Seeing this proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution from Big Hollywood (H/T: Instapundit):
No law, bill, resolution or any act of Congress shall exceed 2000 words, including all footnotes, amendments and signatures. Congress shall not vote on any item longer than that. Each item requiring a vote shall be read aloud in its entirety in session to a majority of members. Those not in attendance may not vote on the item.
…I’m reminded of this bit from Robert Heinlein’s Expanded Universe
“It permits a citizen to challenge the Constitutionality of any law or regulation, Federal or any lesser authority, on the grounds that it is ambivalent, equivocal, or cannot be understood by a person of average intelligence. Paragraph two defines ‘average intelligence.’ Paragraph three defines and limits the tests that may be used to test the challenged law. The fourth paragraph excludes law students, law school graduates, lawyers, judges, and uncertified j.p.’s from being test subjects.”
Fascinating to contemplate, no? Also, exceptionally unlikely to happen any time soon. But that’s not precisely the point. The point is that when people start talking about changing the Constitution like this, what they’re really saying is “I’m getting sick and tired of the idiots running things right now.”
Let those in power with eyes to see not see this, and not understand - for they are not of my political party.
Moe Lane
PS: I don’t know: how many people like Bob Gale are out there? Guess we’ll just find out, huh?
Crossposted to Moe Lane.
2000 words seems a little bit too short.
redstatebluestate123 Tuesday, June 30th at 9:55AM EDT (link)Sometimes, you actually need that many.
Not really. You can do a lot in 2000 words. nt
randy streu Tuesday, June 30th at 10:20AM EDT (link)nt
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Given The Fact That Sturat Smalley Will Be Sworn In...
rcov092 Wednesday, July 1st at 1:19AM EDT (link)next week. You should amend this to read “2000 3-4 letter words”.
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Single subject bills and all amendments within the title
Achance Tuesday, June 30th at 10:16AM EDT (link)would go a long way towards cleaning up the mess. Of course, clever wordsmiths can come up with hundred word bill titles but the single subject rule does put a damper on “Christmas Tree” legislation.
In Vino Veritas
I'm reminded of a quote
Finrod Tuesday, June 30th at 11:10AM EDT (link)—
Finrod’s First Law of Bandwidth:
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it takes the bandwidth of ten thousand.
Patton had a standing order, No operations Order will exceed two pages...
nessa Wednesday, July 1st at 9:18AM EDT (link)…handwritten, front and back. With this limitation his 7th Army Staff produced an Operations Order which had threee divisions (approx. 60,000 troops), disengage from contact to their front, reverse direction, covered the area those three previously occupied by one remaining division, moved over 100 miles in the dead of a European winter blizzard and relieved the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne.
Another interesting note, the United States Constitution is 6 pages. 1-4 comprise the body of the Constitution, page 5 is the transmittal page, page 6 is the Bill of Rights.
“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”—Samuel Adams
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