Ten Policy Actions to Reinforce Constitutional Governance in the United States
As concerns grow about the erosion of foundational principles in American governance, several actionable reforms can help restore transparency, accountability, and alignment with the Constitution. The following proposals represent a nonpartisan, policy-driven approach to institutional renewal.
1. Establish Electoral Integrity Through Transparent Financing and Universal Access
To promote fair and representative elections, implement comprehensive reforms to restore transparency, equity, and trust in the democratic process.
Overturn the Citizens United v. FEC decision through constitutional amendment or legislative remedy, thereby ending the classification of corporate and union political spending as protected speech. Limit all campaign contributions to natural persons who are U.S. citizens and eligible to vote, prohibiting donations from corporations, political action committees (PACs), unions, and foreign entities.
Establish uniform national caps on total funds that can be raised and spent per candidate, scaled by office type (federal, state, or local), position (executive or legislative), and term length. An independent, bipartisan commission would regularly review and adjust these caps to ensure proportionality and fairness.
To ensure every eligible voter can freely exercise their right to vote, adopt the following safeguards:
• Automatic and Secure Voter Registration upon reaching voting age, with opt-out provisions.
• Election Day as a National Holiday to facilitate participation.
• Expanded Early Voting and Vote-by-Mail Access, with uniform federal ballot security and tracking standards.
• Voter Identification Requirements that are free of charge and universally accessible, paired with outreach and assistance for underserved populations.
• Strict Prohibitions Against Voter Intimidation, Suppression, and Gerrymandering, with enforcement led by an independent federal election oversight body.
Summary of Benefits:
• Transparency in Campaign Finance: Reduces undue influence by corporate and non-citizen interests.
• Equity in Political Competition: This creates a level playing field across all candidacy levels.
• Universal Voter Access: Ensures no eligible voter is denied participation due to logistical, legal, or economic barriers.
• Improved Public Trust: Enhances confidence in the electoral process's legitimacy and fairness.
2. Transition to a Cryptoeconomy, Regulated National Cryptocurrency, and Asset Tokenization Framework
First, Congress should legislate that each person owns all digital information about themself and differentiate all others - e-commerce, banks, hospitals, government agencies, etc. - as simply data gatherers. Implement the digital twin repository on blockchain, where each person would have their own storage area on chain with complete control over those who could read and write to it. This would eliminate the wholesale exploitation of personal information, mute ransomware and threats from hackers, and restore control of one's personal information and all related transactions.
Second, phase out the Federal Reserve System and establish a national cryptocurrency managed by a publicly governed, transparent, decentralized financial authority. This currency would be issued via a secure blockchain infrastructure with algorithmic monetary policy controls that prevent inflationary manipulation and political interference.
In tandem, create a tokenized asset economy where real-world assets—such as property, commodities, and equities—can be securely digitized, fractionalized, and traded by individuals. This framework would democratize access to wealth creation, investment opportunities, and capital markets, reducing reliance on traditional financial intermediaries.
Eliminate the current tax code, including income, payroll, and corporate taxes, and replace it with a single national sales or consumption tax. This consumption-based model would simplify compliance, improve transparency, and eliminate disincentives to productivity and investment.
To maintain economic balance in the face of technological displacement, implement an automation impact tax—a levy on companies that replace human labor with autonomous systems. The base rate would be calculated according to the number of jobs displaced by a single automaton, scaled by industry, energy consumed, waste created, and regional employment conditions.
To ensure baseline economic security, every adult citizen should be provided with a universal monthly living wage of an amount debated and decided by Congress, adjusted annually to align with economic growth, inflationary pressures, and changes in the cost of living. This would be distributed via the national cryptocurrency platform, ensuring seamless, real-time access.
Summary of Benefits:
• Monetary Stability: Removes centralized monetary manipulation and improves long-term price stability.
• Wealth Access: Broadens public participation in asset ownership and capital markets through tokenization.
• Tax Simplification: Ends complex and opaque tax systems, replacing them with a flat, consumption-based approach.
• Economic Equity: Guarantees a living wage floor for all adults, reducing poverty and improving national productivity.
• Administrative Efficiency: Reduces bureaucratic overhead in both taxation and welfare systems.
3. Mandatory Financial Transparency for Elected Officials and Immediate Family Members through Offices of Ethical Governance Operated under Each Branch of Government
Federal elected officials should be required to disclose comprehensive annual financial statements publicly to prevent conflicts of interest and promote ethical governance. Disclosures should include assets, income, trusts, and any significant financial holdings of immediate family members or financial beneficiaries.
Moreover, political staff appointees would also submit their financial statements to the appropriate Executive, Legislative, or Judicial Office for Ethical Governance upon hire, termination, and annually thereafter to ensure that changes do not exceed corresponding cost-of-living adjustments and reasonable adjustments due to annual merit reviews. Enforcement mechanisms should include criminal penalties for nondisclosure or misrepresentation.
4. Adopt Zero-Based Budgeting Across Federal Agencies
Federal budgeting should transition from baseline to zero-based budgeting (ZBB), requiring each agency to justify all expenditures from the ground up during each budget cycle. This approach would eliminate automatic increases and encourage strategic prioritization of public funds. Cease the practice of naming buildings after living politicians and delay any such naming for at least 50 years after one’s date of death. Alternatively, remove all individual names from government buildings. Additionally, cease special consideration or benefits enjoyed by politicians, e.g., free parking, free premium healthcare programs other than Medicare, other benefits that the public are restricted from partaking.
