After the Revolution Comes

Everyone knows that the Marketing Department of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation will be first against the wall after the Revolution Comes.

But once they're dealt with, it might be useful to have some sort of Program or Plan of what to do to correct the lurching, faltering juggernaut that the United States has become. It's either that or civil war. Of course our Enemies, foreign and domestic, would dearly love to see the USA consume itself in yet another futile civil war. More for them, eh?

Well. Certain things do need to happen after the Revolution, and I've put together a few ideas of wither we should go as a nation after the American constitutional republic and the imperial security state that has replaced it have fallen once and for all.

First concept is that a self-governing constitutional republic is structurally and functionally a Good Thing -- so long as its make-up and operations are not graven in stone or on Golden Plates requiring High Priests and the Urim and Thummim to interpret. Making a secular religion and fetish of the Constitution is what got us in this mess in the first place. We must never return to that situation.

What should we do, then?

1) Abolish the States. That's key. Our corrupted and decadent Constitutional system is based on the unification of the several "sovereign states" to form a Nation. All well and good, except that the "sovereign states" aren't sovereign, and the states themselves are a mishmash of political convenience and historical greed, colonial outpost and imperial expansion that make no rational sense at all. Get rid of them.

Hawaii should be restored to independence; Alaska, most probably, should be given to Canada or Russia -- or be granted its own independence. Why not? It should be capable of self-sustenance.

As for the Lower 48, all the states should be abolished. They should be replaced with nine or ten Autonomous Regions, independent of one another and the national government for most domestic purposes. The Regions should be established so far as possible on an equal footing -- which of course is more ideal than practical at least at first -- based on geographically contiguous, demographically diverse, and economically self-sufficient areas of more or less equal population. Thus no particular Region should have an intrinsic advantage over any other, though as I say, at first that is a difficult goal to achieve. Eventually, however, the concept of Autonomous Regions can flourish as an egalitarian ideal and a practical reality so long as no Region is ever allowed to dominate any of the others or the national government.

2) Abolish the Senate. This should be self evident; once the States are gone, there is no reason for a Senate. On the other hand, a National Council made up of Regional Councilors can serve something of the honorific -- if not the governing -- function of a Senate. Most governing systems do have an Upper House, but in many cases, they function like the British House of Lords, purely for decorative and/or honorific purposes, and if government and the People, as reconceived, need such an honorific body, then fine. Have one. Just don't give it any governing authority.

3) Double, triple, or even quadruple the size of the House of Representatives. My preference is that the Larger the Better. The problem that we have now is that representation at the national level doesn't include The People, and it doesn't in part because the sheer enormity of the constituencies of House members' districts. Rather than represent the People under such circumstances, it is much easier -- and customary -- to represent the interests of "clients." Those who pay, in other words, and ultimately, those who Own. Expanding the size of the House of Representatives is the first step toward correcting that imbalance. And immediate follow on has to correct the electoral system and how it is funded.

4) Abolish and reconstitute the Law and Justice system. This is a really fundamental objective. Law and Justice has rarely been well-handled in this country, despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, and as the nation has devolved into Empire, the capability of the System to administer "equal justice under the law" has simply vanished altogether. The entire system needs to be remade from the ground up. The need is on par with that of France after the Revolution, and there are worse models than the Code Napoleon to follow in remaking our own Law and Justice system. An interim system, while the practical aspects of the reconstituted system are worked out, would have to be instituted, and as horrible as it is to contemplate, the interim might well be that of the military justice system, conducted by military JAG officers. It's by no means perfect, but it is worlds better -- when it comes to Justice as an absolute -- than what is presently in place, and providing justice temporarily through a military system can have a number of benefits: 1) it might re-integrate the military into civil society again; 2) it can serve to occupy military interest in something other than aggressive war and conquest overseas.

5) Reconceive the nature and purpose of Corporations. Corporations are not persons and they do not have civil rights. They are special purpose constructs meant for specific ends, they exist and persist solely and completely at the will of the People through their representatives in Council and Congress Assembled, and they are granted specific privileges and protections by Revocable Charter. Corporate misdeed and wrong doing is punishable by extinguishment and forfeiture; corporate officers are responsible severally and jointly for unlawful and criminal acts.

6) Autonomous Regions are governed by elected Regional Councils. Each Councilperson shall have a constituency of no more than 15,000 persons in order to ensure that Regional Councils are as closely representative of the People as possible. Regional Councils have the authority to legislate most Regional domestic matters as they see fit, so long as the National Rights and Responsibilities as declared in the national constitution are followed. Relationships between Regions are governed by National law, but within Regions, autonomy is maintained.

7) Regional Councils send Representatives to the National Council, how many from each region to be determined, 5 to 10 being most likely. These Representatives may or may not be members of the Regional Councils that send them, and they are appointed by committees of the Councils. (Remember, the National Council is an honorific body, not a legislative body.)

8) There is a popularly elected head of state, analogous to the President, who, like a constitutional monarch "reigns but does not rule." The Head of State has no legislative or executive authority. The Head of State represents the Nation in world affairs and is under the authority of the House of Representatives.

9) The House of Representatives elects from its membership the Head of Government. As in a Parliamentary system, the Head of Government is analogous to the Prime Minister. The majority party is generally responsible for the selection and election of the Head of Government, but due to the multi-party nature of the regional and national political system, coalition candidates are inevitable.

10) Both the Democratic and the Republican Parties are abolished and quite likely both will be subject to prosecution as criminal conspiracies.

11) Parties and factions to represent the interests of the People are encouraged with few restrictions, but election funding is entirely from the public purse. Private contributions to candidates for election are forbidden. This restriction may be modified in time, but until the overwhelming amounts of corrupt election funding -- ie: purchasing candidates -- is removed from the process, private contributions to candidates must be unlawful. Every certified candidate for election shall receive the same funding level from the public purse.

12) Media shall be required to present candidates on air and in print a certain number of times each election cycle at no charge.

13) The National Armed Forces shall be made up of volunteers and draftees from recruited and provided by the Autonomous Regions based on the need for defensive forces rationally determined. Aggressive war is forbidden, Empire and Imperial conquest forsworn.

14) Citizenship shall be determined by the Autonomous Regions, based on certain national principles: there shall be no religious, racial, gender or economic status discrimination in determining citizenship, nor shall immigration or justice status of parents deny citizenship to offspring. The process of immigration and emigration shall be streamlined and rationalized on a national basis, but the basis for granting or denying citizenship to immigrants will be up to the Autonomous Regions to determine. Citizens of one Autonomous Region are by definition National citizens and thus are granted all rights and privileges of citizenship in each Autonomous Region.

15) Citizenship includes civil, political, and economic rights and privileges, as well as civil, political and economic responsibilities.

[break!] To be continued....