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HomeNewsArchivesHere's What Should be in the V.I. Constitution

Here's What Should be in the V.I. Constitution

Dear Source:
I'm not sure why a constitution is so difficult.
We the people of the Virgin Islands decreed that all citizens of the Virgin Islands are endowed with equal rights that no person shall have greater rights than a citizen of the Virgin Islands. Each citizen shall be endowed with freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom to practice their cultural and ancestral practices, regardless of heritage, race, creed or age.
We further decree that no practice of said freedoms exists outside the structure of Virgin Islands law as unlawful.
We decree that each individual citizen of the Virgin Islands has rights to all territorial properties within the territory of the Virgin Islands, including fair usage of water and lands and all natural life within. It is a cultural right to have use of fisheries and natural resources considered as property of the Virgin Islands. All commercial usage of the property of the people of the Virgin Islands is considered to be conditional to the will of the people of the Virgin Islands, who by vote or referendum may restrict, remove or replace any existing permits or grants. Any regulating agency shall be considered as enacting the will of the people of the Virgin Islands and may not consider themselves as acting outside that domain.
We decree that primary and secondary education for children shall be considered as a right of a citizen of the Virgin Islands, that all children of our citizens may have expectation of education and that the Government of the Virgin Islands undertakes to actively ensure this right as lawful, quality, and safe.
We decree that education shall have a right to funding that supersedes pay increases for government official and elected members of the same government. We require that performance of our appointed, employed or elected officials should be paramount in our educational system and connected to its result.
We decree that the territory of the Virgin Islands may require private enterprise like industry and power generation, water production and food supplies meet requirements of the people within the Virgin Islands with no excessive burden to the people of the Virgin Islands that could be considered as excessive to similar states and territory of the United States of America. It must be demonstrated that all essential services are being delivered by those private corporations have been seen as economically sound practices.
We decree that all property in private hands by deed, grant or lease be considered as the property of the holder of that deed. Grants and leases will revert to deed of ownership for purposes of equal tax, and shall be taxed at an equal flat rate determined by land usage. No minimum tax may apply to residential lands in occupancy by the deed holder and no deed holder may be forced from that land as long as there intent is to meet the laws enacted by the government of the Virgin Islands in the name of the people of the Virgin Islands.
We decree that no land held in private hands may be taxed above or below its stated usage requirements. All lands considered as essential services held by private corporations lands may be subject to a tax easement if that easement is approved by vote or referendum of the people of the Virgin Islands, no government body, agency or individual shall have the right to set any property as being untaxed without said referendum.
We decree that all existing laws and statues of the Virgin Islands are subject to the rights and limits set forth in this document, no regulations, laws or statutes that are in conflict with above said rights may be enforced without public hearing and appeal by the citizens as individuals or as part of a group of citizens.
We decree that the use of imminent domain by the government of the Virgin Islands be considered as subject to the will of the people of the Virgin Islands, it is paramount that the rights of the individual deed holder be considered as a primary land usage of private property in the Virgin Islands, compensation for properties taken under imminent domain shall be considered as in equal value to the proposed usage of that property after the claim of for the good of or the requirements of the people of the Virgin Islands.
There should be no preamble that sets the stage for the context of the constitution, as a free people we should by right be free to interpret our constitution free from the opinions of its writers, its enactors or its elected guardians. Many issues that encumber a constitution are in conflict with many of the rights enclosed in that constitution, issues of religious preference, sexual preference, age discrimination, race and the legality of acts considered as illegal, are subject to the same scrutiny as they always have but should remain a defined part of conscious and not constitutional law. The very idea that we can afford to say who is or isn't a Virgin Islander in our constitution should remind us of the real issues here. If you live here full time and pay taxes and circulate your money here, you should be considered as a citizen of the Virgin Islands.
Now get your committee off its butt and stop trying to include way too much stuff.

Paul Vrabcak
Frederiksted

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