The Constitution Game

A constitution does two things: it establishes the structure of a government, and it establishes some of the overarching principles the government is to operate by. Constitutionalism is important to principled government because it enforces governance by consistent principles over time.

Here's a game I play a lot:
If a new country were being founded and you had some say in shaping it's constitution, what features would it have?

The easiest way for me is to think of changes to the American constitution. I have a lot, but here are a few:

1) I would replace the single executive with a small executive council. I think an executive council would limit the policy setting influence the president currently has by limiting the charismatic influence the executive has.

2) I would make it easier to challenge the constitutionality of legislation and executive policy. Specifically, I like the mechanism where a small minority of legislators can send any bill, passed or unpassed, for constitutional review.

3) I would establish a rule against government keeping keeping secrets about policy. The recent scandal about extraordinary rendition was the event that led me to come up with this. Government should be allowed technical secrets, such as where exactly they rend prisoners to, when the situation demands it, but government should not be allowed policy secrets, like that the government rends prisoners to different countries in the first place.

What are yours?