What I'd Do Differently
In pondering the path of the United States given the current woeful state of our federal government, with an incompetent self-aggrandizing individual occupying the Oval Office; with men and women who belong to his alleged political party in control of both chambers of the Congress, yet lacking the moral courage to speak out against his actions...I thought, how could the system we have in place been structured differently to prevent this perfect storm of political disaster.
While these proposed changes will never happen, one can dream on a Saturday afternoon as the Coward-in-Chief and his heel spurs dumps bad decisions en masse under the cover of a major hurricane. So here goes.
The changes to our Constitution that limited a president to two terms did not go far enough. We're not even one full year into the Trump administration and he is already running for reelection. That was part of the problem during the last 15 months or so of every single president who has served two elected terms since Ronald Reagan was first elected. A president's attention should not be divided between executing the duties of their office while seeking to be reelected to that office.
A president should be elected to one six year term in office. That eliminates the need to pander to the public in order to seek reelection and frees that person to act as they see fit without regard to having one last election facing them. Unless of course they are Gene Hackman in a bad movie and after serving two terms as President they are going to seek the office of Mayor of Mooseport.
If the vice-president, a senator or a member of the House wants to run for a different office, they should be required to resign their current office. Members of the Senate campaigning for the presidency or as part of a party's ticket as the nominee for the vice-presidency are not properly representing those people who elected them when they are on the campaign trail.
CNN reports that back in 2007, then Senator Obama missed 80% of the votes in the Senate in September and October. Joe Biden missed 67% of the votes during the same period. The job of an elected official is to represent their constituents, not to run for a different office.
I'd like to see election of members of the House held only every four years, with 50% of the House standing for reelection during each cycle. Even with the advantage incumbents have during their reelection bids, the influence of money in elections has every single member of the House seeking reelection almost the moment after being sworn in for their current term.
These things won't come to pass, but it was fun to dream if only for a few moments.
* * *
As reports of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey in Texas continue to pour in, the state's two U.S. Senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are already calling on the state's governor to expedite federal aid for their state. The same kind of aid that both voted against giving to New York and New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy.
Senator Cruz says he voted against the aid package back then because it was filled with pork-barrel spending. The fact is, he was correct that it was. Our elected leadership uses such legislation to spend on both needed things and unneeded things, under the cover of providing assistance to those who need it most.
Wonder what would happen if an aid package were to be introduced into the House that was limited solely to providing assistance in those areas declared disaster areas, and amendments to the legislation that would spend money elsewhere would be prohibited?
Never happen, I know.
* * *
While these proposed changes will never happen, one can dream on a Saturday afternoon as the Coward-in-Chief and his heel spurs dumps bad decisions en masse under the cover of a major hurricane. So here goes.
The changes to our Constitution that limited a president to two terms did not go far enough. We're not even one full year into the Trump administration and he is already running for reelection. That was part of the problem during the last 15 months or so of every single president who has served two elected terms since Ronald Reagan was first elected. A president's attention should not be divided between executing the duties of their office while seeking to be reelected to that office.
A president should be elected to one six year term in office. That eliminates the need to pander to the public in order to seek reelection and frees that person to act as they see fit without regard to having one last election facing them. Unless of course they are Gene Hackman in a bad movie and after serving two terms as President they are going to seek the office of Mayor of Mooseport.
If the vice-president, a senator or a member of the House wants to run for a different office, they should be required to resign their current office. Members of the Senate campaigning for the presidency or as part of a party's ticket as the nominee for the vice-presidency are not properly representing those people who elected them when they are on the campaign trail.
CNN reports that back in 2007, then Senator Obama missed 80% of the votes in the Senate in September and October. Joe Biden missed 67% of the votes during the same period. The job of an elected official is to represent their constituents, not to run for a different office.
I'd like to see election of members of the House held only every four years, with 50% of the House standing for reelection during each cycle. Even with the advantage incumbents have during their reelection bids, the influence of money in elections has every single member of the House seeking reelection almost the moment after being sworn in for their current term.
These things won't come to pass, but it was fun to dream if only for a few moments.
* * *
As reports of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey in Texas continue to pour in, the state's two U.S. Senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are already calling on the state's governor to expedite federal aid for their state. The same kind of aid that both voted against giving to New York and New Jersey after Superstorm Sandy.
Senator Cruz says he voted against the aid package back then because it was filled with pork-barrel spending. The fact is, he was correct that it was. Our elected leadership uses such legislation to spend on both needed things and unneeded things, under the cover of providing assistance to those who need it most.
Wonder what would happen if an aid package were to be introduced into the House that was limited solely to providing assistance in those areas declared disaster areas, and amendments to the legislation that would spend money elsewhere would be prohibited?
Never happen, I know.
* * *
posted by me at 7:06 AM
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