How would you amend the Constitution?

If someone made Tim dictator-for-life, he has a (pretty good) list of amendments to implement.

As long as we are fantisizing, here's my list:

- Eliminate the Electoral college and elect the President by popular vote

- Have all Congressional districts nationwide drawn by a non-partisan commission (elimiate gerrymandering and "safe" districts)

- Allow the line-item veto by the Executive

- An explicit privacy amendment (let's do away with the penumbra crap and get this in plain text!)

- a human rights amendment. Unlike existing Federal statutes, I would word the amendment narrowly such that it prohibits governments (but not private citizens) from discrimination.

- A "fair use" amendment. Perhaps the only good way to stop the gradual mutation of intellectual property law into a straitjacket.

What I would not do:

- Proportional representation (it sounds good in theory, but I don't want the US to turn into Italy)

- Mess with the 2nd amendment...history and jurisprudence have managed to come up with a good balanced solution which protects the individual's right to bear arms but allows for individual states and cities to come up with policies appropriate for their areas.

- Make any change to war powers...the existing Constitution handles this properly. If Congress chooses to abrogate its role to the Executive, that is its own problem.

- Create a right to health care or any other "big government" idea. Those kind of things are best handled by statute, if the people and their representatives desire.