Launch Day “Planks”
As of the date of the Humane Party’s launch on Earth Day of 2009,1 the HP had established several “planks” of its platform with respect to both public policy and internal policy. This article discusses the four amendments to the U.S. Constitution that were part of that initial platform.
These four proposed amendments have come to be collectively referred to as the Humane Party’s “Charter Amendments,” having existed as part of the HP’s policy and legislative agenda from the get-go. The individual amendments have come to be titled:
- Abolition Amendment
- Equal Rights Amendment II (“ERA2”)
- Democracy Amendment
- Fiscal Responsibility Amendment
The process of drafting the final text of these amendments—as well as finalizing the first written draft of the HP platform itself—took several years. Quick overviews of each of these proposed Constitutional amendments appear below.
Non-Partisan Movement
Note that, while the Humane Party necessarily led the process of drafting these amendments, the movement supporting passage and ratification of these amendments per the Constitutional amendment process in Article V is non-partisan. Anyone can—and should!—support ratification of these amendments, regardless of personal background, party affiliation, or political experience.
Abolition Amendment
The Abolition Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. Upon ratification, the Abolition Amendment will abolish the property status of all animals—making them rights-bearing persons with legal standing—within the jurisdiction of the United States of America, thereby putting an immediate end to the meat, dairy, egg, fur, vivisection, rodeo, horse-racing, and other slavery- and killing-based industries, as well as the institution of slavery itself.
The Abolition Amendment, of which the first section is modeled in part on the 13th Amendment and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, also eliminates the 13th Amendment exception for slavery as punishment. The Abolition Amendment further provides mechanisms for enforcing the rights of animals in court as well, establishes the applicability of the writ of habeas corpus to animals, and sets sentience-based and nervous-system-based guardrails on any updates to the definition of animal. State constitutions can also be amended to include a version of the Abolition Amendment specific to the given state.
After several rounds of public commentary, the final text of the Abolition Amendment was published on Abolition Day (Dec. 6), 2016.2
Equal Rights Amendment II (“ERA2”)
The Equal Rights Amendment II (“ERA2”) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. Upon ratification, ERA2 guarantees equality under U.S. federal and state law regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender, or choice of spouse or partner. State constitutions can also be amended to include a version of the Equal Rights Amendment II specific to the given state.
The final text of the Equal Rights Amendment II was published in 2015.
Democracy Amendment
The Democracy Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. Upon ratification of the Democracy Amendment, the electoral college system currently used to select the U.S. President will be replaced with democratic election of the President.
The final text of the Democracy Amendment was published in 2015.
Fiscal Responsibility Amendment
The Fiscal Responsibility Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. Upon ratification, the Fiscal Responsibility Amendment will require the federal budget to be balanced, subject to narrowly tailored exceptions. State constitutions can also be amended to include a version of the Fiscal Responsibility Amendment specific to the given state.
Note that the text for this proposed amendment has not yet been put into final form as of the date of this writing. Since various balanced-budget amendments have previously been drafted by other parties, the HP has simply published, in Section 1 of the platform, the party’s specific commitment to such an amendment and will wait until a later date to settle upon final language.
Looking Ahead
Each of the Humane Party’s four Charter Amendments, as well as other parts of the Humane Party platform, will be discussed in more detail in future articles. Activists who recognize in themselves a personal wish to see one or more of these amendments successfully ratified as part of the U.S. Constitution are invited to contact the Humane Party and indicate your interest. The movement needs you today!
~ Shelley Harrison
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1 – The Humane Party’s birthday is, accordingly, celebrated annually on Earth Day (April 22), which is also the Humane Party’s Platform Day, the date on which it publishes its updated platform.
2 – Abolition Day is celebrated annually on December 6. The Humane Party launched this celebration on Dec. 6, 2015, the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment.
The Humane Herald 
