As we looked at what was wrong with democracy, with respect to
America's Republic I thought it might be nice to look at ways to fix it.
So here is part one in this series.
Fix it: First and foremost let us not say cut things, and
the usual methods. Instead I will discuss methods to change our democracy
and explain the context on how they will help do that. One of those first
methods is to eliminate the direct election of Senators as prescribed by the
17th Amendment of the United States Constitution. You may be thinking
that this runs counter to the idea of democracy. That by not being able
to choose your senators via elections defeats the purpose of a democracy.
However, these individual senators abide by mob rule. They will do
anything to please the populace that elects them even if it means creating
chaos in the country. These people depend not only on your vote, but
special interest groups (lobbyists) to maintain power as it takes money to run
an election. However, going back to the system that had Senators chosen
by State legislatures with the ability to recall them when necessary removes lobbyist’s
power. The reason being is the fact that the Senators no longer have the
power of the vote as the legislatures will then tell them how to vote (those
legislators represent us). They, as they were intended, were meant to
vote in line with what the State legislatures wanted and was in effect a check
to prevent the Federal government from gathering too much power and usurping
the State's powers under the 10th Amendment. So no more overbearing
federal government overstepping their bounds and less lobbying.
Likewise, we want the same to be said for
the House of Representatives. While the Senators go back to being
appointed, the people who are actually meant to represent us in the Federal
government cause similar problems due to lobbying and corruption. So the
solution that I think works best is to extend their terms to three years in
office as opposed to the current two. Yes, we let them stay in office an
additional year, but they will be limited to a maximum of two terms and those
terms in office cannot be consecutive. So why is this better?
Simple, for one lobbyists will have a harder time manipulating
Representatives in the long run due to the limited number of terms allowed and
the fact that it makes it harder for incumbents (the guys running for office
again after already having served) to win elections due to them not being able
to hold consecutive terms. Therefor lobbyists will have to offer short
term bribes that have less impact on the United States economy and less likely
to be as corrupting as well. The reason lobbyists are so effective is due
to the sheer number of years some of these congressmen and senators serve in
office, but limiting the number of years or removing the reins of power helps
to fix that. At the same time this three year term is set up to insures
1/3 of the House of Representatives is being elected each year. This
means higher turnover and thus fresh blood constantly coming into office while
acting as a check against a popular president gone bad. Think for a
moment. People did not like where President Obama was going with his
first term in office and so we had to wait two years to create a counter
balance with the other political party (Republicans). But with 1/3 being
elected per year, the power balance shifts yearly with popular support for a
good President ushering in more people who think like him/her and unpopular
support reducing the President's power by removing his likeminded party members
from Congress. It is another check and balance on the system.
Conclusion: Both of these solutions have to go
together. They cannot be separated for without the Senators going back to
representing the freedom of the States and the individual people in them, then
the entire change over for term limits in the House of Representatives becomes
an outlet for popular support of the President and thus creates a mob rule
scenario. The Senate is meant to be a check on the House of
Representatives to prevent mob rule, not support it by maintaining the current
situation with the direct election of senators. Get it now? I hope
so, or you can always ask me questions via google here or my Facebook page
which is under my real name. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the read.
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