Oh, If The Founders Only Knew

Whenever I watch presidential candidates debasing themselves to try to get votes, I can’t help but think that the presidency isn’t what it was. Slowly, ever so slowly (well, quicker in the past seven years, but mostly it’s slowly), the office of the president has become less executive and more strongman. Congress needs to grow a pair and get some of its constitutional power back.

The basic problem is that the person who inhabits the oval office, many of their staff, and frankly too many of the American people, think the president has these broad powers that allow them to “run” the country and whatnot. That’s not what the job is supposed to be. The president and congress are meant to do this dance: the president from time-to-time tells Congress that some aspect of the nation is in need of attention (i.e. the state of the union), and then congress (as representatives of the people) acts to build a legal and financial framework to deal with the president’s request. It’s not the president’s job to draw up detailed budget requests, and it certainly isn’t in the president’s purview to prosecute military activities without direction to do so by Congress.

Yeah, that declaration of war thing. Every president in my lifetime, and most since World War II, chafe at the thought that the “Commander in Chief” has to ask mommy for permission to play with his toys. Well…that’s exactly how it’s supposed to be. Unless an immediate (and I’m thinking days and no more than a week) military response is necessary, then there’s more than enough time in our day and age to not only ask Congress, but even to recall them back to Washington, if necessary. The idea was that no one person should be able to recklessly engage our country in a war. That’s the act of a monarch, not a president.

Thing is, congressional rules have gradually been implemented (usually to enhance or punish the current party in power) that have had the effect of ceding Congress’ power to the president. They get bullied and sullied, not just from up Pennsylvania Avenue, but within the chambers on Capitol Hill. They are more interested in making re-election points than with governing.

I also blame the Supreme Court, to a degree, because they more often than not bow out of having to judge any disagreement between the other two branches. Cowards.

What can be done to make things better? Well, we could elect as president people more interested in governing than ruling. Here’s the deal: to most of the world we are nothing more than bullies. The U.S. is rarely not engaged in a major war. That’s what we do; that’s what we’ve done for all of our history: we wage war. I think it’s time we turn our attention to other methods, if only to improve our reputation.

Congress needs to be less interested in winners and losers than in posterity. I’d like to see term limits so that members could not serve for more than six years in the House and twelve years in the Senate (no more than fourteen years combined in both houses). These jobs are supposed to be public service, and as such should be no more temporary than the president’s term.

The rules of Congress need to change a bit. Instead of having the rules committee (always run by the party in power) getting to “schedule” everything that makes it to the floor for a vote, I think every member should periodically get to submit a bill for a vote without having to go through the rules committee…say one every three months in the House and one every two months in the Senate.

The online version (at least) of the U.S. Code should be updated immediately upon a bill being signed into law. Also, an online version of any section of the U.S. Code modified by a pending bill should be available in its altered form with proofing marks showing the changes. (What? I hear you say.) I’m one of those people who looks at the text of pending legislation. It’s not at all easy as much of it is: “change the ‘a’ in section 2 paragraph 1 to ‘the'” and stuff like that. Unless you have the original text as reference to draw from (and who does, really) it’s very inconvenient to know what the heck Congress is doing.

The president should NOT ever have a line-item veto. Given some of the presidents we have had, that’s just a recipe for mischief (at best). I’d rather see congressional rules changed to restrict amendments to a bill to only those that directly relate to the bill. Other requests should be subject to separate votes on the merits. Or…each state can submit an omnibus bill to cover the projects for their state alone. This doesn’t need an amendment to expand presidential powers, just a rules change so that congress stops being so big of a schmuck all the time.

I think that once elected and serving in Congress or the White House, the party of the elected becomes “incumbent”…thus everyone at this high level of government is of the same party and can only campaign with public funds.

Presidential campaigns, now long and arduous affairs, need to be managed. From September to election day: every serious candidate gets a fixed number of national ads, a set number of ads to be used in local markets, and two pre-scheduled stops in every congressional district in the nation (from which, logistically, they would have to cherry-pick). That’s it. No more PAC money. No more public vs private money. No more endless campaigns. It’s all from the national election war chest. An even playing field. No more buying of elections.

Voting machines need to be as foolproof as possible. Optical scanning — which allows both electronic tallying as well as a hard-copy for recounts — is the only current method that makes sense. It is time-tested and relatively simple. Also…every (and I do mean EVERY) ballot box must have two different methods locked within that allow tracking of the ballot box. No more of election officials putting them somewhere where they’ll be “safe” and then “forgetting” where they are. Nope…we will be able to always track them, and if they go astray, we will have a better shot at finding the doers of the deed.

…and I’m veering from my point. Sorry.

We need Congress and the President to start behaving like they’ve actually read the Constitution. It’s time that our skiff, which has been kicked in the ribs a lot as of late and has sprung some serious leaks, is righted and patched up. I’m not seeking to end gridlock in Washington. That gridlock was intentionally designed into the system lest government move capriciously. I simply want the branches to assume those powers that they were given.

There are some, often described as being on the “right”, that claim that it would reduce the power of the presidency and thus weaken our image around the world. Seriously? And having a megalomaniacal administration for the past eight years has boosted our image? Really? No…we claim to be a nation of laws, but until the highest members of our government start abiding by OUR OWN LAWS, we have no credibility anywhere, at home or abroad.

I think the time has come to return to the roots of our government. Our founders weren’t paragons, but I think they did a better job over 220 years ago than any similar group of people I can think of in the modern world would today. Maybe, instead of constantly rushing to be this shining beacon, it’s time that we pause for a moment and look at our lamp to see if it has sufficient oil and that the wick isn’t getting short. If either be the case, then we should take the time to remedy that flaw lest we find ourselves stumbling around in the dark.