We the
people of the United States, in order to decentralize political powers of the
federal government, to reduce wasteful federal spending, to strive for greater
accountability of government, to present a more complete enumeration of rights,
to improve economic stability, and to reduce involvement in foreign conflicts,
do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of
America.
1.
ARTICLE I: Federal legislative power shall be divided among
a series of councils, and each federal council shall have authority over and
only over those departments and agencies assigned to them.
i. Each state shall be free
to choose its own method for electing or appointing council members and be
responsible for any salaries paid. States shall be free to choose to
appoint as few as zero or as many as three delegates to each council.
ii. Each council shall be
free to determine its own legislative process, unless herein stated otherwise.
iii. No one person shall be
permitted to serve on more than one council at the same time, and no council
member shall at the same time hold any other civil office.
iv. No person shall be
invited to act as a member of a federal council who has not been appointed to that
council by any state.
v. No major policy changes
shall be finalized without all serving members of the appropriate council being
present, either in person or by remote communication, or having made their
positions known in advance. No such
policy changes shall be made without a quorum of at least one fifth of all
states being represented in said council.
If fewer than half of all states are represented, then any state not
represented shall be given a period of thirty days to make any objections, except
in situations where an immediate response to a crisis is necessary.
vi. If at any time, a
particular state has not appointed a representative to a particular council, or
where a state’s appointed council members are unavailable, where a decision
affecting said state is imminent, that state's executive authority may act in
person or by proxy as temporary council member.
vii. No federal council shall
pass any law which does not directly pertain to its own described purpose, and
no federal department or agency shall attempt to enact or enforce laws which
are not defined by the council to which it is subordinate.
viii. Publicly funded facilities
and offices for council members shall not be extravagant.
ix. Any council member found
to be accepting bribes or emoluments, of embezzling public funds, of secretly
conspiring with a foreign power, or of deliberately withholding information
from the public regarding a potential conflict of interests, shall be removed
immediately and banned from holding a seat on any federal council for at least
ten years. Removal of council members for
such reasons may be decided by a two-thirds majority of the same council, by
the Supreme Court, or by executive decision from the state which appointed said
council member.
x. Those states where
offices of federal councils or departments subordinate to federal councils are
located shall not attempt to use such positions to unfairly influence decisions
of said councils or departments.
xi. Council members shall not
be detained from the execution of their duties by arrest or questioning, except
in cases of treason or felony.
b.
THE FINANCIAL COUNCIL shall be responsible for collecting
funds from the states, as needed, and as they are able to pay, and distributing
those funds to the various federal programs, projects and departments as
needed, as well as providing financial aid to those states in need, and
overseeing all national social security and other national public welfare
systems.
i. This Council shall
oversee the printing and banking of money and all other departments related to
such. No money shall be printed which is not backed by coin or bullion,
or by some similar commodity.
ii. This Council shall not
place conditions on any state, federal council, or subordinate federal
department under threat of withholding funding.
iii. Each state shall be free
to determine its own means of revenue with certain limitations. No
property taxes shall be applied to non-commercial land. No income taxes
shall be applied to salaries, wages, gifts, tips, commissions, or unemployment
compensation. No sales taxes shall be applied to food, medicine, or basic
essentials.
iv. No direct federal taxes
shall be applied to the people.
v. All social security and
other public welfare payments must be guaranteed by sufficient funds held in
reserve, and no public welfare funds shall be borrowed from or borrowed against.
vi. Federal funding shall
not be used to bail out private enterprises.
vii. Federal bonds may be
issued to help fund special projects or to resolve an immediate crisis, but
shall not be issued to fund normal operations.
viii. The Financial Council
shall have authority to legislate and enforce antitrust regulations, to cancel
debts where necessary, to maintain uniform bankruptcy laws, to regulate the
trading of stocks and other investments, and to regulate and insure banking and
lending institutions to ensure honest and fair dealings. This does not preclude states from passing
additional regulations.
c.
THE CIVIL RIGHTS COUNCIL shall serve to protect the
freedoms of all persons in the United States, whether they be permanent
residents or foreign visitors, placing appropriate limitations on state powers
where necessary, shall oversee those departments relating to fair treatment of
workers and consumers, and shall oversee and maintain the federal court system,
including United States Supreme Court.
i. All Supreme Court
Justices shall be appointed by the Civil Rights Council, and the number of
Supreme Court Justice positions shall be fixed at nine. The Chief Justice
shall be appointed by the Civil Rights Council, or if left vacant for thirty
days, shall fall automatically to the most senior Supreme Court Justice.
