The United States Constitution has been amended just 27 times. Recently, some lawmakers have proposed several amendments, including a balanced budget amendment and repealing a portion of the 14th Amendment.

Rather than cut funding for programs, I propose that Congress pass a constitutional amendment that would generate revenue. The amendment would replace the death penalty and improve upon the current state and federal penal systems by implementing full-fledged gladiator-style arena battles.

The Department of Justice spent over $6 billion on the federal prison system in 2010 and billions more on state prisons, according to Whitehouse.gov. As overcrowding in state and federal prisons gets worse year after year, the government will have to allocate more and more money to the penal system, cutting funding for other vital programs and institutions.

In this modern gladiator system, inmates who would have previously received the death penalty or an expensive life sentence without parole would instead train as gladiators. All other prisoners would be given the opportunity to volunteer as participants in gladiator combat in exchange for lesser sentences. In this way, the dregs of society would become financially beneficial instead of burdensome.

To increase revenue for the budget, the Gladiator Amendment would allow the government to charge public admission to watch inmates engage in glorious mortal combat. This amendment would also have provisions allowing the government to engage in other revenue-generating enterprises such as concessions, merchandising and advertising, much like at any other sporting event. The gladiator-style penal system would eventually make more money than it would expend, and any profit generated could be used to fund the budget.

Though we now consider the gladiatorial games of the Romans barbaric, we should not forget that many people also consider modern-day capital punishment just as barbaric. As long as the government insists on enforcing the death penalty, I believe that we would only benefit from ridding the budget of its substantial expenditures by turning it into a profitable venture. I affirm — with all sincerity — that it is only for the public good of my country that I implore Congress to pass such an amendment.