Several fine bloggers who I respect posted on this topic on Friday, and I'd like to take a shot at it.

Q: Suppose you were elected Temporary Supreme Dictator of America.

What ten laws would you pass/repeal or government programs would you create/tear down (Assume that you would be in office for however long it would take to do these things and that any changes you make will remain in place after you leave office).

A: Were I to assume this august and dread office, I would make the following changes.

1. ANNEX MEXICO. To paraphrase an old saying about a false prophet and a mountain, why bring all these Mexicans to the United States when we can bring the United States to the Mexicans? In one fell swoop, we could eliminate most of our illegal immigration problem by making our newly acquired Mexican territories are subject to all the laws that apply in the US that make it attractive to the illegal aliens in the first place. We would solve the citizenship and anchor baby questions because all of the Mexicans on either side of the old border would now be US citizens. What infrastructure and social improvements that are needed will be taken care of by using the PEMEX oil revenues. Eventually, I'd anticipate the old Mexican states to be admitted to the Union. An additional advantage is that the border wall we will need to build to keep out Central American illegal aliens will be much shorter -- and therefore much easier to build and maintain.

2) REPEAL THE SEVENTEENTH AMENDMENT. By taking the election of US Senators out of the hands of the people and returning it to the state legislatures where it was placed by the Framers of the Constitution, we will move a long way towards restoring the states to their proper role in setting national policy for our FEDERAL union.

3) SETTLE THE DC REPRESETATION QUESTION. The District of Columbia was created out of Maryland territory, and its people should vote for members of the House of Representatives as citizens of the state of Maryland. Some method of representing them in the Maryland Legislature for purposes of selecting US Senators (See Point 2) will need to be devised.

4) REVISE THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT OF 1965. I've said it before -- the repeated renewal of the emergency provisions of the VRA has resulted in a continual focus on the problems of the 1964 Presidential election while ignoring contemporary voting rights issues. Replace the current preclearance regulations, which are based upon data nearly as old as I am, with new regulations that subject any jurisdiction with less than 50% representation in either of the two most recent presidential elections to the special supervision of the Justice Department. That way we will always be dealing with obstacles to voter participation that exist in the present, not those that have been more-or-less effectively remedied in the past.

5) EXECUTIVE ORDER OVERTURNING A NUMBER OF INAPPROPRIATELY DECIDED COURT DECISIONS. These would include Roe v. Wade, Lawrence v. Texas, Bob Jones University v. United States, Coker v. Georgia, Roper v. Simmons, and Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, among others -- all cases in which a court exceeded its proper boundaries by taking matters that properly belong in the hands of legislative bodies and inaccurately ascribing the status of Constitutional right or prohibition to one side or another. Even where I agree with the result (the law struck down in Lawrence was idiotic and ought to have been repealed), the problem is that the judges stripped the elected legislators of their ability to legislate in areas that no legally and historically plausible reading of the federal (or in the Goodridge case, state) constitution could legitimately justify.

6) TRIPLE THE SALARIES OF MILITARY PERSONNEL, POLICE, FIREFIGHTERS, AND TEACHERS. Everyone always says they view these jobs as extremely important and says we don't pay them enough. Let's do it. This can be partially funded by placing a windfall profits tax on the entertainment industry, and a special 100% tax surcharge on the salaries and benefits of entertainment industry executives, actors, recording artists, professional athletes, and their agents for all income over 10 times the poverty level for a family of four.

7) REAL EDUCATION REFORM. As long as we have a consensus in this country that government should be paying for education, then it should pay for the education of all students through grade 12, regardless of whether they attend a public, private, or religious school. Any student in a non-public school will receive a voucher equal to 2/3 the average per-pupil expenditure in public schools in their state, provided their school offers a core curriculum of English, math, science, and social studies that meets established standards. Students may voluntarily choose to drop out after Grade 8 -- and may be permanently expelled for disciplinary or academic reasons after that point as well. Students who drop out or are expelled are done with their free education. Tracking of students based upon ability is to be encouraged so that no student is held back in an effort to make sure that no child is left behind. In addition, high school students are to be encouraged to choose a course of studies, either college prep or vocational, based upon their interests and aptitudes.

9) ABOLISH ALL LAWS RESTRICTING POLITICAL PARTICIPATION BY AMERICAN CITIZENS. Bye-bye, McCain-Feingold and other campaign finance laws that restrict the contributions of American citizens to political campaigns, or limit their ability to form organizations to engage in political speech. The only rules will be that contributions to candidates must be reported within 24 hours, and no corporate or union funds may be contributed to or expended on behalf of a candidate. Money is not speech -- but it is an essential to being able to speak in today's media-driven environment, and donations of money are certainly a form of free association.

10) THE OMNIBUS CORRECTION AMENDMENT. Once amendment can be used to fix problems and misinterpretations that have sprung up regarding the Constitution over the last two centuries. These would include:
* Banning all discrimination for or against individuals based upon race, religion, or sex.
* Clarifying that religious speech cannot be disfavored by government entities -- meaning that religious groups have equal access to public facilities as non-religious groups.
* Modifying the Second Amendment to read "An armed populace being necessary to the preservation of liberty, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed and its exercise is commended and encouraged. No law shall be valid that limits the right of any adult citizen not convicted of a violent felony or adjudicated mentally incompetent to go about armed in any public place, excluding prisons and mental health facilities.
* Affirming that the death penalty is constitutional, and may be applied for crimes other than murder.
* Stating that the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause are not catch-all provisions allowing Congress to do anything they please, and that all statutes enacted under them must provide a clear and direct rationale for the use of those clauses to justify them.

Having completed my term of service to the nation, I would then return to my classroom, just as Cincinnatus returned to his farm in Roman times.

Now, why don't you folks all give this meme a try -- I'm tagging no one, but encouraging everyone to play!

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