On the very slow progess of term limits for all members of the US Congress

A necessary and long overdue reform is making progress, slowly but surely!

Maybe in my remaining lifetime I will witness this important and long overdue reform to become enshrined in the US Constitution!

To heck with too many mediocre life-time career elected representatives in Western democracies! An elected office should be only for a limited time like a court juror or the US President!

Quite possibly, Joseph Biden would never have become President of the 46th US President with term limits!

Quoting from an email I received today from the US Term Limits:

"Here's where our movement stands today:

>>>  More than 80% of Americans support term limits for Congress.  It is the most popular reform idea in America.

>>>  So far twelve states have officially passed our term limits convention legislation.  Many, many more will have the opportunity to vote on it this winter.

Congress cannot stop the states from beginning this process of amending the Constitution. In fact, Congress will be forced to pass a term limits amendment itself rather than allow the states to unilaterally impose one!

>>> 102 members of the U.S. House have now publicly signed on to our term limits amendment in the U.S. House. Nearly one fifth of the senate has done the same.

>>> 220 non-incumbent candidates for Congress in 2026 have signed our pledge to support USTLs term limits amendment.

>>> 1,547 incumbent state legislators have signed our pledge vote for the Term Limits Convention to amend the constitution. 

>>> 599 non-incumbent candidates for state legislatures have signed that pledge to!"

How we will put term limits on Congress

Redefining Democracy: Could Lotteries Improve Governance and Public Trust?

This is serious food for thought!

At the dawn of gerontocracy, this is something to think about!

The idea/ideal of democracy has been that citizens temporarily become our representatives and government officials and then return to civilian life.

Western democracies have degenerated into fiefdoms for a caste of too many  lifelong career politicians! Term limits and/or age restrictions are other options, but not very effective as experience shows.

How to implement the election of representatives by lottery? Who will be eligible to become a representative? Will all representatives be chosen that way or will there be a transition?

"... to identify and test new ideas for improving the quality of democratic representation and governance. ...
To solve this, a growing number of people propose what is called a lottocracy [sounds a little horrible like ludicrocy], in which political representatives are selected by lottery. This would replace elections. The idea is that instead of elected officials beholden to special interests and political parties, maybe randomly selecting our officials would better represent citizens, improve policymaking, and help eliminate corruption. ..."

Redefining Democracy: Could Lotteries Improve Governance and Public Trust? | Institution for Social and Policy Studies

Singapore Cabinet Minister Gets 82% Pay Cut Over Corruption Probe with Palki Sharma

Very recommendable! Sounds revolutionary to me! Bravo Singapore! This report also mentions other countries that have done this before. Singapore pays its representatives and government officials very well to minimize the risk of corruption. Actually, they are among the highest paid of the world. Hold officials accountable and why not with a pay cut!

What are the greatest dangers to Western democracies?

 Here is a short list:

1. Lack of or profound confusion about about fundamental and foundational principles.
2. Lifelong career politicians and elected representatives
3. Busybody representatives produce laws like an assembly plant. Rarely ever take representatives time to eliminate obsolete or outdated laws. Laws proliferate permanently
4. Fiscal irresponsibility: Serial or frequent government budget deficits and the unsustainable growth of government debt
5. Entrenched and expanding government bureaucracies and largely unchecked proliferation of regulations. Sometimes these bureaucracies even engage in coup d'etats
6. The Judiciary is exclusively reserved for individuals with academic law degrees and to a large extent to individual with carers within the judiciary. This seems to be the least of all the here listed dangers! 

Briefly about fundamental principles: E.g. The Man Versus The State, The Road to Serfdom versus individual freedom and responsibility, concentration of government power versus devolution of government power, centralism versus federalism, Big Government versus limited and small government, spontaneous order versus human planned order and the like.

Briefly about lifelong career politicians and elected representatives:
They have become the quasi nobility. Too many of the same politicians, especially high level, get reelected again and again. Too often they tend to live in a bubble oblivious of the citizens they are supposed to represent.

Remedies: E.g. term limits

Briefly on the proliferation of laws: Most of the related issues are well known for a very long time.

Remedies: Sunset legislation or rules like for every new law one old law needs to be rescinded.

Briefly on budget deficits and growing debt: Most of the related issues are well known for a very long time. Living beyond one's financial means can be devastating for individuals as well as government entities from lower levels to highest level.

Remedies: Debt ceiling, balanced budget requirements with super majority rule to violate.

Briefly about bureaucracies: Most of the related issues are well known for a very long time. What was done to former President Trump was sort of a coup d'etat attempt by FBI and Intelligence Services. Bureaucracies are part of what is referred to as the political swamp.

Remedies: Perhaps employment in bureaucracies ought not to be permanent either. Rotation between private to public sector is recommended.

Briefly about the judiciary: To become a judge is often like going through a stovepipe. 

Remedies: I have written something about a possible reform here. More than the basics of legal education should be included in the curriculum of secondary child education.

The US Constitution Needs an Expiration Date

Very recommendable! Plenty of food for thought! I don't think, the whole constitution needs an expiration date!

How to reform constitutional democracies in Western countries! Besides term limits for all elected representatives, more sunset legislation or expiration dates on parts of legislation would be reasonable and effective reforms!

"t's certainly reasonable to expect a government to have to seek reauthorization of its powers at certain intervals. Thomas Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1789 that "succeeding generations are not responsible for the preceding" and that "no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law." Contending that nineteen years is long enough for any law or constitution to last without the need for reapproval, Jefferson reasoned that if a law "be enforced longer, it is an act of force, and not of right.""

