I do not believe I know a single person who does not believe that our political system has been bought, paid for, and corrupted by the competing moneyed interests in this country.
I know I certainly believe that to be the case, and some kind of Constitutional reform through the amendment process appears to be the only solution to this issue.
However, the issue is more complex than merely money. There is a legitimate reason to fear the stifling of political thoughts through the control of money in politics behind some of the reasoning in the Citizens United decision, as much as I hate to admit that fact. I believe the decision was misguided and incorrect in its outcome, but any solution to the problem which deals with the regulation of money surrounding political speech does have the potential to erode the protections that the First Amendment has enshrined around speech and ideas generally in America.
The issue of the corrupting influence of money is also more complex than merely the use of money to swing certain election. There is also the use of power once elections have been won to maintain the safety of election districts for incumbents and political parties. Gerrymandering is as important of an issue regarding the decay of the American political process as the influence of money. Gerrymandering helped maintain Democratic control of the House of Representatives from the 1950s through the 1990s, and it has helped to swing that control to the Republican party despite an erosion of the party's constituency.
Gerrymandering is a direct result of a much more important fundamental flaw in the design of the American electoral system, and that flaw is the plurality election, wherein the candidate with the most votes is the winner, even in instances like in 1992, when the majority of people voted AGAINST Bill Clinton. The winner takes all approach to elections DOES NOT fairly represent the mindset of the electorate and IS NOT the best system of Democracy that our Republic can employ.
Many of the changes which I would suggest be adopted COULD be adopted by the several States individually WITHOUT a Constitutional Amendment, at least the changes I would propose regarding the House of Representatives.
This would not be true amongst the smaller states with only one or two representatives, and these changes have the potential to further erode the power of either major party in the larger states if they were implemented there alone.
The kind of fundamental change I would propose redesigns the way that elections in America are handled in general to more accurately reflect the composition of the electorate.
I propose replacing the plurality election with a new system known as the single transferable voting method of elections. This method of election does not elect one representative for a district, but many. This method does not award only the largest vote getter with office, but rather creates a threshold standard of votes that a candidate must receive to be elected. I suggest that new voting districts elect four representatives, rather than one, and that each such representative must receive at least 25% of the vote to be elected.
In the single transferable voting method of elections, multiple candidates from multiple parties are able to run for office, and if one candidate receives most of the votes, even votes in excess of 25% of the vote, they are elected. In the single transferable voting method of elections, voters rank the candidates with the numbers 1 through X with X being the number awarded to the LAST CANDIDATE they would want to be elected, and the number 1 being awarded to the FIRST CANDIDATE they would want to be elected. If a first choice candidate has received more than 25% of the vote, it would be impossible for the remaining three positions to be filled, so, a tally would be made of that candidate's second choice voters, and a proportional award of those second choice votes would be made to the remaining candidates until all four positions have been filled. If that isn't enough votes for four candidates to each meet the 25% threshold, then, the candidates with the least first choice votes are eliminated and their second choice votes are awarded. This process continues until four candidates have 25% of the vote, or until only four candidates remain and are therefore elected.
This process would more accurately reflect the preferences of the electorate than the current winner takes all process by which our elections in the United States are conducted. It also makes money LESS IMPORTANT than ideas. If you have a great idea, then all you need to do is get 25% of the voters to support that idea and you will be in Congress. It is much harder to buy off Congress when 4 minority ideas, and potentially 4 competing minority ideas could all end up representing one Congressional district, or one state.
The other reality is that the majority of the American electorate focuses on the least powerful position in Washington as the "leader" of our country, i.e. the President. The reality is that Congress is the most important part of the federal government. That is why it was given Article 1.
While buying Congress has been bad for the country, this has not been the only problem with our system of government, and the far worse problem comes in the area of elected judges. This is rarely an issue at the federal level, although judges who are out of step with the mainstream of American political thinking can certainly be problematic. Judicial independence is important, and the appointment process does a better job of shielding judges from the influence of the moneyed interests than the electoral process. However, merely keeping criminals off the bench as the impeachment process can be used to do, may not be enough to shield the American public from bad judges. Replacing elected judges with appointed judges will help, but that isn't necessarily as democratic as we would like either. A uniform national process to recall state, local, and federal judges that rests with the people seems like the best alternative to maintain judicial independence when coupled with the appointment process, but also provide a check on the political power of judges completely outside the mainstream of American political thinking.
