The Constitution Needs an Amendment

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invention_45

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The speed of information has become something unimaginable to the framers of the Constitution. Back in those days, the time constants of the feedback loops they were trying to implement were in multiple years.

Now the feedback loops are in months, and sometimes even faster. By "feedback loop" I mean the voters registering their happiness or lack thereof with the results of their previous vote by the nature of their next vote.

The time lag between the two is now too long.

Think not? Just at what happens to gasoline prices just before each national election, and then right afterwards.

Politicians now have to ass-kiss for shorter times relative to their stays in office than in the days of old.

We need more frequent elections. The Constitution needs to be amended so that the form remains the same, but the time scale speeds up.

For example, instead of six year terms, senators would have 2 year terms. Instead of 4 year terms, the president would have a 1 year term.

Stated another way, it's time the people start to micromanage the government, since politicians have shown they cannot manage it on their own.
 
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From the Antifederalist No. 63
It will generally be expedient for a man who has served four years in congress to return home, mix with the people, and reside some time with them. This will tend to reinstate him in the interests, feelings, and views similar to theirs, and thereby confirm in him the essential qualifications of a legislator. Even in point of information, it may be observed, the useful information of legislators is not acquired merely in studies in offices, and in meeting to make laws from day to day. They must learn the actual situation of the people by being among them, and when they have made laws, return home and observe how they operate. Thus occasionally to be among the people, is not only necessary to prevent or banish the callous habits and self-interested views of office in legislators, but to afford them necessary information, and to render them useful. Another valuable end is answered by it, sympathy, and the means of communication between them and their constituents, is substantially promoted. So that on every principle legislators, at certain periods, ought to live among their constituents. Some men of science are undoubtedly necessary in every legislature; but the knowledge, generally, necessary for men who make laws, is a knowledge of the common concerns, and particular circumstances of the people. In a republican government seats in the legislature are highly honorable. I believe but few do, and surely none ought to, consider them as places of profit and permanent support. Were the people always properly attentive, they would, at proper periods, call their lawmakers home, by sending others in their room. But this is not often the case; and therefore, in making constitutions, when the people are attentive, they ought cautiously to provide for those benefits, those advantageous changes in the administration of their affairs, which they are often apt to be inattentive to in practice. On the whole, to guard against the evils, and to secure the advantages I have mentioned, with the greatest degree of certainty, we ought clearly in my opinion, to increase the federal representation, to secure elections on proper principles, to establish a right to recall members, and a rotation among them.

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I'll posit a question. Would a legislature that 'turned over' every two years be better or worse than the one we have now?

Personally, I can't fathom how it could be worse.
 
I'll posit a question. Would a legislature that 'turned over' every two years be better or worse than the one we have now?
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Well, there will be the constant pressure to campaign for reelection, with the corresponding need to be seen doing "something," which usually means porkbarrelling for one's constituency and passing laws.
 
Shortening the time between elections would lead to voter fatigue. It would really help to replace one of our holidays with National Voting Day. Then we might get a more respectable turnout compared to countries with 70%.
 
Have the legislature meet for 6 months, every other year.

No consecutive terms.

No more than two terms in any office.

Eliminate the professional politician from office, force him to earn an honest living, make him answerable to the people he lives with.

I have other fantasies as well.
 
I suppose what made me post that is that the gasoline price correlation to elections that seems apparent suggests that politicians respond to the will of the people when they think it is important to their campaigns.

Making them think it's important to their campaigns more often might make them respond to the will of the people more often.

As for pork spending, they do that already.
 
Have the legislature meet for 6 months, every other year.

No consecutive terms.

No more than two terms in any office.

Eliminate the professional politician from office, force him to earn an honest living, make him answerable to the people he lives with.

I have other fantasies as well.
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I would add no more than six terms total in all offices from local elected dog catcher to President of the United States.

Two additional changes:

No retirement benifits from elected office.
Death Penalty for corruption or bribe taking.
 
