Here’s a little thought experiment I’d love to try. It comes in two parts:
Part 1: On January 1, 2011, we put every member of Congress (along with their families if they want to go) on a big cruise ship. Two, if necessary. And they set off on a year-long cruise, around the world. They’ll stop –for 24 hours– at the nicest ports of call, but a security escort sees that they get back on the boat. At meals, they’re seated R-D-R-D-R.
Part 2: The management of our country is turned over to Google and Apple for this year. Any questions of constitutionality go immediately to the Supreme Court of a ruling within 24 hours.
Any bureaucrat that puts sand in the wheels can be immediately dismissed, without cushy government pension.
What would/could Google and Apple accomplish in a year? No idea. Would they institute a bunch of policies that do nothing more than line their pockets. Maybe, but I don’t think so.
At the end of the year, every U. S. citizen casts a single vote on whether to keep the Google and Apple teams for another year. This vote will be electronic and an effort will be made to get everyone in front of a computer.
As for Congress, we’ll let them off the boat if the project goes for a second year, on the condition they don’t try to foment rebellion. If they do, back on the luxury cruise ship.
And what happens if The People vote to send the Google and Apple kids back to California? There’s a year of transition, during which the HR departments of the two companies recruit, interview and hire the best and brightest to serve in Congress 2.0. The new kids take over on January 1 of the following year and serve a 2 year term, at the end of which, we return to the current system of electing officials. But none of the Boat People can serve (they had their chance).
I fear our system is so broken that it no longer has the means to repair itself. The people wielding that power do not want to fix it. They like it fine, as long as it allows them to remain in power.
PS: This might make an interesting movie or novel, no?
I was thinking more along the lines of putting the country on life support for a year or two, while our form of government healed itself. But I’m okay with your idea, too.
since this is a new form of Government you wouldn’t really need a Supreme Court to rule on constitutionality of new laws because there would be a new constitution
Here what you do: Appoint a panel of three respected law professors…one conservitive, one liberal and one moderate. Any constitutional issue is brought before them.
I will stipulate that SC judges are likely to be bozos. For the purpose of my thought experiment, we’ll put the judges on the boat, too. The Google/Apple team will all carry copies of the U.S.Constitution on their laptops/iPhones/Nexus and refer to it at least daily.
I don’t *want* bozos. But I don’t think we should be so quick to assume the judges aren’t bozos, too. And we can’t vote them out in 2 years.
Okay, let’s try this. No SC rulings during the first year. IF and when the people vote to bring back the bozos… first order of business is to undo any changes made by Apple/Google team.
That you would rather have “bozos” goes far in explaining why we do.
Interesting that you send Congress off on a cruise ship and leave the judges in charge. What if the prevailing view of the judicial branch — not its specific rulings, but the power we have ceded to it — is a major part of why the system’s not working?
Give me 535 accountable, elected bozos any day.
Great concept, and you’re probably right. The system is corrupt and there’s no way to fix it with the foxes guarding the henhouse. Unless, of course, The People got serious about it.