Impeachment is not enough

George W Bush has maintained an approval rating below 30% for how long now?  46% of Americans currently believe he should be removed from office, while 54% believe Cheney should.  Articles of Impeachment for Cheney have already been introduced in Congress, and while they have not been brought to the floor, the topic has been "out there" at least since the November elections.

Along with the "war" in Iraq, the other big reason for the change of majorities in both houses of Congress in the November 2006 election was the perception of corruption and dishonesty, especially among Republicans.  In 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress by promising to bring the issues that were important to the people to the fore, based on a general understanding that the Democratic Congress had become unresponsive to the issues that mattered to the people.

Not long after that Bill Clinton became only the second President ever impeached.  Nevertheless, investigations and hearings on the Reagan-Bush administration, especially regarding Iran-Contra could have led to impeachment in a slightly different political atmosphere, and many would argue that they should have been impeached for that.

A decade earlier, investigations and the beginnings of impeachment proceedings inspired Nixon's resignation.  Just a couple of years before that, his first Vice President, Spiro Agnew had been forced to resign due to corruption issues.

Between Nixon and Reagan, we had Gerald Ford, who was never elected, and Jimmy Carter, who defeated Ford in 1976, but whose popularity plummeted by 1980, and was in turn defeated by Reagan.

Before Nixon, we had LBJ, who took over for JFK in 1963, and while elected in his own right in 1964, escalated the US military involvement in what became our most unpopular war (until the current debacle in Iraq, perhaps), and had lost his popularity before his first (and only) full term was even halfway over.  He had become so unpopular, he could not even sustain a reelection campaign in 1968.

And let us not forget that Dan Quayle, who served as Vice President to George H.W. Bush was constantly the butt of jokes throughout, and after, his term, and was never respected by the American people.

So for over 40 years (at least) the Presidency has been riddled with shame and divisiveness.

Additionally, the secrecy and steps toward authoritarianism, and away from oversight, of the Bush/Cheney administration has made it all too clear that having an executive branch entirely appointed by and under the control of one person, all adhering to a single ideology, all serving "at the pleasure of" the quasi-monarch, is in fact a recipe for disaster.  While other recent Presidencies provided ample reason to consider amending Article II of the US Constitution, this particular administration has shown that it is crucial to the survival of our democracy.

We must begin a process for examining the structure of our government and reforming it, not just with campaign finance laws and term limits, but with a different structure that actually represents a proportional cross-section of the American population, both nationally, and by state.

Personally, I think we need to take it a step or two beyond that.  I believe we need to establish a system wherein every concerned citizen has a direct path to participate in the discussion of issues and the decision-making process.  I believe we need to set up a system that eliminates the concept of the career politician and replaces it with citizen lawmakers.

While I think we should have a thoroughly democratic discussion about this, I will offer up some suggestions here. Perhaps this can be the beginning of the discussion.

First, we should amend Article II of the Constitution, because the abuses of the executive branch are the most egregious.  This amendment should abolish the office of President, along with Cabinet-level positions.  In their place, we might establish a secretariat committee for each executive department, as well as for any other functions of the executive, such as appointment of federal judges.  There are several ways we might select these committees, but in any case, each committee should attempt to be representative of a cross-section of the American population.  

One possible method might be to allow everyone who is interested in a secretariat position to register as a candidate.  Each candidate could provide a plank of four positions on issues relevant to the secretariat position for which they are applying.  Then we could have a national election in which each voter selects their top priority plank position for each department.  We then select the top nine plank positions.  For the top plank position, we place each candidate who placed that plank position in his/her top four into a pool and select one of these randomly by public drawing.  Then we do the same with each successively ranked plank position, until we have nine persons seated on each committee.

Another possible method for selecting secretariat members might be a simple proportional representation election model for each departmental secretariat.  Or we might allow one house of Congress to select committee members by a proportional voting method, and the other house to confirm them.  Of course, this method would be more representative if we elect Congress by a proportional model as well, but that is a matter for another amendment.

Whatever the method of selection, it is vital that we clearly indicate that the people and Congress maintain complete oversight and control over these secretariats, especially the Secretariats of Defense and Justice, as a rogue leadership of the military, even if divided among a proportionally representative committee, can threaten the sovereignty of the people.

Alongside this amendment, we should also amend Article I to create a legislative structure and process that is more representative and democratic than our current oligarchic model.  

I suggest that Senators be elected simultaneously every four years, that each state should have three Senators instead of two, and that each state have just one Senatorial election, in which the top three candidates in each state will win the seats, thus minimizing the chance that any state will be represented in the Senate by only one party, and making it likely that at least some states will elect a third party to at least one seat.

In the House, rather than each state having a different number of seats based on population, I suggest that each state have a delegation of nine Representatives, elected by a representative voting method such as Single Transferable Vote, and that each Representative carry a number of proxy votes based on the number of votes received, perhaps one proxy vote for each 10,000 popular votes.  Thus, the more populous areas would still have representation in proportion to their numbers, but a wider cross-section of the population would be represented.

Furthermore, I propose that we should regularize precinct size across the nation, with each precinct having roughly a population of 1000.  Then, we should require that each Congressional representative appoint a precinct delegate for every precinct in their state.  These delegates would hold precinct assemblies once per quarter in which they would bring bills and resolutions passed by both Houses of Congress to the people.  The  Representatives' delegates would act only as a presentation panel and moderators of debate.  No bill should become law or policy unless it should receive both a majority of all popular votes tallied in precinct assemblies, and majorities in at least a majority of precincts.

Like the Senate, the House should be elected every four years, but phased two years apart from Senate elections, so that no momentary passions of the populace can sweep a single party into a dominant majority that might lead to tyranny.  The executive secretariats should also serve four year terms, with half being (s)elected the year after House elections, and the other half being (s)elected the year after Senate elections.

In all cases, no person should be allowed to serve in any governmental position more than four years in any twelve year period, and never in the same position twice.