GATE - War of Two Worlds Part 2

V16 - Chapter 200 Box and Relax

"The US Congress has recently drafted a new Constitutional Amendment. Expecting to pass in a landslide, this would be the 34th Amendment passed by congress however, if passed by the States it would only be the 28th Amendment (potentially) ratified by the States.

The potential 28th Amendment is also known as the Salem Act. It will establish the law of the land regarding magic. Many considered it a spiritual successor to the 2nd Amendment which from the past decade found new life and meaning among Americans. The Amendment will be used to legalize, manage and monitor the practice of magic by the mage community in the US.

President Potts states that she is strong 2A support and believes that the people should have the right to practice magic. That every American has the right to self and national defense. That this amendment will be a spiritual extension to the 2nd Amendment. However, the President also stated that magic cannot be left unchecked because of the specialized training required for magic.

Little is known about the draft, but it is speculated that much like the Gun Control Art, all mages are required to register to the government and have specific licenses to practice their crafts. Anyone who wishes and is able to become a mage must enroll into authorized institutions like that Wiccan Institution to receive training and licencing. Each of these institutions will be in charge of teaching and enforcing such regulations in coordinates with the newly formed Bureau called the Federal Bureau of Magical Investigation (FBMI).

It is also speculated that Grand High Witch Verona Soredin will be a likely candidate for the Minister of Magic for the upcoming-established US Department of Magic. The UK government also recently drafted a similar art like the Salem Art in the form of Hogwart Art.

The overall acceptance and tolerance toward mages in the US have been good so far, with celebrities and business people like Lady Gaga, Daniel Radcliffe, Beyonce, and even Elon Musk promoting the acceptance of magic in society; however, several left and right wing hate groups have emerged. The most prominent one is the Children of Salem that are the make-up of descendants of witch-prosecutors back in the Salem Witch Trials. They advocate for the segregation of magical and non-magical people and state that witches and wizards are the banes to society and only God can have the power of magic.

The potential 28th Amendment has strong competition to become the 28th Amendment, a State backed ratification movement for their own 28th Amendment is moving through the States Legislators to repeal the 17th Amendment. While the order of these amendments are/if ratified has no meaning, if passed this will be the first time the States has successfully pushed to reform the US Constitution without Congress approval.

The motivation for this move is States wanting to regain power from the Federal government and to re energize interest in State politics. Currently, the population of a State elects both Senators to Congress. Before the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913 State Senators appointed Senators to represent State interests. The reason for the 17th Amendment ratification was to take money out of State politics as politicians bribed State Senators to be appointed and to provide more representation to the population.

Supporters of the amendment say that career politicians have become devastating to State politics and created a situation where the people only vote for the letter of a party rather than the Senator positions, which created a situation where the Senators represent neither the State or its people. A second byproduct from the 17th Amendment was that local politics has declined and that Americans no longer care about State politics because the lack of state the citizens have, that the Founding Fathers intended that the United States is a Constitutional Republic and not a pure democracy.

Opponents say that this is a setback to democracy and would reduce the voting power by the people. They say that States will look after their own interest over the people they are supposed to represent and that corruption would return in selecting Senators.