[IMPACT]
- A loud and audacious shot across the bow of our stagnant political system
- An opportunity to bring widespread media attention to Blockchain technology, DAOs, and Cardano specifically.
- Ultimately a First Principles solution to a lingering but solvable problem.
Modeling this DAO on the ConstitutionDAO project, I propose to build an autonomous fundraising mechanism to finance a 50 state campaign of state legislatures to trigger the Article V convention for amendment proposals.
Article V of the United States Constitution outlines basic procedures for constitutional amendment.
* Congress may submit a proposed constitutional amendment to the states, if the proposed amendment language is approved by a two-thirds vote of both houses.
* Congress must call a convention for proposing amendments upon application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states (i.e., 34 of 50 states).
* Amendments proposed by Congress or convention become valid only when ratified by the legislatures of, or conventions in, three-fourths of the states (i.e., 38 of 50 states).
At first glance, daunting. But after further review we noticed something…
The Convention Method of Amendment has never been successful.
However after months of researching the failed attempts, an obvious pattern emerged.
There were 2 primary reasons for the majority of the failed attempts.
1. Lack of uniformity in the application process.
2. States pushing for fringe, partisan, or over-localized issues.
Initiating the application process through a DAO not only eliminates these 2 issues, but creates a third advantage.
<u>How this project seeks to tackle the two major stumbling blocks.</u>
1. Lack of uniformity in the application process.
The wording of the Amendment application is very important and will be identical across all 50 states. Wording is so important that part of the initial funds will go to bringing in a group of Constitutional lawyers to ensure that the wording and structure are up to legal scrutiny.
The major uniformity issues in the past were that multiple states would have substantially the same goals but introduce separate proposals at separate times, with different wording, thus making it impossible to cross the two-thirds threshold.
Our DAO avoids this by starting with one agreed upon proposal and then going to all 50 state legislatures.
2. States pushing for fringe, partisan, or over-localized issues.
Rather than push a partisan or fringe issue, term limits currently enjoy 82% popularity rate among all sides of the political spectrum.
3. Bonus Advantage
A DAO, through its governance and decentralized nature can learn as it goes. A legislative win in one state can serve as guidance and a blueprint to how to tackle unforeseen issues in another state.
Ultimately, over time, we will have a set of best practices for dealing with state legislatures that will continually improve as we move forward.
Worst Case Scenario: If the DAO is not successful in its primary goal (term limits), the attention that will be brought to the Cardano blockchain will serve as a strong consolation prize.
The DAO will also leave behind a blueprint for others to pickup on on the future.
But make no mistake about it, I am fully invested in not only making this DAO an overwhelming success but shaking up our political system.
[FEASIBILITY]
I have already talked to several Constitutional lawyers and could have the document ready in 2 weeks
Getting the DAO up and running will take no more than 3 weeks.
Total of 5 weeks after funding, we will be up and running
Lawyer Fees $3,500
Technical Team $18,000 (includes DAO & Website)
Marketing & Promotion $35,000 (includes video & content creation)
$3,500 miscellaneous (I have gotten varying quotes on legal fees and feel I need a cushion)
I’ve been talking to a team who has already built several DAOs, but without funding haven’t solidified anything.
I would also be open members of the Cardano community to get involved!
[AUDITABILITY]
Within 5 weeks of funding the DAO should be up and running. No question.
Success will come from marketing and promotion and that’s why much of the budges tied to that.
The Cardano community could also be instrumental in bring awareness to this project.
Entirely new.