No Justice shall be forcibly removed from office without having been given a
formal hearing by the Civil Rights Council.
No prior ruling by the Supreme Court shall be overturned except by the
Supreme Court itself, and having been provided in writing with just cause by
the Civil Rights Council.
ii. Only the Civil Rights
Council shall have power to grant pardons for federal crimes, and no such
pardons shall be granted for frivolous reasons.
Pardons for state and municipal crimes shall not be granted by the Civil
Rights Council, but instead by the authority of those states and municipalities
in accordance with their laws.
iii. All public elections
conducted in any state shall abide by certain rules, which shall be enforced
where needed by the Civil Rights Council. These rules are as follows.
1.
All participation in public elections shall be voluntary.
2.
No electoral college systems shall be used.
3.
No state shall set its legal minimum voting age higher than
eighteen years.
4.
No poll taxes or registration fees shall be applied.
5.
Absentee ballots shall be made unconditionally available.
6.
No person shall be denied the right to vote on the basis of
gender, ethnicity, religion, income, education or any other superficial
criteria.
7.
Elections between three or more choices shall be conducted
in a ranked-choice manner.
8.
No official in any one state shall be permitted to attempt
to influence the outcome of any election held in a different state.
9.
The Council may pass additional rules to ensure fairness and
transparency in elections, to regulate campaign financing and conduct, and to
discourage organized attempts to influence elections across multiple
states. Any such regulations shall be applied equally to all states.
10. States shall be free to
self-regulate election procedures where no existing federal rules apply.
iv. All legislatures,
police, courts and prisons in any state shall abide by the following
limitations on power with regard to crime and punishment:
1.
No bills of attainder or ex post facto laws shall be
passed.
2.
Persons shall be secure in their homes, persons, vehicles,
papers, communication lines, data and effects against unwarranted searches,
seizures, or surveillance, and no warrants shall be issued without probable
cause, and particularly describing the places to be searched or surveyed, and
the persons, data and things to be seized.
3.
Investigating officers obtaining incriminating evidence by
illegal means shall be, without exception, subject to disciplinary action. Any such illegally-obtained evidence shall
not be used against any person except in cases of particularly violent crimes.
4.
No person accused of any serious crime shall be denied the
right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury in the state and
district in which the crime shall have been allegedly committed. No
person shall be denied the right to legal counsel. All accused persons shall be informed of the
nature of the accusation and all supporting evidence, and shall be provided
opportunity to confront witnesses and cross-examine evidence against them, and have
compulsory process for obtaining witnesses and evidence for their defense.
5.
No person, except for officers of the law recounting events
which occurred while on duty, shall be forced to give self-incriminating
testimony. No person shall be threatened, tricked or coerced into giving
a confession.
6.
No officer of the law shall attempt to entrap a potential
suspect by encouraging or participating in any criminal act.
7.
No acquitted person shall be prosecuted twice for the same
offense.
8.
No convicted person shall be denied the right to appeal
where reasonable justification for appeal exists.
9.
No excessive fines or bails shall be imposed. No
cruel or unusual punishments or inhumane prison conditions shall be inflicted.
10. No excessive use of police
force shall be encouraged or tolerated.
No military units shall be deployed in lieu of police. No police departments shall be armed with military
grade weaponry.
11. No death penalty shall
be imposed, unless requested by the convicted person as an alternative to
lifetime incarceration.
12. No person while
incarcerated shall be employed in an exploitative manner.
13. No person shall be
forced to complete a sentence for having violated any law that has been
repealed.
14. No person upon having
completed a sentence shall be denied the rights of any free person.
15. No person holding any
office shall be exempt from prosecution or enjoy lesser consequences for crimes
as a benefit of holding any office.
16. No employee of any
institution, public or private, who knowingly and without coercion participates
in a crime initiated by a superior shall be exempt from liability.
17. Any person employed by
the court or by law enforcement who is proven to have falsified incriminating evidence
or knowingly presented such false evidence, in addition to any other penalties,
shall be permanently removed from public service, and any salaries, benefits or
pensions being received by said person shall be immediately discontinued.