Below you will see my modest proposal for an Amendment to fix the problem of money in our political process by creating a political process that is LESS SUSCEPTIBLE to the influence of money. Oh, and because I think it is also unfair to have Americans who have no representation in their government, I provide a solution to fix the issue of unrepresented territories and federal Districts once and for all as well, and provide a path to Statehood outside of the Congressional political process which would mean that a federal District with a population greater than 2 states, and a territory with a population greater than 21 states would finally have a path to statehood.
Proposed Amendment 28
Section 1: Upon the ratification of this article, the term of office of those Senators presently serving in the Senate of the United States shall end on the Third day of January in the year following the first biennial election of the House of Representatives to be held after the ratification of this article, and the terms of their successors shall then begin. Thereafter, the Senate of the United States shall be composed of four Senators from each of the several States, four Senators from the federal District of Columbia, four Senators from the territory of Puerto Rico, and four Senators from the remaining organized and unincorporated territories of the United States, including the territory of American Samoa, to be elected by the people thereof in the manner described in Section Four of this Article for, four years. The first biennial election of the House of Representatives scheduled to occur following the ratification of this amendment shall be held on the first Tuesday in November of the year prior to the expiration of the term of office of the Representatives serving at the time of the ratification of this article, and the quadrennial election of the Senate shall occur concurrently with the election for the House of Representatives and every four years thereafter. The Senators from the federal District of Columbia, the Territory of Puerto Rico, and the remaining organized and unincorporated territories shall have all rights, privileges, and authorities as is vested in the Senators of the several States.
Section 2: In the event that any organized and unincorporated territory of the United States or federal District has a population exceeding the population of the least populous of the several States during any decennial census conducted subsequent to the ratification of this amendment, such District or territory shall be entitled to admission to the Union as a State upon a referendum ballot of the majority of the people of such District or territory to be admitted as a State, and such referendum shall be held during the biennial election immediately subsequent to such census. Nothing contained herein, shall be construed as to limit the power of Congress to alternatively admit States to the Union.
Section 3: Upon the ratification of this Article, all American nationals who were previously born in American Samoa and all persons born in American Samoa subsequent to the ratification of this article shall be citizens of the United States, and shall be considered natural born citizens of the United States. All persons born in the United States, and all persons born to an American parent outside the United States who acquired citizenship pursuant to the naturalization laws of the United States shall also be considered natural born citizens of the United States, eligible to hold the Office of the President of the United States. All persons born in the United States, the District of Columbia, any organized and unincorporated territory presently in the possession of the United States, or any organized and unincorporated territory subsequently acquired by the United States, are citizens of the United States; however, those persons born in any organized and unincorporated territory acquired subsequent to the ratification of this Article, who were born prior to the acquisition of such territory by the United States, shall not be citizens of the United States, but shall be nationals of United States, and may be naturalized a citizen in the United States. Upon such subsequent acquisition of an organized territory, the Congress of the United States shall enact legislation to expedite the process by which such United States nationals may be naturalized as citizens.
