Laws that Need Changed at the Federal Level

There are so many things that have happened over the last year that we thought could never happen in the United States.  It prompted me to try to come up with "to-do list" for when the sanity returns to America.  These are legislative actions or policies that will need to be corrected when there are people who care about solving problems back in elected office.

1. If you want to run for President of the United States, you must release your complete tax return for the last 5 years to be on the national ballot.  When you file for any Presidential primary, you must hand over your tax returns to that state and that Secretary of State will publish those for all to see. 
2. The Logan Act is punishable by 5 years in jail if you attempt as a private citizen to negotiate with a foreign country the United States foreign policy including in the period of time before taking office.  Also, receiving money or information (which is a commodity and has a value) from a foreign government during a federal election is illegal. A candidate must report information or any other donation from a foreign entity to the FBI.
3. A President needs to put all his investments and businesses into a blind trust while she serves the United States to avoid problems with the emoluments clause of the Constitution. 
4. Voting is the fundamental basis of democracy and every citizen has a right to vote.  States shall not put unreasonable obstacles in the way to voting.  They should automatically register every citizen and eliminate any unreasonable barrier to casting a ballot.  If the cure for keeping people from voting is worse than the illness (voter fraud) don't do it. This may need to be a Constitutional amendment to assure compliance.  Also, felons who have completed their term should vote in federal election across the United States. 
5. Federal judges can no longer be life time appointments.  They need to come back for a check-in/reappointment by the Congress every 10 years. The Senate will need to vote to reconfirm all federal judges or justices every 10 years in a timely manner. 
   
6. There needs to be a deadline for the Senate to take up a nomination for service in the Executive Branch or the judiciary.  If the Senate does not meet the deadline then that means that they are choosing not to provide advice and consent, the judge, justice or executive branch nominee takes their office.  
7. The Executive Branch must make an appointment for a vacancy in the judiciary or executive branch political appointments within two months of a vacancy.  Not filling a position in the Executive Branch is harmful to the country and is contrary to the wishes of the Congress.  
8. Guns are not a human right.  Government has a right to restrict access and there should be an extensive background check for those who want to own a gun. 
9. Anyone who wants to serve in the US Military should be allowed to if they can pass basic training.  They should be able to serve free of discrimination no matter their gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or national origin.  
10. Police are not an occupying military institution.  They are in place to preserve the peace, and any investigation of abuse or physical harm shall be investigated by the judicial branch of government not the executive branch. 
11. If you serve in the US military or the national service for two years then a public four year college is free. 
12. College debt is a drag on our economy.  If you work in a human service or public education for 8 years after not for profit college all your debt is forgiven. 
13. Incarceration should be a means to re-educate and incorporate a citizen back into society.  All policies should be designed to re-integrate a person back to again become an asset to our society in the shortest and utilizing the best practices as possible. 
14. The United States does not engage in torture.  If the United Nations determines an activity is torture then it is illegal in the United States. 
15. By the way, the United Nations is an important entity to keep the peace.  The US shall fully engage the United Nations committees including UNESCO and Human Rights committee and shall adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 
16. If you violate the Hatch Act twice as determined by the Ethics office you are expelled from your position within the Executive Branch. 
17. Access to the internet is a public utility and needs to be universal. Government is encouraged to provide access to those areas in which the private sector finds the cost unreasonable.  The private sector that offers connection to the internet must operate in a neutral manner with every individual, non-profit, government entity and corporation equal. Access to the Internet is not a profit driven industry.
18. The White House is the people's house and shall be operated in the most transparent way possible with everything that is not classified as top secret needs to be released to the public including visitor logs, communication within the building, photos and information distributed within the building.
19. All information released on social media by the President is the official policy or position of the President.
20. The President shall not lie to the American people and this line should be added to the oath of office. 
    
