In fake homage to the Genocide Games that will begin tomorrow in Beijing, I thought I’d steal a headline type from their Cultural Revolution. The Chicoms then were fond of the “Four Olds,” which likely meant four old ideas the children who ran that revo wanted to bounce. Well, I want to resurrect one “old” and add two new ideas into “Three Reforms.” So there Jiang Qing, you’re welcome.

Specifically, I think we should move to one single term six year presidency, place term limits of 12 years in the House and Senate, and repeal the 17th Amendment, which enabled the direct election of the US Senate. Why?

You can’t throw a dead cat around DC or DC liberal media without hearing them say our democracy is in danger. Like a demented political Jan Brady, for them it’s just democracy, democracy, democracy. Of course, all they are doing is building up a bogeyman for rubes to be frightened by. That bogeyman is the return to power of Donald Trump. Their talking point goes that if Trump is reelected then democracy is in danger. Utter bosh. Don’t much like the former president, but still, the idea that his presence again in the Oval will mean the end of the American experiment is plain silly.

If they really wanted to open the hood and look into the engine of our political process they’d see the problem is the power of politicians to range free and encumber us with their ridiculous notions and pathological need for power. As the Constitution was once essentially a prescriptive document denying government the power to abuse the citizenry, we must return to that knowledge of corruptible man and restrain the greedy leeches of government.

First off, let’s take reelection out of the presidential power equation and thus offer the occupant behind the Resolute desk less power to play with.

Have you noticed that the last two years of an eight year presidency most always sucks? That’s why the party in the White House never does well in their second midterms. Freed from that particular merry go round, the president may just focus on the good of the nation, as opposed to reelection. If not, the annoying lame duck is mercifully out two years early.

Then, an idea that has been needed for fifty years, term limits for Congress. Currently, Pelosi is a great example, members of Congress build fiefdoms that last decades, accruing more and more power to themselves. Six terms in the House and or two in the Senate should be more than enough time to gain the experience needed to govern without turning the office into their personal property and thus less representative of their constituents.

And lastly, repeal the 17th and let the Senate once more become an upper chamber the way the Founders designed it. Now, it’s just a supercharged House that has replaced the gravitas of deliberative function for shrill politics. It has ceased to represent the interests of the states and is a redundancy to the House. Before the 17th US Senators were elected by state legislatures who are less likely to be bamboozled by the passions of the moment or by a well marketed blow dried idiot.

So there you go. Three ideas that would reform politics in this country. Will they happen? Not anytime soon. Because those who would need to pass these reforms adore the current system, thank you very much. It suits their interests. The interests of the United States of America? Meh.