The Vote with your Wallet Act
Along with a drastic simplication of the tax code down to a post card, there would be a series or one little check box on a post card that asks:
- Would you like to fund non-essential services or get your money back?
- Which non-essential services would you like to fund (followed by a series of check boxes or link to a website)?
- Would you like to allocate specific percentages of your money to specific non-essential programs (followed by a series of boxes or link to a website)?
Non-essential would be defined as any federal program that is based upon a loose construction of the general welfare clause, the interstate commerce clause, and other clauses that have been used to drastically expand the federal government, contrary to the original concept of specific and limited set of powers. For example, all military actions outside of this country, except during a formally declared war, would be considered non-essential also. I think you get the gist.
This way - all the people who complain about spending too much money on the military industrial complex would have a say, and those that believe we don't spend enough money on the military industrial complex would have a say. Those that want to let a large government bureaucracy handle their charitable donations can do so also. Those that would rather spend that money on charity directly, can do so. People can vote directly with their wallets - perhaps one of the most meaningful forms of political expression.
Of course, we'd have to keep an eye on what is placed in the check boxes. I bet people would be quickly clamoring for control over the exact text, priority, etc. Then in 50 years time, we'd be stuck with another corrupted mess as explained in the Constitution for the Common Man