Winston Churchill, whom we often find suitable to quote, said, “Democracy is the worst form of government, aside from all the other forms of government.” In this writing, we modestly suggest certain alterations to the fabric of our traditional American democracy, intended to smooth over its historically demonstrated wrinkles. Our emphasis is on achieving the avowed aspiration of our benevolent Founders, to create a polity “By and for the People.”
The contextual imperfections are diurnally revealed in the public media and thus presumably require no repetition. Additionally, for the dual purposes of brevity and clarity, we have chosen to categorize and briefly reference each category, arranged in the order of our perception of their empirical consequence:
(1) [Vetting of Presidential aspirants]: We have often suggested the thorough vetting of all politicians aspiring to be nominees for the Presidential election. We have noted the mandatory existence of prerequisite interviews for the most mondane of jobs, but bizarrely, no such vetting for aspiring nominees for the most consequential and historically impactful position on Earth. A non-partisan or bi-partisan review would pragmatically be essential to filter out inept, immorally neuritic, and inappropriate candidates like Donald J. Trump.
(2) [The Electoral College]: To assure the Nation’s avowed representational goal of “one man, one vote” (i.e., representative democracy), the anti-democratic institution known as the “Electoral College” must be abolished. Voters do not, as appears, vote for their choice of candidate for Chief Executive, but rather for delegates from their State, committed to the candidate. A majority of the 270 Electors is required to select the President. Each State has the same number of Electors as Congressional delegates, plus two Electors for the Senate. The record evinces a notably substantial number of instances of elected Presidents who, in fact, lost the popular (“one man, one vote”) standard of American election but were successful by the nuanced operation of the vote of the Electoral College.
(3) [Presidential Pardon and Executive Immunity]: Another existential feature of a legitimate Republican Democracy is the consistent and unvarying application of the foundational atavistiv principle that “No man is above the law.”
Despite America’s 18th-century repudiation of Monarchy in favor of Republican Democracy, the arbitrary right of pardon has been inappropriately and atavistically retained. The same, on its face and as applied, is inconsistent with the tenets of a Democratic Republic as analogous to a toxic vestigial organ that, by reason of its principled unfairness and notable record of blatant abuse, must be excised.
So too, should the recent aberrant decision of SCOTUS, granting immunity to a sitting President for all “Official” acts be overturned; the President as a citizen and no citizen is above the law; said correction is especially appropriate to the hubristic, Donald Trump.
(4) Presidential Vote Count] : The voter in Presidential elections does not effectively vote for the candidate of his choice. His vote is procedurally cast for an Elector designated for his State who supports the candidate. By reason of the allocation of Electors among the States, too many Presidents have been elected to the higher office who have, factually, lost the popular (democratic) vote. This historical procedure has evidently been inconsistent with, and violative of, the essence of democratic polity, ” one man, one vote
Our experience over the decades assures us that the above four adjustments will result in a more effective democratic system and democratic republic.
-p,
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