Ban the use of legislative earmarks in federal spending bills and replace them with a transparent, merit-based, competitive grant process subject to independent oversight and public reporting. This would reduce political favoritism and enhance public trust in federal appropriations.
A comprehensive, independent audit of the Federal Reserve System is required to evaluate its monetary policy decisions, emergency lending programs, and asset purchases. Consider structural reforms to improve transparency, ensure monetary stability, and enhance Congressional oversight of monetary policy.
5. Establish Term Limits for Federal Legislators and Senior Civil Servants
A system designed to stagnate will stagnate and polarize, while a system designed to be vibrant and dynamic would promote institutional renewal and accountability.
Term limits on the presidency have not adversely affected the executive branch. Likewise, introducing term limits in the legislative branch offers many benefits.
Two terms for U.S. Senators and four terms for U.S. Representatives would accompany service limits of twenty years for senior unelected federal officials to prevent the consolidation of long-term bureaucratic power.
6. Reinforce Federalism and the 10th Amendment
Reaffirm the constitutional principle that powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states.
When not explicitly delegated to the state, power remains in the citizens of that state, where fundamental rights, not privileges, are reciprocally recognized as people move from one state to another.
Reduce federal intervention in areas traditionally managed at the state level—such as education, healthcare administration, and land use—to restore local governance and policy innovation.
7. Restrict Government from Competing in Private Enterprise Markets
Establish a constitutional or statutory prohibition against the federal government initiating, owning, operating, or funding any commercial enterprise that competes directly or indirectly with private-sector or publicly traded businesses. This restriction would apply across all sectors, including technology, manufacturing, financial services, and communications, unless explicitly authorized by a national security exemption reviewed annually by an independent oversight body.
Government agencies would be limited to regulatory, oversight, and public safety functions, ensuring that innovation, pricing, and market access remain driven by private-sector competition and consumer demand.
Summary of Benefits:
• Preserves Free Market Principles: Ensures a level playing field where businesses compete on merit rather than against taxpayer-subsidized entities.
• Limits Government Overreach: Prevents misuse of public funds to displace private innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Encourages Investment and Innovation: Reduces the risk of government-backed market disruption, promoting confidence among investors and entrepreneurs.
• Strengthening accountability: This strengthens the government's role as a regulator and facilitator—not a competitor—in the national economy.
8. K–12 Education Reform: Restore Local Control and Classical Standards
Federal education mandates—including Common Core—should be replaced with a minimum threshold curriculum that prepares graduates for one of three outcomes: trade or vocation, college or university, or military service.
State- and district-level authority over curricula and assessment standards would be restored with emphasis on successful traditional learning programs incorporating foundational subjects such as:
• Phonics-based reading,
• Arithmetic through unified mathematics, including programming, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and statistics,
• English with grammar, composition, keyboarding, and cursive writing,
• American and World Literature,
• Conversational Survey of Foreign Languages (European, African, Asian, South American, Middle Eastern, etc.),
• American government (civics),
• American and World history,
• Creative and critical thinking,
• Health, sports, and well-being,
• Personal finance, and
• Learning skills like study methods, reading techniques, and neuroplastic exercises.
Standardized testing should be limited in scope and developed locally to reflect community priorities, special needs students, and national priorities, such as STEM.
9. Expand the Role of Community and Charitable Organizations in Social Services
Encourage the delivery of healthcare, behavioral health, addiction recovery, and correctional services by nonprofit and community-based organizations through incentive structures such as performance-based grants, regulatory flexibility, and tax credits.
Additionally, the 13th Amendment should be amended to remove the exception clause permitting slavery or involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. Incarcerated persons participating in prison industries and work programs should be tax-exempt at the federal minimum wage.
A structured earnings model would allocate 50% of wages to fund victim restitution, family and childcare obligations, and in-prison rehabilitation programs, while the remaining 50% would be secured in an interest-bearing account and disbursed upon release.
Lifetime and death-sentenced inmates ineligible for parole would contribute 90% of their wages to victims, families, and the Bureau of Prisons. In comparison, 10% would be used for personal use, e.g., to offset costs of publicly funded defense attorneys, hygiene items, and self-enrichment study materials.
10. Enforce Healthcare Price Transparency to Promote Competitive and Consumer-Centered Care
Advance healthcare reform by fully enforcing the price transparency provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Section 2718(e), which requires hospitals and health providers to disclose the standard charges for their services publicly. Reinforce these provisions through implementation of Executive Order 13877 (Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare) and Executive Order 13951 (Saving Lives Through Increased Support for Mental- and Behavioral-Health Needs), which mandate that hospitals and insurers provide transparent, accessible, and consumer-friendly information on pricing, negotiated rates, and out-of-pocket costs.
Price tables would be submitted electronically and viewable, searchable, and compared via a website administered by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
HHS should monitor and enforce compliance, with meaningful penalties for non-compliance. This would incentivize providers to demonstrate complete transparency and competitive pricing structures.
Summary of Benefits:
• Empowers Consumers: Allows patients to make informed care decisions based on cost and quality.
• Increases Market Competition: Encourages providers to compete on value and efficiency, reducing healthcare costs.
• Improves Accountability: Exposes excessive or unjustified pricing and aligns incentives across providers, insurers, and patients.
• Supports Broader Reform Goals: Facilitates data-driven health policy and system-wide cost containment.