Section 4: Senators shall be elected by the people of the State, District, Territory, or Territories they represent in the following manner. All citizens entitled to cast a ballot for the election of Senator, shall be entitled to make only one choice of Senator for the State, District, Territory or Territories in which they reside, to the Senate upon their ballot.. Each citizen shall cast their ballot by a method of single transferable balloting, wherein the citizen shall rank the candidates for office by number. The citizens shall rank the candidates with their most favorable candidate marked in the first choice position with the number one, and subsequent candidates shall be ranked in descending order thereafter, with the least acceptable candidate for office assigned the largest number. Any candidate for Senate receiving at least twenty-five percent of the first choice votes shall be entitled to assume the office of Senator at the beginning of the term. In the event that less than four candidates for Senate have received the requisite number of the first choice ballots in their favor, then the remaining vacancies to represent the State, District, Territory, or Territories in the Senate shall be determined in the following manner. In the event no candidate has received at least twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots, then the candidate receiving the least number of first choice ballots, shall be eliminated from competition, and the second choice candidates from the ballots cast in their favor shall be added to the total ballots of the remaining candidates. In the event that less than four candidates have received at least twenty-five percent of the ballots cast in their favor following this reassignment of ballots, then the process of eliminating the candidate with the least ballots in their favor and reassigning their ballots will continue until four candidates have received twenty-five percent of the ballots in their favor, or until only four candidates remain, and those candidates shall fill the vacancies. In the event that one or more candidates have received at least twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots then those candidates shall be elected to the office of Senator, and the remaining vacancies shall be filled in the following manner. In the event that any ballots have been cast in excess of twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots for such candidates, then the second choice ballots of the candidate receiving the most ballots shall be tallied and their second choice ballots in excess of twenty-five percent shall be proportionally assigned to the remaining candidates. This process will continue with the excess ballots of any remaining first choice candidates who have received more than twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots in descending order until all four vacancies have been filled. In the event this process has not filled the remaining vacancies, then the aforementioned process of elimination of the candidates receiving the least number of first choice ballots and reassigning their second choice ballots shall continue until all vacancies are filled.
Section 5: In the event of a vacancy in the delegation of Senators for any State, District, or Territory the executive authority of such State, District or Territory shall appoint a Senator to fill the vacancy temporarily if more than one-hundred-eighty days remain until the next quadrennial election; however, in the event of a vacancy in the delegation of Senators for the remaining organized and unincorporated territories, the President of the United States shall temporarily appoint a Senator to fill the vacancy if more than one-hundred-eighty days remain until the next quadrennial election. In the event more than one-hundred-eighty days remain until the next quadrennial election, the executive authority shall concurrently issue a writ of election to occur within sixty days of the vacancy. Such election shall be conducted by alternative choice balloting as described in Section Eleven below. If less than one-hundred-eighty days remain until such quadrennial election, such appointment shall be for the remaining duration of the term of office, and no such appointment shall require the advice and consent of any legislative body.
Section 6: Upon the ratification of this article, the first biennial election conducted for the House of Representatives shall be composed of the number of Representatives apportioned to the several States at the time of the ratification of this article multiplied by the number four, as well as four Representatives from the federal District of Columbia, twenty-eight Representatives from the Territory of Puerto Rico, and a total of four Representatives from the remaining organized and unincorporated territories of the United States, including the territory of American Samoa, and during no subsequent election shall any State, the Territory of Puerto Rico, or the federal District of Columbia be apportioned less than four Representatives, nor shall the organized and unincorporated territories of the United States collectively be apportioned less than four Representatives. The Representatives from the federal District of Columbia, the Territory of Puerto Rico, and the remaining organized and unincorporated territories shall have all rights, privileges, and authority as is vested in the Representatives of the several States.
Section 7: Each Representative district as geographically designated by the several States at the time of the ratification of this article or by the Territory of Puerto Rico subsequent to the ratification of this article, and apportioned amongst the several States, the federal District of Columbia, the Territory of Puerto Rico, and the remaining organized and unincorporated territories of the United States shall be represented by four Representatives; except in times when such office may become vacant subsequent to the commencement of a term do to the death, incapacity, or resignation of a Representative. In the event of a vacancy in the delegation of Representatives for any such district, the vacancy shall remain in effect until the next biennial election. In the event at least two such vacancies in Representation have occurred for any such district more than one-hundred-eighty days before the next biennial election, then the executive authority of the State, federal District of Columbia, Territory of Puerto Rico, or the President of the United States, in the case of the remaining organized and unincorporated territories, shall issue writs of election to be held within sixty days of the date of such second vacancy. Upon the issuance of writs of election, the term of office of the remaining Representatives for the district shall terminate on the day following the election, and the election to shall proceed to fill the vacancies in office for all four Representatives of the district, with the term of the successors to begin the day after the election for the remainder of the original term. In the event two vacancies in Representation have occurred for a district with less than one-hundred-eighty days remaining until the next biennial election, then the vacancies in Representation will remain in effect until the next biennial election. In the event of a complete vacancy in Representation for any district, a writ of election will be issued to be held within thirty days of the complete vacancy in Representation.
