January 20, 2017 while the nation watched the inauguration of President Trump, I recall one of the talking heads, filling up some air time during the parade, launching into a diatribe about what President Trump needed to do to keep from losing the House and/or Senate majorities during the 2018 midterms. The prognostications have been going on, non-stop, since that day.
So what? The so what of it all is that every day we see national issues, security issues, economic issues, crisis issues that are all tainted, delayed and debated in light of what it will “mean for the midterms”. The debate is too often not about what is best, or in some cases, what is absolutely necessary for the nation, but rather how it will impact the November, 2018 election results. Sad but true.
The unfortunate nature of politicians is that the next election is their top priority and everything else, no matter how important to the nation, is a distant second. US Representatives and Senators are arguably the most self-serving group of people in this nation and they are unlikely to change of their own accord. To protect the nation from our politicians we need to change the environment and hopefully it might change their behavior.
Electing 435 US Representatives to the House every two years is outdated and unnecessary. Their collective campaigns cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It is an unfortunate fact of life that a huge amount of the Representatives’ term in office is spent raising money and campaigning for reelection. Raising money has its own huge drawback in that politicians become beholden to the big donors and lobbyists, perhaps at the peril of the nation.
The advantages of a four-year term for Representatives are so obvious and make so much sense, that it should become a priority to get it changed. One would think the Representatives themselves would be wholeheartedly in favor of a four-year term.
And while that amendment to the Constitution is working, why not take on the issue of term limits. There is something about the Potomac water; the more of it a politician drinks the more incoherent and power-hungry they become. Four terms, 16 years, for Representatives and three terms, 18 years, for Senators seems about right. There is an old saying that applies to organizations, “change or die”. Change and new blood for Congress can only be a positive thing because the current system, and the politicians running it. are not serving the nation well.
And while we are at it, the Supreme Court could do with a little update. It seems so untoward that millions of Americans and half the politicians sit around hoping some eighty-year old Justice of the Supreme Court will become too infirmed to continue serving or even die in order for a sitting President to “stack the court.”
Because the Supreme Court has become so politicized, there is extreme pressure for some justices to remain on the bench no matter their age, health, personal desire or capacity to do the job required of them. “Appointed for life” is just not the best answer.
The average age of the three oldest justices, Thomas, Ginsburg and Breyer. is 78 years and they have served on the Supreme Court an average of over 25 years. Are they absolutely in their prime? One could argue not. We can do better than that? One would think so.
The Supreme Court is too important to become a political football. It is not difficult to fix this and thereby turn the court over periodically by limiting the term of office to twenty years. Given that the average age of the current 8-judge court, at the time they were appointed, was about 52 years, retirement at about age 72 seems very reasonable.
Here is a simple solution. Change the Constitution and set in motion a system wherein the longest serving Justices (Thomas 27 years, Ginsburg 25 and Breyer 24) will mandatorily be retired in 2019, 2021 and 2023 respectively. It follows then that Chief Justice Roberts would reach the 20-year retirement mark in 2025, Alito in 2027, Sotomayor 2029, Kagan 2030 and Gorsuch 2037.
With Presidential elections in 2020, 2024 etc., Presidents will routinely get a shot at picking new Justices.
Why do this? The founding fathers were perhaps the greatest gathering of minds at any time in world history. But they did not have a crystal ball and could not get it all right. That is why there are 27 amendments to the Constitution. It is not difficult to build a case for a couple more. It all comes down to value added to the organization.
Lieutenant General, US Army retired, Marvin L. Covault is the author of Vision to Execution, a book for leaders.