06 August 2007

In Which We Gather To Correct the Wrongs

Over at Shakesville (currently in "hurricane" mode at Shakespeare's Sister), there's an open thread on what to do now that a large chunk of the Democrats in Congress have dropped to their knees and unzipped Dumbya's fly.

My initial comment was to call for a new Constitutional Convention, and I was asked, " Fair enough, but what ideas do we bring to the convention?" These were the first few things that came to me:

  1. Re-establish the limitations on the Executive Branch (meaning, destroy the idea of a unitary executive).
  2. Reform and, hopefully, eliminate the Electoral College (vote totals are no longer carried via horse courier to Washington).
  3. Codify term limits (a total of three for Representatives and two for Senators, thereby eliminating the "professional politician"). Jefferson, Adams, and other Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, not careerists.
  4. Re-establish pre-existing Constitutional guarantees that have been usurped by the Current Occupant and his malAdministration.
  5. Alter the term of office of the President to no longer than four years and establish the concept of "no confidence" votes.
  6. Ban all private (personal and corporate) donations to political campaigns. One person, one vote - no extra clout for being wealthy.
  7. Require that media outlets provide free, equal, and limited time to all candidates during the campaign cycle.
  8. Reform the party system to eliminate the built in safeguards against the formation of viable additional parties. Democracy is not binary!
  9. Shorten the length of the election cycle. No candidate may express an intention to run for office more than one year before the election date, and may not file for office more than six months before the primary; primaries are to be held no more than two months before the general election.
Anybody got any topics to add?

Criticisms or expansions on the ones I've come up with?

Suggestions as to how we can actually make this happen?

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