I suppose what made me post that is that the gasoline price correlation to elections that seems apparent suggests that politicians respond to the will of the people when they think it is important to their campaigns.
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If gas prices responded to the whim of politicians so effectively, energy crunches wouldn't occur during campaigns, when people have a long time to get angry over the problem.

The gas prices has far more to do with the low level of "slack" in this country's refining capacity and supply than a group of politicians sitting around with their energy company cohorts smoking cigars (lit with the burning remains of the blueprints for the 200 mpg engine that runs on tap water naturally) and deciding how to best milk the public while keeping the pols in office.
 
Have the legislature meet for 6 months, every other year.

No consecutive terms.

No more than two terms in any office.

Eliminate the professional politician from office, force him to earn an honest living, make him answerable to the people he lives with.
Click to expand...

This transfers power near total power to the unelected adminstrative personnel because a legislature that has no institutional memory and meets so infrequently will be forced to grant sweeping powers to the agencies, no matter how little government you imagine will exist. It makes the current situation with agencies running our lives even worse.
 
It appears that some politicians would like to eliminate the civil service, making government employees totally accountable to the whims of politicians, which would probably not be a good thing. At the same time, many politicians, both federal and state (and local, too) seem to be going out of their way to have the government avoid doing the things we have government for in the first place. I'm not at all sure of the reason. It may be because privatizing government function allows friends of politicians to make more money or to avoid the cost of doing those things because a lot of people don't like taxes. It is sometimes amazing to me that we still have public schools. After all, only parents of school age children benefit, don't they?

I even heard that some state sold some of their roads to some overseas company. What next?
 
The gas prices has far more to do with the low level of "slack" in this country's refining capacity and supply than a group of politicians sitting around with their energy company cohorts smoking cigars (lit with the burning remains of the blueprints for the 200 mpg engine that runs on tap water naturally) and deciding how to best milk the public while keeping the pols in office.
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You mean those poor, destitute oil companies cannot afford to build any new refineries?

Deciding how to best milk the public is their job. It's another way of saying how to make the most profit. Doing this while keeping the pols in office handily explains why prices go down just before elections (like drug busts go up) and then return to the same state a few months afterward.

I say let's make them work for their paychecks all the time, not just a few months every several years.
 
invention_45

"Deciding how to best milk the public is their job. It's another way of saying how to make the most profit."
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Hope this doesn't come as a surprise, but those prices (oil and gas) are not set by the oil companies. And, the reason oil companies, actually all companies, exist is to "make the most profit". Economics 101.
 
You mean those poor, destitute oil companies cannot afford to build any new refineries?
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They don't build new refineries because the environmental regs for doing so are onerous, and the environmental whackjobs who travel via private jet and limo complaining about big oil companies make life hell for anyone trying to build new refineries.
 
A repeal of the 17th Amendment would go a long way toward reform in gov. The people are a lot "closer" to a State Legislator, who is up for re-election more often, BTW, than to a US Senator elected by popular vote every 6 years.
Voting now seems to be more about name recognition than about actually representing the people.

badbob
 
+1 badbob, the three most important things we can do to restore the US to what it should be are:
  1. Repeal the 17th Amendment.
  2. Repeal the 16th Amendment, institute the "FairTax" program. (How many billions do we waste just trying to figure out how much we owe the fed. That is economic dead weight.)
  3. Eliminate the perversion of the Interstate Commerce Clause. This would eliminate a LARGE portion of federal laws.
 
I agree, Crosshair. I do fear the the "Fair Tax" or "Flat Tax" or whatever will be heaped onto our current tax scheme instead of replacing it, however. To say I don't trust the, uh, "Legislators" is an understatment.:)

badbob
 
Does anyone know how to actually get these reforms passed? The problem is that those who are in power have it all working perfectly well for them and have exactly zero incentive to change and every reason and ability to prevent it.
 
Ahem. Gas prices change because it gets colder in November and people need to heat up their homes.

1. Shorter terms don't amount to much because incumbents almost always win.

2. Shorter terms equals faster turnover. Turnover = very bad. Politicians will spend half their time getting acquainted with their position, and the other half, getting reelected. You're gonna make them even more useless than they already are.
 
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