The Liberty Amendments, Restoring the American Republic by Mark R. Levin
“I undertook this project not because I believe the Constitution, as originally structured, is outdated and outmoded, thereby requiring modernization through amendments, but because of the opposite—that is, the necessity and urgency of restoring constitutional republicanism and preserving the civil society from the growing authoritarianism of a federal Leviathan.”
(The following is my summary of Mark's proposed amendments and, thus, subject to misinterpretation. 
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1. An amendment to limit members of congress to a total of 12 years whether spent solely in the House or the Senate or in combination of the two.
2. An amendment to repeal the 17th amendment and return election of senators to the state legislators. (Levin notes that the Constitution would not have been ratified if direct elections of senators had been included originally. The people were to be represented by the House and the states by the Senate.)
3. An amendment to establish a twelve-year term limit for justices of the Supreme Court and the ability for the Congress to overturn a Supreme Court majority decision by a three-fifths vote of the House and Senate or by a three-fifths vote of the states legislatures.
4. An amendment to require a budget to be submitted to Congress no later than May 1 preceding the next fiscal year. If the budget is not passed and signed by the first day of the new fiscal year, October 1, an automatic across-the-board 5 percent cut from the previous FY budget will go into effect. Total Government spending shall not exceed the total receipts for the fiscal year, nor exceed 17.5 percent of the GDP of the previous FY.
5. An amendment to limit taxes on personal income, however earned, to 15 percent and the final day to file will be the day preceding federal elections. Congress would also be banned from instituting a VAT, national sales tax or any other tax on the people.
6. An amendment to limit the federal bureaucracy by requiring departments and agencies to be reauthorized every three years. Any Executive regulations exceeding an economic burden of $100 million or more shall be submitted to a congressional oversight committee for review.
7. An amendment to limit Congress’s power to regulate Commerce to the original intent of the Commerce Clause.
8. An amendment to protect private property by a strict interpretation of Eminate Domain laws.
9. An amendment to directly amend the Constitution. (This allows the states to call their own convention and not go through Congress admenistrativly. Seems to be meant to circumvent Federal mischif in the process.)
10. An amendment allowing the states, by three-fifths vote of the legislatures, to overturn a federal statute and Executive regulations exceeding $100 million.
11. An amendment to require photographic documentation proving that a voter is a legal citizen before being allowed to vote in any Federal election, including primaries.
Quote:
From Levin’s website:
Mark Levin is one of America's preeminent conservative commentators and constitutional lawyers. He's in great demand as a political and legal commentator, and has appeared on hundreds of television and radio programs. Levin is also a contributing editor for National Review Online, and writes frequently for other publications. Levin has served as a top advisor to several members of President Ronald Reagan's Cabinet - including as Chief of Staff to the Attorney General of the United States. In 2001, the American Conservative Union named Levin the recipient of the prestigious Ronald Reagan Award. He currently practices law in the private sector, heading up the prestigious Landmark Legal Foundation in Washington DC.
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Levin doesn’t suggest that these are the only amendments needed, his intent is to let the people and state legislators know that they have power inshrined in the Constitution and that they need to exercise those powers before the Republic is lost forever.
Along the lines of his amendment to repeal the 17 th amendment, I’d like to see a return to smaller congressional districts, too. Early districts covered 20 to30 thousand citizens, they now cover about 600,000. By reducing the districts, over time, it will reduce the power of the Representatives thus reducing their “star power”. Also, smaller districts would be harder to gerrymander. It would also place the represenitive closer to the people. Wyoming now has one Congressman; at 30,000 per district, they would have 19.
Pat
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