18. Persons called to serve
on a jury shall be fairly compensated for their inconvenience.
19. Judges shall not be
required to impose sentences where unusual or extenuating circumstances give
just cause for sentences to be waived.
20. All persons shall have free
use of the court to settle any civil dispute in excess of one hundred dollars.
v. All states shall abide
by the following limitations on power with regard to general rights:
1.
No law shall require adherence to or practice of any state
religion. No favoritism shall be given
to any particular religion. No law shall
infringe upon the free exercise of religion.
2.
No law shall limit or censor the freedom of speech, the
press, or artistic expression, except in cases of particularly harmful
misinformation, slander, libel, or in cases of infringement on privacy or
copyright.
3.
No law shall infringe upon the right of the people safely
and peaceably to assemble.
4.
No law shall infringe upon the right or means of the people
to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
5.
No law shall infringe upon the right of adults to keep such
weapons which can be reasonably used for the purpose of self-defense, and no
regulations on the licensed carry and use of weapons shall be unfair or unreasonable.
6.
No land or other property shall be confiscated or
commandeered from any person without proper cause or without fair compensation.
7.
No person shall be forced into labor except in cases of
direct and proportional compensation for criminal damages.
8.
No law shall infringe upon the right of adults to marry or
divorce in a manner of their own choosing.
9.
No law shall infringe upon the freedom of bodily autonomy,
including but not limited to the right of informed and sound-minded adults to
buy, sell or use intoxicating substances, to engage in for-profit sexual
activities, to make end-of-life decisions, to terminate pregnancy, or to
receive other elective medical procedures.
10. Laws with respect to the
sale of goods or services shall not be intended to create monopolies or to give
unfair advantages to businesses with regard to free and fair market competition.
11. No law shall restrict
travel between states except in cases of criminal investigations or in cases of
medical quarantines, or place unreasonable restrictions on the transportation
of salable goods.
12. All persons of at least
the age of eighteen years shall be considered as adults and having all the
rights as such. The extension of any rights and privileges to persons
younger than eighteen years shall be left to the discretion of the states.
13. No law shall infringe
upon the rights of parents or guardians, while in their homes, to raise their children
in a manner of their own choosing, except in cases of abuse or endangerment.
14. No organized attempts
shall be made to force or coerce the cultural assimilation of any person or
group.
15. States reserve the right
to set residency requirements on civic participation, but no separate
citizenship status shall be established or required. No basic rights
shall be denied to foreign visitors.
16. No special immunity
privileges shall be granted to foreign dignitaries.
17. Rights protected by the
parameters of one department shall not be infringed upon by another department.
18. No private companies or
agencies shall be employed or coerced by government into violating any right
described herein.
19. All municipalities shall
respect these same limitations on power with the exception of those voluntarily
participating in privately owned and operated intentional communities.
20. The Civil Rights Council
may pass additional laws as needed for the purpose of preserving freedom,
provided that no such laws contradict any of the restrictions stated herein.
d.
THE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COUNCIL shall be responsible for
appointing ambassadors and overseeing embassies, approving treaties, and
deciding terms of warfare.
i. No treaties regarding
the disposition of land and other resources shall be ratified without the
approval of those states in which those lands and resources are located.
ii. All states shall respect the terms of treaties with foreign nations
where such terms apply, including, where necessary, enforcing compliance by
private enterprises operating within their respective jurisdictions.
iii. This Council shall have power to prohibit trade with foreign industries
which employ forced labor or other unconscionable labor practices, or with
nations engaged in or complicit with severe and systemic human rights
infringements.
iv. Each state shall be
responsible for its own military readiness.
No central military shall be maintained.
No state shall be mandated to have a minimum or maximum level of
military force. All military forces
shall abide by the following rules:
1.
No state shall make war with any other state, and no state
shall station its own troops within any other state without permission from
said other state.
2.
War or other military operations shall only be declared by
unanimous agreement by the Foreign Affairs Council, and such declarations shall
particularly describe the purpose and goal of said military operation. Military operations shall not be extended
beyond their stated goals.
3.
In time of war, the Council shall appoint a temporary Commander-in-Chief,
who will have direct authority over all military divisions in all states,
within the terms of said declaration.
4.
In situations necessitating two or more simultaneous
military operations, the Foreign Affairs Council may choose to appoint additional
Commanders-in-Chief, or to extend the authority of a single Commander-in-Chief,
as is deemed necessary by the Council.