Section 8: Representatives shall be elected by the people of the State, District, Territory, or Territories they represent in the following manner. All citizens entitled to cast a ballot for the election of Representative, shall be entitled to make only one choice of Representative to represent their district in the House of Representatives upon their ballot. Each citizen shall cast their ballot by a method of single transferable balloting, wherein the citizen shall rank the candidates for office by number. The citizens shall rank the candidates with their most favorable candidate marked in the first choice position with the number one, and subsequent candidates shall be ranked in descending order thereafter, with the least acceptable candidate for office assigned the largest number. Any candidate for Representative receiving at least twenty-five percent of the first choice votes shall be entitled to assume the office of Representative at the beginning of the subsequent term. In the event that less than four candidates for Representative have received the requisite number of the first choice ballots in their favor, then the remaining vacancies to represent the district in the House of Representatives shall be determined in the following manner. In the event no candidate has received at least twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots, then the candidate receiving the least number of first choice ballots, shall be eliminated from competition, and the second choice candidates from the ballots cast in their favor shall be added to the total ballots of the remaining candidates. In the event that less than four candidates have received at least twenty-five percent of the ballots cast in their favor following this reassignment of ballots, then the process of eliminating the candidate with the least ballots in their favor and reassigning their ballots will continue until four candidates have received twenty-five percent of the ballots in their favor, or until only four candidates remain, and those candidates shall fill the vacancies. In the event that one or more candidates have received at least twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots then those candidates shall be elected to the office of Representative, and the remaining vacancies shall be filled in the following manner. In the event that any ballots have been cast in excess of twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots for such candidates, then the second choice ballots of the candidate receiving the most ballots shall be tallied and their second choice ballots in excess of twenty-five percent shall be proportionally assigned to the remaining candidates. This process will continue with the excess ballots of any remaining first choice candidates who have received more than twenty-five percent of the first choice ballots in descending order until all four vacancies have been filled. In the event this process has not filled the remaining vacancies, then the aforementioned process of elimination of the candidates receiving the least number of first choice ballots and reassigning their second choice ballots shall continue until all vacancies are filled.
Section 9: The House of Representatives shall have the authority to re-apportion Representation to the several States, the District of Columbia, and the Territories in accordance with the population pursuant to the decennial census; however, any such re-apportionment, must be divisible by a whole number and four to each State, District, the Territory of Puerto Rico, or collectively to the remaining organized and unincorporated territories of the United States. The Representation of the Territory of Puerto Rico may not be reduced below twenty-eight before a decennial census has been conducted; however, subsequent to a decennial census, if Puerto Rico remains a Territory, or if it is admitted as a State, may be apportioned more or less Representatives in accordance with the proportion of the population of the United States residing in Puerto Rico, so long as such number of Representatives shall be divisible by a whole number and four. The remaining organized and unincorporated territories collectively may not be apportioned less than four Representatives. No State, nor the federal District of Columbia, nor Puerto Rico if it remains a Territory, may be apportioned less than four Representatives.
Section 10: The legislatures of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, and the Territory of Puerto Rico shall have the authority to designate geographic areas for the election of Representatives to the House apportioned to them; however, all geographic regions of such State, District, or Territory must be elect four Representatives in accordance with Section Eight of this Article. In the event that the collective organized and unincorporated territories of the United States have been apportioned eight or more Representatives, the Congress of the United States shall have the authority to designate geographic areas for the election of Representatives for those territories; however, all geographic regions of the territories must elect four Representatives in accordance with Section Eight of this Article. In any event, when designating the geographic boundaries of districts for Representatives for reapportionment following the decennial census, the legislatures of the several States, the legislature of federal District of Columbia, and the legislature of the Territory of Puerto Rico, or the Congress of the United States in the event that the remaining organized and unincorporated territories are apportioned eight or more Representatives shall be drawn as closely as is practical by the shortest line method of designating the geographical boundaries of each district. Each of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, and any organized and unincorporated Territory of the United States shall, following the next decennial census or any census thereafter draw the geographic boundaries of any legislative district as closely as is practical by the shortest line method of designating such boundaries.
