The Bill of Freedom is a list of proposed Constitutional amendments to make the people free. In order to write the Bill of Freedom, the author began by creating a list of principles to guide the content of the proposed amendments. These principles are described in this article.
Bill of Rights as Model
The Bill of Rights has made the people more free than they would have been in its absence. This great document can serve in some ways as a model for the Bill of Freedom. Thus, the Bill of Freedom will comprise exactly ten amendments. Just as the Bill of Rights places its most important amendments both toward the beginning of the list and toward the end, the Bill of Freedom will similarly structure its list, to the extent that we can estimate the relative importance of one amendment over the others. Most importantly, the Bill of Freedom follows the Bill of Rights by limiting the power of the government.
No Powers Added to Government
In rare cases we might think of a regulation of the private sector that would make the people more free. But a bad precedent is set when adding a government power to a proposed Bill of Freedom. If we propose a single new power of government, then there may follow more such proposals.
Bill of Freedom to be Understood by the People
American history shows that popular movements lead the government to extra-constitutional increases in power and decreases in rights. The judicial branch is not fully effective in resisting these popular movements. Therefore, the people themselves must counter protest to preserve their rights and freedoms. For that reason, the Bill of Freedom should be read and understood, not only by those in government, but also by the people. The text of the amendments should be short and easily understood by anyone. Each amendment should have an easily-remembered title.
No Amendments to Fix Wrong Rulings of Supreme Court
Where the Supreme Court has disregarded the Constitution in increasing the power of the government or decreasing a right of individuals, we are tempted to write an amendment to overrule the Court. But some political factors caused the Court to disregard the Constitution. We can only amend the Constitution by successfully opposing these political factors with counter-argument and activism. But upon such success, the Court should be able on its own to correct its past mistakes without amendments.
Bill of Freedom is Long-Term Goal
Some will criticize the highly ambitious amendments as unrealistic and impossible to enact. But history shows many examples of major political changes that began with an idea many decades earlier. Without highly ambitious amendments, the Bill of Freedom will not make us free.
Amendments Sufficiently Practical
The ten amendments must be sufficiently practical in their effects and popular in their appeal, so that the amendments can eventually be ratified and withstand attempts at repeal. To that end, some amendments may alter legislative or other governmental processes in order to restrict government, while still allowing some flexibility for government action. Some amendments may restrict the Federal government but not state government, so that pressing problems can still be addressed at the state level.