12-year term limits for National Office

People stay in office way too long. Over a hundred members have served for more than thirty-five years, forty members of Congress have served at least FORTY YEARS in their seats, with half a dozen over FIFTY years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_United_States_Congress_by_longevity_of_service

Citizens born after they were first elected can have grandchildren in that amount of time.

Likewise, more than a dozen Supreme Court Justices have been in office more than thirty years, with William O. Douglas lasting more than 36! Way, way too long.

Conversely, Presidents (i.e. POTUS) are only elected twice before term limits kick in. This means that for half the time they are in office, they are unaccountable directly to voters. HALF! Think back on the presidencies of Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Nixon. When they at their worst? Last term. Because they didn't have to worry about being reelected.

So, I propose that, by amending the Constitution, all National Elected Offices be restricted (or in the case of POTUS, extended) to exactly 12 years concurrent. This would ensure much, much more turnover in Congress and the Supreme Court (thereby making them more representational and accountable). Ideally I'd like the Chief Justice to be an elected office as well (as the tie-breaker); the other 8 (12?) Justices would be still appointed for 12 years at a time, but there should be at least some direct representation by the people.

The President would also be more accountable, since we would have two chances to throw him/her out of office instead of just one. They'd only be directly unaccountable for a third of the time, instead of half. I also propose decoupling and staggering the Vice-Presidential election so that if the POTUS is screwing up, we can elect his main rival to VP.

So here's what my election cycle would look like (assuming term limits for all):

Year 00: New POTUS, all new House of Representatives, and 1st third of the Senate up for election.

Year 02: New Vice-President, New Chief Justice, the House, and 2nd third of the Senate.

Year 04: POTUS, the House, last third of the Senate.

Year 06: VP, Chief Justice, the House, and 1st/3rds Senate (last election for them)

Year 08: POTUS (last election), the House, 2nd/3rds Senate (last election for them).

Year 10: VP (last) & Chief Justice (last), the House (last election for '00 class), last 3rd Senate (last).

Year 12: New POTUS, new House and new 1/3 Senate (all from '00 election term limited).

Year 14: New VP, New Chief Justice, House, new 2nd third of the Senate.

Year 16: POTUS, House, new last third of the Senate.

And so on.

This amendment (12 years for all) would make the government more representative, dynamic, and, oddly, more contiguous because the VP and POTUS change power at different times. Seniority as a perk would be all-but-gone, and voters would be more inclined to send the best (or at least the most representative) officials to create laws respecting the will of the people.

Of course, I'd also like all laws to expire after 12 years as well...

Carving out New States from old ones

We haven't added any new states for more than sixty years. While most of our states are 4 million or less, a few are monsterous in size (California is 37 million!). Most of these bloated giants have vast expanses of lightly populated territories governed by distant urban centers with completely different populations and lifestyles. And subject to the tyranny of the majority. We need to prune some of these giants down to a more reasonable size, more easily governable and representable by Governers, Senators, and other statewide offices.


So, proposed new states:

Southern California (Capitol: Los Angeles)
22.4 million

Northern California (Capitol: Sacramento)
13 million

Jefferson (Capitol: Redding)
1.75 million
Counties north of Sacramento: Del norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Lassen, Mendocino, Tehama, Glenn, Butte, Plumas, Lake, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, and El Dorado.


Long island (Capitol: Brooklyn)
7.5 Million

New York (Capitol: Albany)
from 19.4 to 11.9 million


Everglades (Capitol: Miami)
7.9 million
Counties south of Tampa: Manatee, Highlands, Okeechobee, Saint Lucie, Martin, Sarasota, Desoto, Charlotte, Glades, Lee, Hendry, Palm Beach, Collier, Broward, Monroe, and Miami-Dade.

Florida
formerly 18.8 million, now 10.9


Chigago
8.2 million
Counties: Cook, Dupage, Lake, Will, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, and McHenry.

Illinois (Capitol: Springfield)
formerly 12.8, now 4.6 million


Philadelphia
3.85 million
Counties: Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, Deleware, and Chester.

Pennsylvania (Capitol: Harrisburg)
formerly 12.7 million, now 8.9


Cleveland
3.2 million
Counties: Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning, Lake, Geauga, Portage, Cuyahoga, Summit, and Lorain.

Ohio (Capitol: Columbus)
formerly 11.5 million, now 8.3


There we go, this splits most of the states over 10 million in population, carving out 7 new states with distinct identities already present in one form or another.

Of course, the glaring omission is Texas, the second largest in population and area. Unfortunately, not only is there a rather strong identity in the state, but there are also over 200+ counties, making partitions frustratingly difficult.

Proposed Congressional Yearly Schedule

One of the major problems with Congress is that it's members spends too little time with their constituents and too much time in Washington DC creating more and more laws they don't even have time to read.

So, I think we should revise the yearly congressional schedule that keeps each house in session for a week (5 workdays) at a time every other week, encouraging it's members to return home on a regular basis. Here's what it might look like:


Month, Week, (Holiday), Session.

Jan wk1 (3rd or later) Joint Session.
Jan wk2 Congressional Recess.
Jan wk3 (MLK Jr. Monday, Jan 20 inauguration) Joint Session.
Jan wk4 US House.

Feb wk1 US Senate.
Feb wk2 US House.
Feb wk3 (Monday: President's day) Recess.
Feb wk4 US Senate.

Mar wk1 US House.
Mar wk2 US Senate
Mar wk3 US House.
Mar wk4 US Senate.

Apr wk1-2 (Spring District work Period) Recess.
Apr wk3 Us House.
Apr wk4 (Arbor Day) US Senate.

May wk1 Us House.
May wk2 US Senate.
May wk3 Us House.
May wk4 US Senate.
May wk5 (Memorial day) Recess.

Jun wk1 Us House.
Jun wk2 US Senate.
Jun wk3 Us House.
Jun wk4 US Senate.

July wk1 (Independence Day Work Period) Recess.
July wk2 Us House.
July wk3 US Senate.
July wk4 Us House.
July wk5 US Senate.

Aug wk1 Joint Session.
Aug wk2+ (Summer District Work Period) Recess.

Sept wk1 (Labor Day) Recess.
Sept wk2 Joint Session.
Sept wk3 Us House.
Sept wk4 US Senate.

Oct wk1 (Target Adjournment) Joint Session.
Oct wk2 (Columbus Day) Recess.
Oct wk3 Joint Session.
Oct wk4 (Campaigning) Recess.

Nov wk1 (Elections) Recess.
Nov wk2 (Veterans Day) Recess.
Nov wk3 Joint Session.
Nov wk4 (Thanksgiving) Recess.

Dec wk1 Us House.
Dec wk2 Joint Session.
Dec wk3 US Senate.
Dec wk4+ (Holidays) Recess.


US House of Representatives and Senate in session 21 weeks max each, usually on alternating weeks. Any week with a Federal Holiday was given off for both Houses, or attempted anyway. This should maximize input from citizens, and minimize influence from Washington DC culture, since Congressmen would rarely stay for the weekend.


Lurker