Yeah including edge-case clarifications and the like may be necessary to prevent specific people from exploiting laws. That’s often why we have laws that use such fancy language so their range is explicit. But many times this is also used for extraneous reasons to overcomplicate bills. There is a healthy balance we need to reach between the two states. AmFirst suggested a rule where a bill must be proposed a certain time before voting where the time is pages divided by a pages per day constant. So lets say pages per day is 5: if a bill has 15 pages, congress must introduce it 3 days before voting on it.
I’m all with you there, Chris!! For years I’ve wondered why we need Congress when we have computers also.
Just so the computers are not hacked or played with. And anyone caught involved in such actions be guilty of Treason etc.
Eliminating a distant, less accountable Congress would also achieve getting our governance closer to the people and “by and for the people”.
Seriously, I wish we had a faster and more accountable way to fire government “servants” and make them more accountable to the people they serve. This profession has become one of ego, personal gain and protection FROM the law. And they’ve taken it to ungodly limits. Enough!! Never again!! They must accept we the people as THEIR employers and the law as THE LAW!
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I’ve had this web site unchanged since 2012. I’m old and have no tech skills and don’t know how to get these ideas out there. www.reinstate-us.com
Sounds like a very good idea. Politicians will fight to stop it. The more confusing pages the more corruption.
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I had to look up the word ‘cruft.’ A jargon term for anything old, outdated, or non-functional in the present day. Like laws on the books that state that automobiles must be preceded by men with red flags, to warn other (horse-drawn) traffic about their approach. While historically a part of the legislative process over time, these laws might better be set aside into a micro-fiche (did I just say that?) or other more modern storage for reference.
This proposal suffers from what it tries to advocate. There are too many suggestions in one single proposal. I agree with the main point of the proposal but recommendations such as limiting the bills to only one page are not practical. Also using plain English is not practical neither. The bills need to use legal language to be accurate.
I would also add on that all bills should be proposed and given a certain amount of time to be considered and only be voted on during normal business hours possibly even scheduled so no more sneaking in a vote on the weekend or during a national holiday withouth all memebers of congress given time to be present
@tomreinstateus Good thoughts— you are way ahead of Elon!
This is a must
43 of the 50 State Constitutions have this “Single-Subject Bill” requirement. I think it is obvious why this is a Constitutional requirement imposed on the state legislative branch. This is a no brainer. The majority of States have it, so it should be required for the federal government (legislature/congress) as well. Lumping in multiple subjects into one bill is slimy and thwarts the function of the deliberative process.
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Great idea, and in keeping with the Plain English movement. Simple straight language should also be required for all federal regulations, and federal court rulings.
One concern - Sunsetting is good for most but not all laws. Retirees surviving on Social Security, for example, should not have to fear starvation every four years.
Thank you for a very good proposal, and considering my comment.
See link
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I was just about to propose something very similar to this.
All the points are excellent!
Plain Language is very important so t THE PEOPLE can read and understand the bill.
I think 1 page may be too short but there needs to be a cap on the length so that a reasonable person (if any still exist) can read it in a reasonable amount of time.
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So many replies I’m hesitant to do so. I don’t think we need to sunset everything (no sunset on the bill of rights for example). I also don’t think limited to one page will work as a policy though i like the idea of a single subject and plain English (as others have said)! My other concern is can congress make the time to vote on each bill. Just not sure.
Currently congress has these massive bills with wasteful spending that get support because of pet projects and bring home the bacon. Can we really change how congress operates? If you are not a team player, you become ineffective, cannot get support or returned favors, and don’t get reelected. Right? Full disclosure: I have never been elected or played an elected official on TV.
Edit: regarding my first statement, this thread is almost a 2 hour read
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This a must. Single issue bills.
single issue, short and in plain English, all members of congress should have sit through the reading of each bill.
The whole thing needs to be written in plain English. The entire bill. No reason to need a legal dictionary to read a bill.
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There cannot possibly be a 1-page limit on a bill that will become the law of the land. Especially when it has to include metrics for success. And it would be hard to introduce many, many, many types of bills without some sort of introduction or preamble to identify the need for the bill.
While there is the plain language requirement that targets techno-jargon, one additional item needed is ABSOLUTELY no legal jargon, no ancient Latin, or any references to laws and other nonsense.
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I disagree with you in that most of the federal overreach is unconstitutional and therefore illegal laws which the founder said would be null and void. That is not what has happened.
Every law shall reference the specifically enumerated constitutional power authorizing its creation!
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Fair enough, and I agree with you. I was trying to remove any discussion in “legalese” where lawyers tend to bury the truth for their preferred narrative.
Yes! I agree single page or 5 or 10 is not realistic in practice, there are too many details that would need included.
Love the idea of proving they have read and understand a bill before voting on it.
Our bills in Congress must be 10 pages or less. If more pages are required, make it a separate bill. Enough of the reckless and deceptive practices as it relates to our new laws. If you are a member of Congress, The People’s House, you should be qualified and skillful in reading, writing and arithmetic.
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