U.S. Constitution, Fortieth Amendment

Entitled the "Consent of the Governed Amendment," proposing an amendment relative to insuring that the majority of citizens of the United States shall live under a government which they hath consented to...

SECTION 3

Every person elected to, or employed by, the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the United States government shall live, with their immediate family, within the confines of New Washington, DC. Housing in the form of double wide trailers shall be provided to all members of the bureaucracy; custom homes shall be built for all elected officials, and the judiciary.

SECTION 4

Located immediately inside the gate of New Washington DC, shall be a statue of Thomas Jefferson, featuring the following inscription at its base:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."

There shall be no other statue, monument, or memorial, nor any museum,archive, or other collection of artwork, antiquities or valuables, located within the confines of New Washington DC.

SECTION 5

Each year, on the night before Independence Day, the elected officials and employees of the government of the United States of America, along with their immediate families, shall be locked inside New Washington DC, and the atomic bomb atop the New Capitol shall be armed and readied for detonation.

On Independence Day, an election shall be held, open to the registered voters of the several States, but not to any inhabitant of New Washington, DC. There shall be only one question placed on the ballot, expressed as follows:

[ ] For the abolition of the federal government of the United States

[ ] Against the abolition of the federal government of the United States

SECTION 6

The balloting shall be tabulated using paper ballots, and the results certified and publicly proclaimed before 11:30 PM, Pacific Time. If a simple majority of the electorate shall vote "for the abolition of the federal government of the United States," then no later than one minute before midnight, the atomic device shall be detonated. Otherwise, the bomb shall be disarmed, and the gate of New Washington DC shall be opened, allowing its inhabitants to leave if they so desire.