take more than five minutes.

So here’s the rest of the story.    Citizens can demand an Article V convention, as experts say is an effective way to resolve a number of problems, including the deficit.   Anyone can begin the process or join with those already engaged in an organization designed to hold a convention and solve the many problems facing the nation.

Friends of the Article V Convention are engaged in forums and service events in order to convince people of the need for a convention, as the attorney proposed might make a difference in holding Congress accountable.

The constitution provides two methods of proposing amendments... one by the federal government and the other by states via an Article V.  But that takes citizen action, the impetus given for the original email to a journalist and this article as well.

Two Paths to Reform: Violence or Convention

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Joel S. Hirschhorn  --By every one of countless measures the US is in a death spiral.  Its political system, government and economy are hopelessly broken.  No wonder that the vast majority of Americans express severe dissatisfaction with Congress, both major parties, and increasingly with President Obama.  And only the wealthy elites have any reason to be positive about corporate powers, Wall Street and the whole banking and finance sector.  They not only own the nation, they run it.

Only the truly delusional still speak about the US being the leading and best nation.  About a third of the population is suffering from one or more of these epidemics: unemployment, underemployment, hunger, homelessness, home foreclosure, no useful health insurance, income so stagnated that keeping up with rising living costs is next to impossible, and slippage from the middle class into the working poor class.  What is to save the nation?

Once you acknowledge the profound and insidious corruption plaguing the political system which is nothing more than a dysfunctional two-party plutocracy or oligarchy serving the rich and corporate interests, then you must also see that elections will not deliver salvation.  Nor can you depend on the media to rise above corporate ownership to help fix the nation.

It matters little whether you vote for and support Republicans or Democrats.  All those politicians are corrupt and unable to exercise bold, creative solutions for the good of the nation, not those special interests that get them elected, on the left and right.

Once mighty nations and superpowers have fallen before.  History speaks truth, unlike just about everything spoken by today’s politicians.

There are two paths that have the power to bring about the major, radical reforms needed.  Everything else you hear is pure garbage designed to maintain the status quo.

First, there is what brought about the birth of the US and so many other democracies: violent revolution.  Not rebellion against some foreign power, but rather against domestic tyrannical forces.  There is a limit to what many millions of Americans will endure, especially as they see the rich Upper Class enjoy every conceivable type of luxury.  True, it is hard to understand how even now we have not seen millions of angry, suffering Americans protesting violently in the streets of all major cities, as we see happen in so many European countries.  Americans seem to have been drugged into a distracted, delusional state of mind, still buying the scam that they can depend on elections.  Eventually, however, as government is financially unable to provide various kinds of assistance because of the broken economy, those most struggling to survive will inevitably resort to violence. History speaks truth.

Second, is the peaceful route to dramatic, necessary reforms that the Founders had the wisdom to put into the US Constitution: an Article V convention of state delegates with the constitutional power to propose constitutional amendments.  At this time there are more diverse groups seriously examining and, increasingly, demanding the first Article V convention.  Why?  Because it has become crystal clear to more and more people that only through constitutional amendments that Congress will never propose is it possible to rid the political system of the corruption and dysfunction permeating it.  Get private money out of politics.  Remove the fiction of corporate personhood.  Compel Congress to balance the budget. Worthy ideas are everywhere.

At other times attempts to get the first Article V convention met stiff opposition from the right and left.  But times have changed.  It is clearer than ever that the political and government system is so broken and corrupt that the basic rules must be amended, just as the Founders believed would become necessary.

A major upcoming conference at Harvard, using the tag line “Democracy inAmerica is Stalled,” will surely help focus both support and opposition to using the convention route.

There are now many websites providing solid information and analysis about the convention option, particularly one by the national, nonpartisanFriends of the Article V convention that does not advocate for specific amendments.

Every time you hear some argument against using the convention option ask yourself whether the risk of sticking with the current system outweighs any conceivable risk of a convention that can only propose amendments, which still must be ratified by three-quarters of the states.  If you are not in the top levels of the economy, but rather are in the majority suffering and losing ground, then the answer rings as clear as the liberty bell.



[Contact Joel S. Hirschhorn through delusionaldemocracy.com.]

Congress violates Constitution by not having Article V convention

Gordie Hayuk - "Why do people hate Congress?" by Victor Davis Hanson doesn't even come

close to the reason.   Let's take a look at one of those reasons, because every single member has violated Article V of the Constitution.

The small petty crimes of a few members of
Congress doesn't add up to the searing hate Hanson and others have described in various treatises upon the unpopularity of Congress right now.

Arrogance on high, is what I call it.  Every member of Congress
is in violation of their oath of office, a criminal act according to the
U.S. Solicitor General.  If that were not enough, every member of
Congress is in violation of the U.S. Constitution by not calling a
convention according to Article V of the U.S. Constitution.  Article V, a
gift to 'We the people' by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution,
mandates the peremptory call for a convention.  Peremptory, for those
who are unsure of it's meaning in relation to Article V, means "...not
open to appeal or challenge; final."  So one must ask why Congress has
failed to call a convention as specified in Article V of the U.S.
Constitution.

 Article
V is absolute in its wording, it requires that only 34 states apply for
an Article V Amendments Convention.  However, to date, over 700
applications are on record without Congress calling a convention as
mandated by the highest law of the land.  Congress has been sweeping
them under the under the rug, so the saying goes, to avoid at all cost
giving 'We the people' the green light to propose, draft and finalize
our own Constitutional Amendments and submit them for ratification to
all 50 states.  Only upon ratification by 38 states does any
Constitutional Amendment become law.

 One
could theorize why Congress refuses to follow the U.S. Constitution,
and come up with more than one reason, but Constitutional scholars agree
that Congress fears any amendments that could be crafted as carefully
as Article V itself.   Why do they have that fear.

Well here are some of the reasons on the short list: 1) Supreme Court Reform, 2)
States Rights Amendment, 3) Legislative Process Reform, 4) Repeal the
17th Amendment, 5) Campaign Financing Reform, 6) Balanced Budget
Amendment, 7) Term Limits Amendment, 8) Right To Life Amendment, 9)
Create Regional Government, 10) Vote on Taxes, 11) Immigration Reform,
and 12) Fair tax Amendment.  So the only question now is: Do you think
the United States would have fewer ongoing problems if Congress were
pressured by millions of citizens to call an Article V Amendment
Convention?

 The dedicated delegates of ConventionUSA will soon begin a Virtual Online Amendments Convention to
demonstrate there is nothing to fear from an Article V Amendments
Convention.  It will not be "run-away" as some claim, and it will not
change the entire U.S. Constitution, as some claim.  'We the people'
need to bring the Amendments up to date and stop the rush toward
tyranny.

"The government can't fool all of the people all the time, but in a democracy that's not necessary. 

In a democracy all the government has to do is fool most of the people most of the time, 

and if the controlled media and the government are working together that's easy.

Gordie Hayduk

Florida Delegate - www.ConventionUSA.org

USN Veteran, Active Voter & Mayflower Descendent