5.
Military persons who have committed crimes while on active
duty shall enjoy the same legal protections, including fair trial, as any
civilian, insofar as such procedures are feasible under the particular
circumstances. Otherwise, summary
judgements and penalties ordered by superior officers are permissible. Pardons for crimes committed while on active
duty shall only be granted by the authority of the Commander-in-Chief or by the
Foreign Affairs Council.
6.
States may deploy troops and equipment in support of
foreign nations, if such nations request assistance, and only with permission
from the Foreign Affairs Council. In such cases, any such use of troops
or equipment shall be directed by said foreign nation, and only within the
limitations of military actions defined herein. Approval from the Foreign
Affairs Council is not required for states to supply foreign nations with food,
medicine or other humanitarian aid.
7.
States shall not be prohibited from using military force in
self-defense on home soil.
8.
No troops shall be quartered in any private house. No
person shall be forcibly conscripted. No tour of duty, in time of peace,
shall be extended without consent. No resignations, in time of peace,
shall be denied.
9.
No person, enlisted or civilian, shall be used without
their knowledge and consent for medical or psychological experimentation.
10. Testing of experimental
weapons and other military devices shall be conducted in the safest manner
possible and avoid unnecessary risk to civilians or ecological damage.
11. No civilian shall be interned
or detained on the basis of nationality or association with an enemy nation or
its allies.
12. No military support for
foreign nations or promise of aid shall be made secretly.
13. Nuclear and other
weapons of mass destruction shall be used only by a unanimous agreement of the
Foreign Affairs Council, and only as a last resort. The use of biological
or chemical weapons, the use of permanent mines, the torture of prisoners of
war, and the deliberate targeting of civilians are all strictly prohibited. No artificial intelligence or other autonomous
systems or devices shall be designed with the ability to use lethal force.
14. No land or other
resources shall be claimed as spoils of war.
15. All prisoners of war
shall be released at the cessation of war, unless charged with additional
crimes.
16. Unwarranted espionage
conducted upon foreign powers may not be conducted in time of peace, and no
warrants shall be issued except by the Foreign Affairs Council, upon probable
cause.
17. All combat veterans
shall be guaranteed free-of-charge treatment for the duration of their lives for
any physical or psychological injuries incurred while on active duty.
e.
THE SCIENCE COUNCIL shall be responsible for awarding
research grants and for overseeing those federal departments dedicated to
scientific advancement, to ensuring quality standards for public education, to ensuring
the security of information technologies, to protection of natural resources
through industrial and agricultural regulations, and to ecological research and
protection.
f.
THE HEALTH AND SAFETY COUNCIL shall be responsible for
regulating the process of inspecting food and other products, both domestically
produced and imported, for consumer safety, shall maintain regulations for safe
working environments, and shall, where necessary, enact medical quarantines.
g.
THE TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL shall be responsible for
maintaining interstate public transportation systems, safety regulations
regarding air and space travel, matters regarding immigration, imports and
exports, commerce between states, interstate telecommunication systems, and the
postal service.
i. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given by any regulation
of commerce or revenue to the ports of one state over another, nor shall
vessels bound to or from one state be obliged to enter, clear or pay duties in
another.
ii. No state shall be mandated to accept imports from any particular state
or nation.
iii. No foreign person shall be denied entry into the United States without reason. No person shall be forcibly deported
to a foreign nation except in cases of extradition. Requests for asylum shall be considered and
decided upon by individual states.
iv. No foreign person shall
be detained for more than twenty-four hours unless charged with a crime other
than unlawful entry or false credentials.
v. The area of
investigative jurisdiction of border security shall not extend more than one
mile inward from the national border. In
situations where federal border officers are operating in the same location or
investigating the same persons as state or local authorities, the federal officers
shall yield to the state or local authorities.
vi. Border officers shall be
free to waive or postpone any formal border-crossing procedures in response to
persons attempting to respond to an emergency.
If necessary and feasible, officers may escort persons in response to
such emergencies in order to maintain supervision.
vii. The Transportation
Council shall have legal jurisdiction over vessels operating in international
waters or international space which have been launched from the United States, with
the exception of naval vessels operating under the orders from the
Commander-in-Chief. The Transportation
Council shall have the authority to prosecute cases of piracy or terrorism
conducted against vessels operating in international waters or space.
h.
