Running head U S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 1 U S Constitutional Amendment Proposal HIS 301 March 12 2012 U S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 2 U S Constitutional Amendment Proposal Amending the Constitution is a difficult process It takes only 13 states in either of the two houses to block an amendment proposal Many proposals for amendments arose in the past but only 27 have become a part of the Constitution from its inception with 10 of those added almost immediately Because of the shear difficulty of adding amendments the Supreme Court s decisions hold more weight including interpretations of the Constitution UMKC n d Difficulty aside a proposal for rejecting an amendment will ensue in the following sections This proposal exists for extending people the following right Gives voters the power for rejecting or enacting laws by ballot This direct method runs in addition to the legislative authority of Congress By extending the right to voters for enacting or rejecting laws individuals will feel like an integral part of the United states but the voting process concerning legislation may become convoluted In proposing a rejection against this amendment the following sections assist in raising the argument Reasons for Amending the Constitution The creators of the Constitution of the United States Constitution were not perfect The framers who wrote the U S Constitution agreed that future generations would need to make changes to the Constitution as the government and people restructured Instead of a revolution occurring every time there was a need for change in the government amendments existed to uphold laws and restrict the government from overpowering the people U S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 3 In Article V of the Constitution the Framers included two processes of amending if needed The first method to add an amendment is for a bill to pass by two thirds majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate Once a bill passes it must be approved by three fourths of the states either state legislature or state convention depending on what is written on the bill Walenta 2010 The second method is for a Constitutional Convention to take place The Constitutional Convention is by two thirds of legislature from the states During the Convention the proposal of amendments begins and progresses for approval by state legislature or convention Because the Constitution has established its process and rights of amending some items in the Constitution are not amendable Stated in Article V of the Walenta 2010 Constitution Provided that no amendment made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article No state without its consent shall lose equal suffrage in the Senate Findlaw 2012 Article V It is undeniable that Article V cannot receive revisions because it is the guidelines for the creation of amendments If changing the way the amendments presented process it could either be more difficult or too easy to make changes to the government therefore it will make or break what the people and the government believe in Description of the Legislative Authority in Congress U S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 4 The legislative branch consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate The House of Representatives and the Senate formed from Article I of the Constitution of the United States The Legislative Branch n d The House of Representative consists of 435 members elected by the people of the United States divided among the 50 states and based upon the state s population The leader of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House The election ensues every two years for voting new members into the House of Representatives To be a member of the House of Representatives one must be at least 25 The Legislative Branch n d The duties of the officers in the House of Representative are impeaching officials initiating bills and in the event of an electoral tie for presidency they elect the President of the United States The Legislative Branch n d The Senate has 100 Senators and there are two Senates for each state Senate members arise from elections from the people of the United States The election is every six years to vote new members into the Senate The Legislative Branch n d However there is at least one third of the Senate that will be up for re election every two years The Legislative Branch n d To be a member of the Senate one must be at least 30 The Vice President of the United States is the leader of the President of the Senate The Senate has the power to confirm any of the President s appointments that may need consent Other duties that the Senate is responsible for are ratifying treaties and trying impeachment cases for any federal official The Legislative Branch n d In addition to pass a bill the House and the Senate both have to pass the same bill by U S CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSAL 5 majority vote before the bill can pass Legislation and be sent to the President for approval The first process of the Legislative Authority in Congress is introducing the bill to Congress The Legislative Branch n d Any individual can write a bill but Congress is responsible for introducing it to legislation The president normally will introduce important bills but these bills can still receive corrections Once the presentation of the bill arises special committees review the bill The committees consist of 17 Senators 23 House of Representatives and 104 subcommittees The Legislative Branch n d Each committee oversees different areas of the bills but In the end the president decides whether or not the bill will receive a veto or pass Should Voters Possess the Power to Enact or Reject Laws by Ballot Initiative as a Direct Method Approach This form of government is also called a Direct Democracy Switzerland uses this type of democracy A direct democracy may work for Switzerland but greater issues exist in changing the U S Constitution as well as the core principles of the Republic form of government for a Direct Democracy than one would believe initially According to the pure definition of what attributes are associated with a Direct Democracy Direct Democracy is the term used to describe particular forms of voting within any democratic system The term direct democracy commonly refers to three distinct types of votes 1 Referendums votes on a specific single issue or piece