Since apparently Grok and other AI expect me to lay out an entire transition plan on my own, here’s a few thoughts on how to make the transition period of at least six months (or to the next July 4, whichever is later) less chaotic.
New State-Level Social Security
Each state would have to consult its own records for how much of its taxes were sent to DC in the year or two before the Reboot and then begin putting all federal taxes into an escrow-style account like Texas is doing. States could pass their own versions of Social Security and keep the payroll taxes in that account. Each state could set its own retirement age, income level requirements, and means-testing.
In the event someone moved across state lines, when they go to get their new drivers license and the new state sends the old one back to the original state, the original state then forwards the money that person has contributed over to the new state to put in its escrow account.
Each state is free to decide how to grow the accounts. They can invest in the stock market (I would suggest following the Pelosi tracker since that woman seems to be a genius when it comes to investing), put it in interest-bearing accounts, use it to bet at the dog races by putting it all the one that does his business right before the race starts, whatever the people of that state think is best.
Military, alliances, and treaties
I would suggest that Congress get some laws pre-written in plain English and on single-issue bills to re-authorize the standing army and air force since I think the Marines and Navy are covered in the Constitution. They could pass these on day one and be fine.
They could also use the time between the amendment nearing ratification and the kick-in date to work with the administration to re-negotiate membership and duties in current alliances like NATO and the UN. They could have those new treaties ready to roll on day one. Since I lack the phone numbers of the folks running NATO and the UN, I can’t exactly do that myself.
Holy Christ. Legislators might need to actually legislate. And if they deadlock? Well, there will be new elections for the House and Senate and maybe by then we can send in candidates who will work together instead of narrowly following party lines. The Plain Language and Single Subject Bill clause in the Reboot Amendment already pretty much kill the incentives to stay in office forever and the incentives to go join a lobbying group since lobbyists won’t be able to keep writing the laws to advantage themselves so I imagine there will be a pretty good turnover of Congresspeople with fresh blood and ideas entering the system.
Contracts
It’s DC that is rebooting. The English Common Law framework is still. there. If you have a contract with the federal government or are part of an agency that is going away, then I suggest you start preparing for that since this amendment is deliberately designed to ward against all the current swamp tactics of injunctions and lawsuits. Maybe have new contracts ready to be signed in the first week post-Reboot. If your agency is going the way of the dodo, then consider starting a new business, taking your knowledge and applying it elsewhere, or whatever. Layoffs happen in the private sector all the time and the world doesn’t come to a crashing halt.
Patents, trademarks, copyrights
Well, the US Patent Office will probably need to staff up big time because all of the currently active patents, trademarks, and copyrights will need to be resubmitted for a fresh 15 year term. Maybe if your job in the IRS or whatever is gone, you could become a patent clerk instead. Who knows? While working at the Patent Office, you might get bored and figure out the Theory of Everything like how Einstein figured out Relativity.
FBI/CIA/DHS/TSA
Congress can either re-authorize them or build new agencies. They can also finally build in better checks and balances and oversight for these agencies and the periodic 100 year reset keeps them from building back up the same kludge that currently plagues them. I would suggest going back to the FBI handling only federal and interstate crimes and the CIA focusing on figuring out who is trying to spy on us while they spy on others who are not American. I’d also like to see some kind of language forbidding them from getting information they would not legally be allowed to get themselves on Americans at home or abroad from other nations’ intelligence agencies.
And the FAA/ATC?
Why, again, is this a federal issue? If it has to be, why not make it part of the military or civil service? I mean, I understand that the Air Force is pretty damned good at not having planes crash into each other. Also, as AI and automation gets better, wouldn’t it be a good idea to maybe start transitioning to something that isn’t going to have a nervous breakdown, develop a drinking or drug problem, or encounter other health issues from the stress?
I mean, we’re already on the verge of driverless cars being a thing. I don’t see pilotless airplanes being too much further behind. Maybe this would be a good time to start considering what else you can do, just like all the bureaucrats and swamp monsters who are going to be joining the lines of people looking for new jobs or starting new businesses.
In short: each state, each person, and each member of Congress should take the transition period between the amendment being ratified and it kicking in to begin preparing so they can hit the floor running on Day One. Yes, it means working together. Yes, it means compromising. Yes, it means actually doing something other than bloviating for rage-bait.
Holy. Christ. How did it get so bad that y’all are all turning and demanding that a trucker dealing with 55+mph winds rocking her rig figure it out alone and spoonfeed y’all the answers? You have brains. Use them, for crying out loud!
Ooh… that makes me want to go listen to the classic “For Crying Out Loud” by Meat Loaf. So I think I’ll go do that before I descend into further profanity and invective.
— G.K.