Article II - The Legislative Branch

The first formal branch of government outlined in this Charter is the same as in the Constitution of 1789. It will be familiar. It is a two-chamber Congress. One chamber, the Senate, represents the federalist interests of the states, while the other, the House of Representatives, speaks directly for the citizens.

Our current system suffers from significant problems.

The biggest problem is the partisan capture of the mechanics of Congress itself. Why is there a Senate majority leader? Why are there Whips? Why, in practice, does only one party elect the Speaker of the House, second in line of succession for the Presidency, I will point out? Why is partisan gerrymandering legal? Why do members of Congress get to serve for decades in the same seat? These are all issues that boil down to partisan capture of Congress.

The American people also lack confidence that their members of Congress actually do any work. I suspect that the belief they don’t work is a bit overstated, but who they work for seems to be an open question.

Are members of Congress even expected to be ethical? Or is the current “ethics committee” a fig leaf to cover the widespread corruption of insider trading, self-dealing, and retirement directly to cushy think-tanks and lobbying firms?

Can the American people expect responsible budgets and freedom from the performative drama of government shutdowns and budget ceiling showdowns?

Why do members of Congress get to set their own pay? Even with the final ratification of the twenty-seventh amendment in 1992[1] (which took 203 years to ratify), Congress essentially sets its own pay. Isn’t that a conflict of interest?

These problems need solutions. Article II redesigns Congress from the ground up. While familiar in form and function, the Congress imagined in this Charter is better positioned to serve the people and their rights.

Article II of this Charter addresses:

· Basic qualifications for office

· Manner of selection for office

· Term limits

· Allocation of representation

· Workday expectations

· Ethics enforcement

· Plain-language requirements for laws

· Transparent budgeting

· A basic expectation for upholding the oath of office

James Madison is rightly called the Father of the Constitution. But this Congress is not Madison’s Congress. Or Benjamin Franklin’s, or any of the other founders’. This Congress would belong to us and be beholden to us.

Article II, Section 1

Article II, Section 2

Article II, Section 3

Article II, Section 4

Article II, Section 5

Article II, Section 6

Article II, Section 7

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[1] U.S. Const. amend XXVII.