Broken

I’ve long believed that if you want to see how something works, look at it broken; your car, your smartphone, your relationship, your democracy.

I’ll leave you to figure out your car and your relationship; nobody I know has much of a chance with their smartphone. About the only thing you can do is buy another one; and I’m hoping that isn’t also true of your democracy.

The question now is, is our democracy broken, or broken beyond repair?

Originally our Constitution left loopholes as wide as XXXL Hula Hoops for people who deep down in their gut have always believed the idea of true equality is abhorrent. The success of any visionary endeavor is based in large part on its basic premise, and stated or not, this premise favored rich white male landowners. Piecemeal amendments added in most of the rest of the population on paper, but look where we are:

--We have a cruel, emotionally crippled president whose feelings of personal worth are generated by the pain and humiliation of others.

--We have a Supreme Court with a white majority (with none whiter than Clarence Thomas) who have been patiently awaiting a time when they could rob people of color, women, anyone from the LBGTQ+ community, the physically disadvantaged, the chronically ill and whoever I’m leaving out, of their right to constitutional decency.

--We have a Congress chock full of members willing to inflict paralyzing hardship on millions, simply to keep their jobs; men and women who have proven their intellectual capabilities in elite educational institutions, uttering logic any curious fifth-grader could debunk.

And that’s just off the top of my head. To quote the peerless Kurt Vonnegut, “The winners are at war with the losers, and the fix is on.”

So the pieces of our two-hundred-fifty year-old democracy lie on the ground in front of us; busted up pretty good. Vonnegut was talking, with good reason, about both parties to be sure, but today we can thank the Republicans for showing us just how broken it is.

So let’s fix it.

--For beginners how in the world do we allow the most important, most powerful office in the country to have no job qualification other than staying alive for thirty-five years? If a snake-oil salesman were required to have a medical degree he’d be far less likely to try and sell you a tonic guaranteed to provide no relief. No one should be allowed to lead the country without understanding the Rule Book.

--Get all private money out of politics at every level. Each candidate is grubstaked by the government with the exact same amount as every other candidate, vying for that office. Those caught using private money - taking bribes - are instantly taken off the ballot. The job of Congressional lobbyist is eliminated.

--Turn the presidency into one six-year term, no reelection. One shot. Under the current system the president starts running for his or her second term shortly after inauguration for the first. If they win that second term, they’re labeled “lame duck” in short order. Our president should have one job; to govern. And as long as we’re putting an age constraint on one end, put one on the other. I am one month and four days younger than our current “president.” I have eaten at McDonalds fewer times than is the national average, been physically active all my life and am in bed long before Donald F finishes lobbing insults on social media, and I’m telling you, even if I were smart, you do not want me at the head of the executive branch.

--End the practice of making Supreme Court justices political appointees. Having them appointed by the sitting president guarantees some will lean too far one way or the other. We’d maintain a better balance in the court if a bi-partisan congressional committee made up of an equal number from each party were appointed to select candidates. At the same time, the court would be better served if the Chief Justice rose to that position through seniority.

--Turn “Nobody’s above the law” into something other than a vapid utterance. I checked; the emoluments clause is a law. I checked; the Geneva Conventions created law. I checked; there’s a law against rape, a law that includes adults having sex with underaged humans. I checked; there’s a law against hate speech.

Feel free to add to the list.

So-called Supreme Court justices who call themselves “Originalists” are pretty much hoisting up a middle finger to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, both of whom urged that the Constitution be revisited about every twenty years, believing that every generation should have a hand in governing themselves. It’s hard to argue against keeping citizens who are supposed to have a voice in how they’re governed, engaged; feeling as if democratic government by definitionmust respond to the will of the majority, with major consideration given to the minority. I learned that as a senior in high school.

For those I haven’t lost...any pure scientist will tell you, a failed experiment is as important to the discipline as one that proves a truth. It’s as important to our fund of information to know what doesn’t work as it is to know what does. If there is to be any benefit coming out of this godawful time; from the day Trump descended the escalator to announce his candidacy right up to these next two elections, that benefit will come from recognizing how bad things can get when our Rule Book doesn’t close and lock the door behind bigotry.