American Party Goal - Ethics

When ending my last post, "A Party within a Party", I pointed out that I did not have ideas regarding a focused goal for The American Party.  Well, I was taking my walk shortly after posting and it came to me.  I was thinking about the past three months, the protests, the news reporting, my conversations with people and I found a common thread.  Ethics!!!!!!!  trump has exposed our lack of ethics in government in an extreme way.  Not only in government, but in individuals that want to 'serve'.  In other words those that are not currently in our government, but are running for office.

I sincerely & strongly  believe that this is the pressing issue that needs immediate attention so that our nation does not repeat recent history.  This does not mean that we, the people of the United States, won't have disagreements over policy in our country, going forward.  We have a definite divide in our country.  There will always be differing opinions on resolutions to various issues,  There is no way that all people will think or feel the same.  That's ok, we'll work it out.  Not to everybody's liking, but well enough that most of us can live in peace with each other.

At this juncture, I do not think that discussing how to have these ethics issues take place can occur before identifying them.  First, we need to discuss and agree on what needs to be corrected.  I know that ethics, that morality cannot be legislated, but we can build a 'wall' (a firewall) to prevent individuals from being elected in our country who are unethical.  For me, the following are the key changes that I believe will limit the problem of a lack of ethics in our elected officials:

1.) At the federal level, any person running for an elected position; representatives for The House, Senators, Vice president and President must release their tax returns from the last tax return filed and for the four previous years as well, upon becoming the nominee for their respective party.  No 'ifs'. No 'ands'. No 'buts'.  When I say "upon", I do not mean a week later, I mean within 24 hours.  No time to tamper with records will be tolerable.  No excuses.  Everyone will know what is expected of them, so they must be prepared to release their tax returns for the last five years within 24 hours of accepting their respective party's nomination.  

My thinking is that if a person has nothing to hide, then this is not an issue.  Any person who objects to this on any grounds has something to hide.  Our elected officials while having to conform to all of the same laws that average citizens follow also need to be held to higher standards if they wish to obtain positions of power.

2.) An airtight law needs to be written that will require an elected President and Vice President of the United States to completely divest himself or herself of all business dealings and place all investments in a blind trust.  This would need to occur before the peaceful transfer of power takes place.  If the future president and Vice President are honest people then this will not be an issue.  If they are not honest people than they must not be allowed to assume office.  

Due to the 22nd amendment, the current President is not allowed to serve more than two terms, eight years.  The solution here is that the current Vice President becomes President until the divestment is complete.  At that point in time, the elected President can assume power within one week of the divestiture being completed.   This would most likely mean no grand inauguration ceremony.  So what?!?!!!  Just like a marriage, it's not the wedding ceremony that is important, it's the marriage itself!

3.) The Electoral College is not unethical, but it has twice in the past 16 years produced different results than the popular vote.  The American ideal is 'one person one vote'.  When the Constitution was written the culture was quite different than it is today.  To argue that the Constitution requires the Electoral College, case closed, is akin to saying Queen Elizabeth should be allowed to chop off anyone's head she darn well wants to.  Many centuries ago, the monarch of England could do as they pleased, but that was a different time, a different culture.  Two hundred and forty years ago the culture in our country gave land owners all of the power and there were slaves.  The populous was mostly illiterate and uneducated.  The framers of the Constitution, especially Hamilton, wanted a way to have everyone's vote counted, but have educated land owners have the final say.  

 We no longer live in the culture of 240 years ago.  The world has changed.  For the most part our society is literate and educated through high school.  For the most part.  We no longer have slaves.  Communications are much more reliable and what would once take days now takes a fraction of a second.  Our constitution was written to be a living changing document.  That is why the framers allowed for amendments.

The Electoral College has served its time.  It is time for a Constitutional amendment that abolishes the Electoral College.  I have proposed a 28th Amendment and sent it to the majority and Minority Leaders of both houses of Congress via certified mail as follows:

"So that each citizen's vote for The President of the United States  will be counted with equal weight, We the People of the United States hereby abolish the Electoral College in its entirety."

4.) One avenue to corrupt actions and behavior is having unlimited time in a position.  Congress has no limits on how long a representative can serve, other than elections.  Of course elections drive democracy, but if a political machine exists in any given area then representatives become complacent, they stagnate.  In order for our democracy to remain honest we need a flow of fresh individuals to keep our Congress healthy and vibrant.  We also need individuals with experience so that we are not constantly having a 'training' period which slows down our country's progress. To that end, we the people need to impose reasonable term limits on our national legislators and therefore I have also submitted the following 29th Amendment to the same leaders as the Electoral College amendment:

Section 1. No person shall be elected to The United States House of Representatives for more than nine (9) consecutive terms. For any Representative holding a seat when this article is proposed by the Congress, this article shall only apply upon ratification of this article as proscribed by Section 3, with the first term of the nine (9) consecutive terms to be upon the Representative being successfully elected after the ratification of this article.

Section 2. No person shall be elected to The United States Senate for more than three (3) consecutive terms. For any Senator holding a seat when this article is proposed by the Congress, this article shall only apply upon ratification of this article as proscribed by Section 3, with the first term of the three (3) consecutive terms to be upon the Senator being successfully elected after the ratification of this article.

Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several states within seven years from the date of its submission to the states by the Congress.

Here are what I see as the four most basic actions that will provide us with much more credible and honest elected officials.  Those that represent us through the process of election will be clear that they are accountable to us.  No 'ifs'.  No 'ands'.  No 'buts'!!!