“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
For those of the readership who recently have arrived from another world, the above quote is the opening paragraph of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Your attention is called to it because We the People of the U. S. of A. require a new declaration. We the People no longer have a government of the people, for the people, and by the people, and we must re-establish the same with all deliberate speed.
The course of human events in the present instance occurred from 03 November, 2020 to 06 January. The old president who was defeated for re-election, refused to face the facts and called upon his loyal followers to right the alleged wrong. Said loyal followers subsequently gathered in Washington, D. C., and, at their leader’s command, marched to the Capitol building to seek restitution. Chaos took center stage, vandalism and looting occurred, injury and death occurred, as the loyalists sought those responsible for the so-called “fraudulent” election. Peace eventually restored, and the way for the new president to claim his victory was cleared.
The event was made possible, however, by a government gone horribly wrong. Therefore, changes must be made to our governing document, the U. S. Constitution, in order to prevent future such events from occurring.
Our first president, George Washington, warned us against factionalism, but he failed to understand the human psyche. Not everyone thinks alike, and so factionalism is inevitable. We have a dysfunctional two-party system whereby each spends its waking hours seeking and retaining political domination, to the detriment of the will of We the People. Solution: Amend Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution by establishing a parliamentary system of the sort found in Europe. Factionalism will never disappear, but it can be re-formed to reflect different points of view and to promote power-sharing amongst the several factions.
The Founding Fathers created a Senate to balance “states’ rights” against the House of Representatives, because they didn’t trust We the People to make the right decisions in all cases. Consequently, the upper chamber has served as a brake on necessary legislation. Solution: Amend Article I, Section 3, by eliminating the Senate all together, and allow the lower chamber to function as it was meant to function. Additionally, in the matters of budgets and appropriations, such legislation ought to be presented to We the People in the form of a public referendum; it will give taxpayers a say in how their taxes are spent.
The Electoral College was set up as another defense against the popular vote. In times past, it has been seriously misused. The College reflects the popular vote of each state to the detriment of the national popular vote. Twice in this century, the national vote has been overturned by the College vote. Solution: Repeal Article 2, Section 1, to eliminate the College and allowing direct election of president and vice president.
The Founders never envisioned politics as a career. Instead, they believed a citizen who desired to hold public office should serve for a short period of time and then retire to private life. Again, failure to understand the human psyche resulted in a system whereby a politician attempts to stay in office as long as (s)he can and spends as much time seeking re-election as (s)he does in attending to We the People’s business. The amount of money involved in these activities produces corruption on a grand scale. Solution: Amend Article I, Section 2, paragraph 1 and Article 1, Section 3, paragraph 1 to establish term limits for all elected officials, the current two terms for president and vice president, six terms for representatives, and one six-year term for senators (until the Senate is abolished).
The Founders abhorred standing armies, because they easily could become agents of oppression. Therefore, they opted to create a citizen militia which could be called up whenever an emergency arose and disbanded when the emergency was resolved. That idea fizzled as well; we now have both a militia (the National Guard) and a standing army, and they both have been agents of repression. The Second Amendment to the Constitution was supposed to have authorized the creation of a citizen militia, but it has been deliberately misinterpreted as an excuse to acquire personal arsenals (mostly in the hands of so-called “militias” which are no more than domestic terrorists). Solution: Repeal the Second, reform the National Guard, disband the U. S. Army and Air Force, and rely on the U. S. Navy and U. S. Marine Corps to protect our country against foreign enemies.
Lastly, the U. S. Supreme Court handed down a most egregious ruling a few years ago in “Citizens United,” allowing wealthy individuals and corporations to donate unlimited amounts of cash to candidates for public office. Money for ever has been a corrupting influence, and candidates spend as much time seeking contributions as they do attending to We the People’s business. Solution: Overturn “Citizens United,” place solid limits on campaign funding and/or provide a set amount of Federal funds for each candidate and prohibit him/her from accepting money from private sources, and designate a set amount of free air time on television and radio for each candidate.
All of the above items will require substantial alterations to the U.S. Constitution. But the changes are necessary if we are to restore the Noble Experiment of a government of the people, for the people, and by the people.
Just a thought.