While flipping through my pocket-size U.S. constitution I came across a section about amendments that were proposed but never ratified. There have been over 10,000 such proposals since 1789 and, “fewer than one percent of them have received enough support to actually go through the constitutional ratification process.” Looking through this abbreviated list I can’t help but wonder what the United States would look like if any one of these had passed. I would love to read a short story featuring any number of these proposed amendments.
1876: An attempt to abolish the United States Senate
1876: The forbidding of religious leaders from occupying a governmental office or receiving federal funding
1878: An Executive Council of Three to replace the office of president
1893: Renaming this nation “The United States of the Earth”
1893: Abolishing the United States Army and Navy
1894: Acknowledging that the Constitution recognize God and Jesus Christ as the supreme authorities in human affairs
1912: Making marriage between races illegal
1914: Finding divorce to be illegal
1916: All acts of war should be put to a national vote. Anyone voting yes has to register as a volunteer for service in the United States Army.
1933: An attempt to limit personal wealth to $1 million
1936: An attempt to allow the American people to vote on whether or not the United States should go to war
1938: The forbidding of drunkeness in the United States and all of its territories
1947: The income tax maximum for an individual should not exceed 25%
1948: The right of citizens to segregate themselves from others
1971: American citizens should have the alienable right to an environment free of pollution
Any favorites?
This post originally appeared at Paleofuture.com.
Photo via AP: Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, holds up a copy of the Constitution on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, May 7, 1992, as Sen. Don Nickles, D-Okla., looks on. Both men proclaimed on Thursday a historic day after the Michigan state House ratified the 27th Amendment to the Constitution which would require that any Congressional pay raises not go into effect until after the next election.