THE RECORDS COUNCIL shall be responsible for keeping
complete and accurate records of federal actions, laws, proposals, spending, and
general information for reference and for posterity, as well as maintaining
national archives and museums, overseeing matters relating to patents and
trademarks, overseeing the decennial national census, and issuing national
awards.
i. All recorded information
shall be freely available to the public, except for that of a highly personal nature
or that regarding classified current military operations. Military
secrets shall be declassified in a timely manner once such secrecy can no
longer be reasonably justified.
ii. Official public records
shall not be removed or destroyed or knowingly placed in jeopardy of being
lost, stolen or destroyed.
iii. This Council shall be
responsible for any and all decisions relating to national holidays, flags,
symbols, anthems and the like. No declarations
shall be made with regard to any establishment or endorsement of a particular
religion or language. No titles of
nobility shall be granted. Any lack of
formal adoption of new holidays or symbols shall not be misconstrued as a basis
for prohibition of such. Any officially adopted
anthems or symbols shall not be subject to copyright protection, and any existing
intellectual property shall not be adopted until such time as their copyrights
have been relinquished or expired.
i.
THE SPECIAL PROJECTS COUNCIL shall be responsible for
planning and overseeing all large-scale national improvement projects which do
not fall under the authority of any other council or any state, and which
require only temporary federal oversight. This Council shall have the authority to choose and employ private contractors and to work with state and
municipal authorities as needed.
i. Special projects shall
be completed in a timely manner, as circumstances allow. The purpose and
goals of each project shall be decided either by the Council itself, or by an
agreement between a majority of states.
ii. Completed construction projects
shall be relinquished to the state or municipality in which they are located.
iii. Any new technologies
developed by the Special Projects Council shall be considered public domain and
freely available.
iv. Special projects shall
not be misused to provide unfair assistance to profit-competitive businesses.
2.
ARTICLE II: Each head of each department subordinate to any
Federal Council shall have authority to make executive decisions in such cases
where circumstances necessitate immediate action. Each department shall
have the option to veto decisions made by the appropriate council, having
stated clear reasons for doing so, for a period of thirty days. If said
Council has not overturned or revised said decision within that time, then said
decisions shall be considered final.
a.
Creation of new departments or agencies subordinate to
federal councils shall neither be redundant nor exceed the domain of such
councils, and any effort to increase or decrease the number of subordinate
departments may be overturned by the Supreme Court on this basis.
b.
Any department head may be removed from office by a
decision by the appropriate council for acts of insubordination, corruption, exceeding
stated authority, or for other forms of misconduct or mismanagement of said
department.
c.
No office shall be created which has executive power
superior to any federal council.
d.
In the event of a national crisis, the appropriate council
may grant the head of the appropriate department, for a limited time, absolute
authority to act in response to said crisis, including, where necessary,
enlisting the support of other federal departments. In cases where it is
unclear under which federal department's or council's jurisdiction a particular
crisis falls, and an agreement cannot be reached among the council members in a
timely manner, an appropriate department head may be summarily chosen by the
Chief Justice.
e.
Businesses which are temporarily closed or reduced in scale
by state or federal authority in response to any crisis shall be entitled to compensation
of no less than fifty percent of estimated lost revenue, and employees of such
business of no less than fifty percent of estimated lost wages, for the
duration of the crisis, to be paid by the state or federal department enacting
such closures or reductions. This shall
not preclude any additional insurance or unemployment compensations which may be
received.
f.
All federal departments shall offer equal opportunity with
regard to employment, salaries, or promotions.
g.
Salaries and benefits for federal employees shall not be
reduced during their time in office.
3.
ARTICLE III: State and local authorities shall have first
responsibility for disciplinary action, within the laws of their respective
states and municipalities, against those state and local officials who violate
the limitations on power described herein or by their respective constitutions
or charters. However, in cases where an
officer of the highest level of government in a particular state has violated
the rules and regulations described herein, and that state’s normal system of
checks and balances has failed to act, then and only then may the appropriate
federal council take action to remove said executive from office. Removal from power shall be carried out in
the following manner:
a.
Article of impeachment shall be filed by the federal
council most directly linked with those rules and regulations which have been
violated. Articles of impeachment shall
only be passed by a two-thirds majority vote of said council. In cases where violations of multiple sets of
regulations exist, articles of impeachment may be filed simultaneously by more
than one council.
b.
