The electorate has been gerrymandered out of relevance in many districts and locales.
The legislative branch and judicial branches of our three co-equal branch system have ceded all power and relevance as well to become wholly owned subsidiaries of the increasingly evil unitary executive branch.
The ability to actually amend the Constitution is a pipe dream in this current amalgam of a broken system, but it COULD be fixed:
Step 1 - implement an immediate estate tax of 75% above $100M in TOTAL asset estate value. If you're kids can't figure out how to survive on $100M of regular taxed assets, then you needed to teach them better when you lived.
Step 2 - re-implement taxation of stock options and deferred compensation packages as ordinary income instead of capital gains and losses (unless the proceeds are distributed to the business, employees and shareholders in equal amounts to executive pay). This disparity in how taxes are collected and on what they are due is a major reason behind the rise of inequality in our world, not the only one to be sure, but a major contributor. ALL people should feel that their taxes are building a nation that is worth defending and not a slave state designed to pass on power and wealth through hereditary means alone.
Step 3 - lift limits on Social Security taxes to include ALL income streams without cap. Eliminate once and for all the idea that this nation somehow can't afford to have its elders cared for with a minimum level of respect and dignity instead of fear and privation.
Step 4 - return the top marginal tax bracket to 90% of every dollar in assets held over $100M annually and it shall remain there until the national debt is retired. No further tax increases shall be allowed without increases starting at the top marginal rate and proceeding below that level. We MUST tax wealth and stop taxing labor at the current disparate levels. The pyramid is inverted incorrectly and must be corrected. Don't tell me it can't be done - the fucking Hyde amendment banning use of federal funds for abortion shows exactly just how far we CAN GO...so make it fucking happen for all, not just for a select group of religious zealots and freaks.
Step 5 - Immediately convert all US Citizens over the age of 60 to full Medicare coverage and all dependent children (up to age 25). Medi-gap primary care should be made available to citizens aged 26-59 as a government-administered non-profit single-payer entity to administer insurance for this group, who will be paying into the system, but will NOT be denied care from it. Healthcare in a 'great nation' is a non-negotiable RIGHT, not a privilege of wealth accumulation. What we have now is an inherent evil and national embarrassment to boot.
Step 6 - Establish education for all citizens from age 3 to the completion of either a high school diploma, trade school certification or Bachelor's degree in a state run university. Any society that does not care for the betterment of its youth and most vulnerable (in favor only of its most successful wealth hoarders) is not worthy of defense in the first place. Why should a citizen care about protecting the property claims and 'rights' of the wealthy when there is no avenue of improvement available for the lower 90%? Why should anyone fight or die for such a backward system? Being American must mean something more than a tri-colored emblem or flag iconography.
Step 7 - Complete reform of the Supreme Court (either through Court rebalancing or outright dismissal of the sitting court and renaming a new bench en toto) and force votes in Congress on EVERYTHING again, no more pouting and taking the ball and going home to avoid difficult votes (for EITHER party)... Add into this a provision for mandatory retirement from ALL government service to begin at age 75. We do not have octogenarian generals for good reason, we should not have octogenarian presidents either... or Representatives or Senators or Justices.
Step 8 - Repair the amendment process for the Constitution or else burn it all down and start over because that which cannot be changed peacefully WILL be changed violently eventually and if anyone thinks that is a world worth living in and for, then all hope is truly lost...
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