Have You Read Your Constitution, America?

Day 586, 20:50 Published in USA USA by Socialist Freedom Org

The following article is by Socialist Freedom Party member and Senator from South Dakota, Robert Bayer and was originally printed in his newspaper, the Weekly Broad-Axe.
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With the endorsements of Ian John Locke IV, Ananias, kyle321n, Evry, Pfeiffer, Lord Oberon, StygianSteel, ligtreb, among others, Congress has voted itself and the President increased powers and voted away your free speech rights. What's the problem (besides the obvious), you might ask? We, the people, had no real voice in the matter.

The document was drafted, debated, and voted on in secret. Upon passage, apparently no one saw fit to notify the eAmerican public about its passage, or even to bother to post it publicly in the eUS forums (as far as I can tell).

The Constitution can be found here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dcd6cv9v_25pg2jr8dd ; for those who can access it, the thread can be found here: http://eusforum.com/index.php/topic,5270.0.html

The document embodies a basic hostility to freedom of speech -- saying that it exists, but only "within "reason". Unfortunately for your rights, the document doesn't specify who gets to determine what "within reason" means, and, in fact, the very speech which many would consider to be "unreasonable" is the only real kind of speech that needs protecting, because if speech is popular, then it faces very little in the way of threat.

What concerns me more, however, was the fact that the document gives the president the power to pass "any" (yes, that's the word used) executive order. That's right, folks, the eUS president has the power to ban any member of these boards, ignore the commands of our Congress, appropriate all of the money from the national treasury, or, really, do whatever he pleases.

This doesn't fly in a democracy. For those reasons, I am hereby proposing the following Amendments. Let your Congressmen here proclaim their love or hatred of your freedoms -- not in the secret forums of Congress: http://eusforum.com/index.php/topic,6401.0.html

The eUS Bill of Rights
I. The citizens of the eUS shall have all the free speech rights accorded to citizens of the United States of America which are congruent with the Terms of Agreement of the eUS forums (when the aforementioned speech is taking place on the eUS forums) or eRepublik.com (when the aforementioned speech is taking place there).

II. The President shall have the power to issue executive orders only on issues which Congress has agreed by a 2/3 majority vote to cede power. With the exception of those powers explicitly accorded to the president in the Constitution, Congress shall be assumed to retain all powers.

III. No branch of eAmerican government may establish a religion, nor may they infringe on the free exercise thereof, nor shall any branch interfere with a wall of separation between religion and state which shall hereby be presumed to exist.

IV. Though the president may appoint his cabinet as he sees fit, Congress shall have the power to remove any member of that cabinet with a simple majority vote. Any acts or orders made by the aforementioned officer shall be considered null and void.

V. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury; and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. All eAmerican citizens shall be protected against double jeopardy, and shall not be forced to self-incriminate.

VI. Spelling and grammatical changes, which will not alter the meaning of the document in any significant way, shall be permitted by a vote of Congress with a minimum of 1/3 of the chamber voting in favor.

VII. The Constitution shall be considered null and void until it has been re-approved by a popular vote with a minimum participation of 200 voters.

VIII. The text of -- as well as the discussions relating to the drafting and debating of -- this Constitution shall be made public record. The votes of all members of Congress on its adoption shall be displayed along with the text of the document.

IX. Should the eRepublik administrators (admins) significantly alter the political system in-game, this document shall be considered null and void, and a new document shall be drafted, debated, and voted on publicly by all members of Congress. The new document shall not be considered valid until it has not only received a 2/3 majority approval vote by Congress, but a simple majority vote of the eAmerican people as well.