Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Another improvement to our system of government would be to enact a Constitutional Amendment whereby the President and Vice President might be recalled at any time by the electorate. At present, we are stuck with whatever madman may be in office for his entire term, especially if the Congress is of the same party as the executive.

If the executive continues to be chosen by voting, I propose that the signing of a recall petition by 50% of the number of people as the total popular vote received by the executive in the last election would trigger a special recall election to be held within 90 days of submission of the petition to the Supreme Court. If a majority voting in the recall election vote to recall, both the President and Vice President would be removed.

If the President and Vice President are chosen by lot, as I have proposed, then 25% of the people eligible to vote (as if we still had votes) might demand a recall election, and the Vice President would not necessarily be removed but would assume the presidency. A new lottery to select a new VP would be held right away.

Recall elections should probably be limited to one per calendar year for any given office.

An additional requirement for the presidency should perhaps be added to the Constitution if we are to continue to have presidential elections. To wit, if you claim that your favorite political philosopher is Jesus Christ, you must submit to an examination by theologians to determine if you know what you are talking about.

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