Before we start, let me say that this article is a very simplistic explanation of an exceptionally complex solution to non-responsive government.  It doesn’t take a Nobel Laureate to come to the conclusion that the government of the United States is broken.  In order to apply the fix I am advocating here will take years.  We will have to elect people who commit to this project and keep adding to their numbers until we have enough in the senate and congress to get the job done.  Just getting enough people elected may take ten or twelve years or more.

The federal government has a very well defined job, and it’s nothing like what they currently do.  Over the years politicians have expanded the government as a way to get reelected.  What better way to get the voters to love you than to bring a project home that’s paid for by someone else’s taxes?  The federal government is responsible for the three Ds, Dollars, Defense, and Diplomacy, and that’s all.  Look in the Constitution; it’s all documented there in just a few pages written in plain English.

Sure, there are some things the federal government is supposed to do in addition to those three things, but they are minor as written in the Constitution.  Things like the Interstate Commerce Clause were meant to have the federal government regulate (as in to make regular, easy, and consistent) the trade between states.  This clause of the Constitution has been bastardized to the point where almost all federal power is justified through it.  There are other articles here and here and here that explain this in detail, so I’ll not spend the time here to do so.

The problem is that, once elected, a senator or congressman or president has but one job: to be reelected.  For a while people talked about term limits, but that fell by the wayside.  That’s fine; term limits as currently defined won’t work anyway.  If a public official has to stand for reelection they are open to influence peddling.  Companies pay for access; it’s all legal, but when you make a big donation to a campaign you expect something in return.  Access is what you get.

So here’s the first step in making our government honest and responsive again.  It’s sort of a term limit solution, but it differs from term limits as popularly understood in that we give them only one.

Representatives get one three-year term, Senators one six-year term, and Presidents get one five-year term.  One.  No worry about re-election, just service.  Do it, be done with it, and go on with your life.  It will work.

And no Federal retirement; there is no reason to pay someone for the rest of their life for less than 6 years worth of effort.

The requirements for this first step in making government honest and responsive will require an amendment to the Constitution, as terms are set there, but it can be done.

That’s the first step.  We’ll talk in a future article about the second step, tax reform.

This project will take a lifetime; it is not a quick or easy fix.  Elected officials will resist the change to the status quo, and we must expect that, but it must be done.

It won’t get done if We the People don’t take the first step.