21. A President cannot launch nuclear weapons unless there was a first strike from another country.  In order to launch nuclear weapons the full national security advisory must agree without any dissension.  
22. The Justice Department is not loyal to the President of the United States.  The head of the Justice Department and the FBI are selected by the President, but cannot be removed by the President without the 4 out of the 5 members of the legal advisory to include House and Senate Judicial Committee chairpersons, the Vice President, and the Solicitor General.
23. Corporations are not people.  All federal elections are public going forward because money corrupts the process.  If you want to comment on public policy or a candidate in the public sphere you have to disclose who is paying every dollar of that commentary in an easily accessible public place.  
24. The Federal Election Commission is totally broken and needs to be given some degree of independence from politics and some quick way to keep federal elections fair. 
25. Gerrymandering is illegal.  Independent commissions outside the political process shall derive districts that are compact, competitive and not dominated by political parties. 
    
26. All primary elections shall be open with the top two proceeding to the General Election.  Citizens should be required to vote or they would pay a higher tax rate.  The citizen should be allowed to vote for "none of the above." If none of the above gets 35% of the vote in any federal election a new election is called within 30 days with two new candidates selected that represent the party of the top two vote-getters from the primary.   
27. There should be a Constitutional amendment that the air, water, and power shall be clean and water shall be potable for every citizen.  Air, Water and Power shall not be distributed for profit by a business.  We need to work to reduce threats to polluting our natural resources not adding to that contamination--we are looking at you coal burning power plants. 
28. Our goal should be to have the Department of Peace (State Department) better funded than the Department of War (Defense Department). 
29. Tear down the walls of fear and hate that exist in our country.  Immigration is critical to the survival of the United States.  Immigrants bring new ideas, jobs, and new cultural traditions to the United States.  As a world leader, we need to revamp our immigration system to encourage the best and brightest along with the persecuted and tortured to join the American melting pot.  
30. Education and Health care are essential to a functioning democracy and both shall be considered a human right free to those living in the United States.  Private entities (non-profit entities) can administer a school or healthcare facility but cannot charge the citizen for those services.  Corporations cannot make a profit from education, power generation, power distribution or medical necessary health care. 
31.  
    
    Housing is also a human right and every citizen born or naturalized into the United States deserves to live inside.  Basic housing with privacy is a public utility that should be provided to every member of our society. Artists are important to our society and should not have to live outside to exist.  If you want more elaborate or better housing that is your right, but we should not have people living outside or in places not fit for human habitation.  This means that every county or parish in the United States needs to provide housing to its citizens or those communities cannot expect assistance from the federal government for homelessness.
32. Those disabled in our country should be provided a housing voucher, income that gets them to 80% of the poverty rate and should not have a prohibition on the amount of outside income that they can earn. 
33. Everyone should contribute a portion of their income to the Social Security system even the incredibly wealthy should give a percentage of that wealth to make the safety net secure. 
34. The Federal Trade Commission should be wrapped into the Consumer Protection Bureau with its current independence and ability to act against businesses that are harming consumers. 
35. The US should go on a two year budget cycle and the Congress members should add to their oath of office, "We will work on a fair budget process that does not involve continuing resolutions." 
36. Everything produced must be recyclable and the place that sells you the consumer item must be able to take the packaging and item back for reuse.  
    
37. Pass whistleblower protections to safeguard the publication of anonymous sources in a free press.  Government needs to be more transparent by publishing everything they generate in a timely manner to keep citizens engaged in the Democratic process.  We need to work on a process to stabilize a free and independent media without reliance on corporate or business interests contaminating or interrupting publication. 
38. Inherited fortunes are not good for democracy.  Americans should earn their wealth and then turn a high portion of that wealth back to the free society that put in place the infrastructure to be able to make that money. 
39. Corporations should pay a quarter of their profits without exceptions and without hiding those profits in other countries for the benefit of being able to sell their goods and services in a free society that features a strong infrastructure. It should be taught in school that hiding money from government is unpatriotic and cause for eviction from a free society.  I am sure that the former Soviet countries would accept immigrant from the United States convicted of hiding their wealth.  
40. Science and exploration are incredibly important to the future of America.  The federal government should fund research and should reform the patent and trademark process to encourage innovation and not stifle using lawsuits. 

I am sure that I missed critical issues and I will try to update this list.  There is a lot of work to do after a period of 20 years of neglect by the legislative branch of government.  Our society must acknowledge that government can solve problems and we the people have the power to make life better for all.  

Brian Davis