Section 11: Upon the ratification of this article, the electoral college shall be abolished, and the President and Vice President of the United States shall be elected by the people of the United States concurrently with the biennial election of the House of Representatives to occur on the first Tuesday in November of the year preceding the expiration of the term of office of the President and Vice President of the United States serving at the time of the ratification of this article. The President and Vice President of the United States shall be elected for, four years, in the following manner. Any citizen of the United States qualified to hold the office of the President of the United States shall be entitled to appear on the ballot for the office of President and Vice President of the United States by presenting petitions to ballot to the Clerk of the House of Representatives containing a slate of candidates for both offices containing no less than fifty-thousand signatures of citizens of the United States qualified to vote in the election, obtained after the First day of January in the year of the election, no later than four in the afternoon on the First day of September in the year of the election. Any slate of candidates fulfilling this requirement shall appear on the election ballot for the office of President and Vice President. The citizens of the United States shall be entitled to cast one ballot for the office of President and Vice President by a method of alternative choice balloting. Citizens shall cast their ballots by ranking their choice of the slate of candidates for both offices beginning with the number one for their first choice and assigning larger numbers to their next choice in descending order. In the event that no slate of candidates has obtained a majority upon the counting of first choice ballots, then the slate of candidates receiving the least number of first choice ballots shall be eliminated and their second choice ballots shall be assigned to the candidates. In the event no slate of candidates has obtained a majority following this elimination, then the process will be repeated until such time as one slate of candidates for the office of President and Vice President has attained a majority of the ballots cast. The requirement that the President and Vice President of the United States be residents of different States at the time of their election shall be repealed upon the ratification of this article.
Section 12: Each of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, and the organized territories of the United States shall ensure the election of their legislatures is conducted by a method of single transferable balloting similar to that enacted by this article for the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States. Each of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, and the organized territories of the United States shall ensure the election of their executive authorities are conducted by a method of alternative choice balloting. In the event that the judiciary of any of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, or any organized territory of the United States is elected by the people thereof, the election of the judiciary shall be replaced by a system of judicial appointments by the executive authority to be approved by the legislature of the appropriate governing body. All judicial appointments to shall be for the lesser term of twenty years, or until the judicial appointee has obtained the age of seventy-five; however, any judicial appointee may be sooner removed from office in accordance with the impeachment procedures of the State, the federal District of Columbia, or the organized territory or any political subdivision thereof and may be removed by the appropriate legislature upon a determination by a two-thirds majority that the judge has suffered a permanent incapacity. In addition to the impeachment procedure available for the removal of a member of the federal judiciary, Congress may upon the ratification of this article remove a member of the federal judiciary upon a determination by a two-thirds majority of its members that the judge has suffered a permanent incapacity. The term limitations contained herein of judicial appointments shall apply to the courts of the several States, the federal District of Columbia, the organized territories of the United States, and to any judicial appointees of the President of the United States, including any Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States appointed subsequent to the ratification of this article. Within six years of the ratification of this article, the several States, the federal District of Columbia, and the organized territories of the United States, and any political subdivision contained therein shall conform their constitutions or charters to comply with this article.
Section 13: Upon the filing of a petition of the people with the appropriate executive authority containing the signatures of one percent of the citizens registered to vote, residing within the judicial district wherein the judge has vested authority, as appointed by any State, Territory, District, municipality, or by the United States, or any petition containing twenty-thousand signatures of citizens registered to vote in such District, whichever is less, the executive authority shall issue a writ of election within ninety days to determine whether such judge shall be removed from office, and upon a two-thirds majority of ballots cast determining that such judge shall be removed, the judge shall be removed from office and the executive authority shall appoint a new judge for such district. In the event the people seek to remove a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the minimum signatures required of any such petition shall included at least the signatures of one-million citizens registered vote in the United States. Within six years of the ratification of this article, the several States, the federal District of Columbia and the organized territories of the United States, and any political subdivision contained therein shall conform their constitutions or charters to comply with this article.
Section 14: Congress shall have the power to enable and enforce this article by appropriate legislation.