Controlling Government Spending and Fiscal Responsibility
The Freedom Amendment
“The people of the United States control the government, not the other way around. It is time to stand up for our freedom and roll back Big Government.” – Roger Thoney.
Government spending is out of control. The Freedom Amendment proposed here is designed to roll back government spending, and power, by limiting its ability to raise money. Limiting the government’s ability to raise money is the most effective way to control spending and its abuse of power.
This proposed amendment requires a balanced budget and limits the government’s sources of revenue to a national sales tax, user fees, and the state legislatures. The 16th Amendment, permitting an income tax, is repealed; the national sales tax is restricted to fund only national security, defense, and federal law enforcement activities; and user fees are limited to the cost of providing the service. The 17th Amendment, providing for the popular election of Senators, also is repealed so that state legislatures will be able to exert control over the federal budget through the Senate as was originally intended by our founding fathers.
This proposed amendment will shift power from the federal government to the states. The people will be able to exert more control over federal government spending and legislation because they will have more control over their state legislatures than over the federal Congress. Since the state legislatures will have to fund earmark projects and social spending, we may see a drastic change in strategy and spending patterns.
The primary concern of most politicians today is to get re-elected. The Constitution, which embodies the founding principles of our nation, is ignored with regularity; and the welfare of the people of the United States and our nation as a whole is of secondary importance to the political battle for power, control, and domination.
Politicians abuse their power to legislate and spend by using it to buy votes. This has led to an ever-increasing expansion of government, out-of-control spending, and a national debt that will soon equal or surpass one year’s GDP. Politicians, in their lust for power, have shown a blatant and selfish disregard for the welfare of the people of the United States, the nation as a whole, and future generations. Big Government has brought us higher prices for groceries, housing, education, health care, and other necessities and job loss to other countries, causing more people to have to struggle to make ends meet.
The federal government has usurped too much power from us, and it is time for us to step forward and exert the authority granted to us by the Constitution to take it back. The people of the United States control the government, not the other way around. The taxation needed to eliminate the federal budget deficit and retire the national debt will make economic slaves of all of us. It is time to stand up for our freedom.
I will do whatever I can to implement this balanced budget amendment or one equivalent or better.
The Freedom Amendment
Section 1. The Congress shall not approve any expenditure for the budget of the federal government unless such expenditure is funded by revenue received on an annual basis from a national sales tax, a usage fee, or a levy upon state legislatures.
Section 2. The Congress may levy a national sales tax on the purchase of final goods and services by the people to fund national security, defense, and federal law enforcement activities only.
Section 3. The Congress may levy usage or other fees for government-provided goods and services provided that such fees do not exceed the cost to provide the related good or service.
Section 4. The Congress may levy a fee upon all state legislatures within the United States, apportioned in accordance with their numbers in the House of Representatives, in sufficient amount to balance the federal budget.
Section 5. The Congress or any state legislature within the jurisdiction of the United States shall not levy any tax upon any business, or business-to-business activity, which is not otherwise permitted by this article of amendment.
Section 6. The sixteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.
Section 7. The seventeenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. This section shall not be so construed as to affect the election or term of any Senator chosen before it becomes valid as part of the Constitution.
Section 8. Sections 1 through 6 shall become effective five years after ratification of this article of amendment.