PART seven, 2024 Campaign Platform
The PART ONE essay provided a concept of operations for establishing lasting world peace.
PART TWO provided for a simple fix to the illegal immigration crisis.
PART THREE provided a concept that will fix education and race relations.
PART FOUR defined how to eliminate voter fraud.
PART FIVE Transform the Executive Branch of Government and cut spending.
PART SIX Transform Congress and Cut Spending.
There are ten current crises that can and should be part of the 2024 Campaign Platform but the Republican National Committee has not published a Platform since 2016 and has no intention of doing so until at least July of this year. Too late, we needed it yesterday!
PART SEVEN: TERMS AND TURM LIMITS:
CHANGE THE LENGTH OF EACH TERM, LIMIT THE NUMBER OF TERMS AND CHANGE AMERICA FOR THE BETTER:
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.
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 midterm election results. Sad but true.
The unfortunate nature of politicians is that the next election is their top priority and everything else is a distant second. We need to change the environment and hopefully it might change their behavior.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
Electing 435 U.S. Representatives to the House every two years is outdated and unnecessary.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 can become beholden to the big donors and lobbyists; perhaps not in the nation’s best interest.
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.
THE PRESIDENCY:
Then there is the presidency; four-year terms have a number of disadvantages. One, our government is woefully deficient at long-term strategic planning and too many of the serious issues facing a president need a longer-range look than four years can provide.
Secondly, a newly elected president has the first year to get his legislative agenda worked. The second year is too often consumed with keeping or getting a majority in the House and Senate during the mid-term elections. Depending on the midterm election outcome, the president’s third year may or may not be productive. The fourth year is a washout. The president is either put in a lame-duck nonproductive status or he/she becomes a part-time president and a nearly full-time candidate running for reelection. None of this is good news.
A one-time six-year term as president would wipe away most of the disadvantages of the four-year term.
TERM LIMITS
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 power-hungry they can 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.
SUPRENE COURT
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.
In recent decades the average years justices have served on the Supreme Court is around 25 years. Are they ALL 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. In recent years the average age at appointment has been about 52 years, retirement at about age 72 seems very reasonable.
CONCLUSIONS:
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 for the three branches of government and we-the-people.
BOTTOM LINE:
Change or die; the current terms and lack of limits are not good for today’s America.
If you know someone running for national office right now, please send them a copy of this Campaign Platform proposal. Thank you.
Marvin L. Covault, Lt Gen US Army, retired, is the author of two books, Vision to Execution and Fix the Systems, Transform America as well as the author of a blog, WeThePeopleSpeaking.com