The US Constitution Needs an Expiration Date | Mises Wire: A unique feature of the Swiss Federal Constitution is the fact that the central government's power to impose direct taxes on citizens expires every decade or so.

Impeachment demonstrates dire need for term limits

Recommendable! Yes, Western democracies urgently need term limits for all elected politicians! 

"In fact, 84 of the 535 members of Congress who are currently involved in the Trump impeachment also cast votes in the Clinton impeachment, ... Even more astonishing, one congressman – Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) – was in the U.S. House when President Nixon’s impeachment inquiry began, which took place 47 years ago. ... The scourge of career politicianism is worse in the Senate than the House. Of the 100 senators who decided Trump’s fate, 28 also cast votes in the Clinton impeachment. ... presidential candidate Joe Biden was a senator during both Nixon’s impeachment inquiry and Clinton’s impeachment. Biden, elected to the U.S. Senate in 1973 at the age of 30, served in the upper chamber for a whopping 36 years. ... “From 2009 to 2012, the average net worth change of a freshman member of the 112th Congress in three years was 50 percent.” ... In 1788, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “I apprehend that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation in the offices of president and senator will end in abuse. But my confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses.”"

Impeachment demonstrates dire need for term limits | TheHill: One might be surprised to know that many of the characters in the impeachment of President Donald Trump were also roaming the halls of Congress 21 years ago during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

How To Reform The Judiciary In Western Civilized Countries

Posted: 7/15/2017

Unsatisfactory Current System

I strongly believe Western civilization has made a huge mistake to create or evolve a special elite or class of exclusively academically trained professionals. This has lead to unnecessary lofty theories, specialization, and complications for complications and professional relevancy sake.  

Common sense justice often suffers. Too many justices have ulterior motives like ideological motivations, and seeking fame or power etc.

An Independent Judiciary Of The People, By The People, And For The People

I propose to select adult citizens by random selection no matter what their age, have them trained for 2-3 years in jurisprudence, and then after successfully passing an examination have them be appointed to become judges. On which court they serve should also be determined by random choice.

The appointment will be term limited.

The examination could be carried out by current or former judges.

The Ends Of Government

Basically, government has only two ends: justice and protection

If we really mean government of the people, by the people, and for the people, then random choice selection of citizens needs to be seriously considered as an election method.

Alternative For Germany - A New Party In Germany To Reckon With

Posted: 5/29/2017

Trigger

A fairly new political party is active and quite successful with voters in Germany. The name of this party is Alternative fuer Deutschland (Alternative for Germany). Founded only a few years ago (in 2013) it has already managed to be elected into about a dozen or more parliaments of the 16 states comprising the Federal Republic of Germany. This fairly new party stands a good chance to win more than enough votes in the upcoming general election in September to gain entrance into the German parliament.

Ideology & Policies

Well, I do not claim to be an expert regarding this new party. However, I do follow Facebook postings of this party and major representatives of this party for some time now. Most of their postings are reasonable and common sense approaches to political issues.

Generally speaking, I would recommend this party as being serious about some urgently necessary reforms of democracy in Germany.

This party is widely characterised as a right wing populist party. However, this is the usual left wing spin of German and western media regarding this party. Quite often this party is even attacked in public as brown shirts or Nazi party and so on.

The Election Program

In Germany (as elsewhere, in other western democracies), the contending political parties issue election platforms or programs.

Here is the source: http://www.afd.de/wahlprogramm (in German only)

For sake of brevity, I will present here only a few items from the AfD election program for the general election of 2017 (items, in no particular order, which I think, are overdue reforms):

1. The ever progressing centralisation of the EU should be reversed to form a confederation of states
2. Term limits for politicians. E.g. like in the U.S., the chancellor should be limited to two terms in office. Elected representatives in parliament to four terms.
3. Direct election of the largely ceremonial, but important German president
4. Political parties in Germany have way too much control over who becomes a candidate for office. AfD wishes to have more free candidates to challenge incumbents etc.
5. Waste of taxpayers’ money should be a crime punishable under law (an interesting proposal)
6. Abolishment of lavish retirement benefits of elected representatives
7. Measures against corruption and lobbying of elected representatives
8. Abolishment of female quotas for politicians or businesses (how German politicians ever voted for such socialist nonsense is still beyond my comprehension)
9. Reestablishment of freedom of contract! E.g. abolishment of so called anti discrimination laws! Something, politicians in the U.S. could learn from.
10. Against the irresponsible and reckless long term European monetary policy of zero or negative interest rates and extreme buying of government and business bonds. AfD calls this the expropriation of older folks and people, who save their money
11. Germany first foreign policy
12. Demanding tax cuts in way overtaxed Germany. The value added tax should be lowered by 7 percentage points from currently 19%. Why Germans have put up with such a high, confiscatory sales tax for decades is beyond comprehension. Introduction of price adjustments into the tax code to prevent cold or hidden taxation

General Election 2017

According to recent polls it appears that this party will enter the German parliament in Berlin with around 8% of all votes cast. I would not be surprised if the results come in a few percentage points higher for this party.

If the Christian Democratic party (CDU/CSU) and the liberal party (FDP) remain clearly under 50% as a likely outcome of the election and form a coalition government, the AfD will probably gain significant influence on German politics.

There is a general, palpable, and substantial undercurrent of deep dissatisfaction of people in Germany with the way things are going and the at times chaotic, mismanagement of chancellor Merkel is long overdue to end.

  

A Caveat

This new, young party is already involved in some very serious, destructive, quite unnecessary, inner party strife. This has been exploited extensively by the left wing media on a daily basis.