Articles of impeachment having been passed, the accused
official shall be tried before the Supreme Court, and if convicted, shall be
removed from office. This decision can
only be overturned by a future decision by the Supreme Court.
c.
Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further
than removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office
of honor, trust or profit under the United States, but the party convicted
shall nevertheless be liable and subject to indictment, trial, judgment and punishment,
according to law.
d.
State officials who are next in line to assume a position
left vacant by a person removed from office shall be automatically deemed
ineligible to act as a replacement if they are shown in those same articles of
impeachment to have been complicit in the violations described therein.
4.
ARTICLE IV: Any state wishing to change its borders,
divide into smaller states, combine with other states, change its system of
government, or secede from the United States, shall not be prevented from doing
so, provided that all parties directly involved in such decisions have reached
an agreement on the particulars, and that such decisions are approved by
popular vote in the affected areas.
a.
No state shall adopt a system of internal governance which
undermines the rule of democratic representation.
b.
The government of each state shall be free to refuse
requests for regions wishing to separate from said state, if the stated reason
for the request is deemed frivolous or fleeting, or if the land area or
population is deemed insufficient to justify the creation of a new state.
c.
If any state, by total secession, separates itself from the
terms of this Constitution, all federal services in said state shall be
discontinued over a period of sufficient time for transition to autonomy, with
the exception of any financial aid being received, which shall be evaluated and
determined on a case-by-case basis.
5.
ARTICLE V: Amendments and alterations to this Constitution,
including the creation of additional councils, shall only be made by a unanimous
agreement by all states, excluding any new states that have been created within
the previous five years, with the last state to approve the newly proposed
amendment having done so within twenty years of the earliest state to do
so. If an amendment has not been
ratified within twenty years, those states whose votes have expired may be
called to renew their respective votes.
6.
ARTICLE VI: The Federal Government as created under
the United States Constitution of 1791, in order to provide sufficient time for
the establishment of the new federal system and ensure a smooth transition of
powers, shall continue to function as needed from the time of the adoption of
this new Constitution until the scheduled conclusion of the second full
presidential term following the ratification of this document, at which time, the United States Constitution
of 1791 shall be considered null and void. In case of dispute between old and new legislative
or executive authorities during the transitional period, favor shall be given
to the new authorities. The offices and holdings of the old federal
system shall be disposed of as follows.
a.
The United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and
the offices of President and Vice President of the United States, shall be
utterly dissolved.
b.
All persons serving in the federal court system, including
the Supreme Court, shall be permitted to continue to do so under the terms of
the New Constitution.
c.
All branches of the United States Armed Forces shall be
divided among the various states in a logical manner to be determined by the
current ranking authorities.
d.
All federal lands shall be relinquished thusly: All
national parks shall be recategorized as state parks under the direction of the
respective states in which they are located. All federal land registered
as being reserved for use by Native American tribes shall be considered as the
property of said tribes and considered independent states. All
self-governing integrated territories, including the District of Columbia,
shall be considered as states. All unincorporated island territories
currently being held for the purpose of wildlife protection and preservation
shall remain as such. All claims to disputed territories shall be
relinquished. All other federally owned lands shall be relinquished to
the states in which they are located. No
future land will be held by the United States which is not part of any state.
e.
All other existing federal departments, agencies and
commissions, shall be examined by the Special Projects Council to determine the
best means of disposition, whether that be to place such departments under the
direction of the appropriate Federal Council, to merge such departments with
other departments, to divide such departments among the states, to relinquish
such departments to the private sector, or to dissolve such departments
entirely.
f.
All federal buildings which are no longer needed as a
result of this reorganization, shall be given to their respective states to be
sold at auction, demolished or repurposed as they see fit.
g.
All federal employees whose services are no longer required
as a result of the dissolution of their respective departments, including
private contractors, shall be given fair severance compensation. Pensions
for retired federal employees shall continue uninterrupted.
h.
All moneys still owed by the United States, including
federal bonds, foreign debts, reparations, military pensions, and all other
debts shall continue to be paid until paid in full.
i.
Any laws which contradict this Constitution shall be
considered null and void. Any federal
laws which do not contradict this Constitution at the time of its ratification
shall be presumed to be in effect until having been repealed or amended by the
appropriate Council.