About a week ago I was lying in bed having a difficult time falling asleep. I usually think of "brilliant" ideas during these rare insomniac moments only to forget about the idea the next morning, or realize that the idea was actually not that smart.
This time I actually wanted to share my thoughts with others to see if I could have an actual impact on the world. As a frequent so-called lurker I finally decided to join Kos as a contributor.
Please allow me to apologize if I'm stealing others' ideas, I don't recall specifically reading these on Kos, but I know at least one idea has been discussed by others in the larger world. (Mike Wallace on the Colbert Report recently) I would like to propose two new laws and I believe adding them as Constitutional Amendments underlines the weight they should have.
The first idea is obviously related to current events. The President should not be allowed to pardon anyone who has worked in his or her administration. As I'm sure everyone reading realizes, the Presidential pardon allows any President to keep a distance from potentially illegal activities carried out by the administration. It's pretty much a Constitutionally protected cover-up tool and takes power away from us, "We the People". I would like it to include Vice Presidents who later become President ala Bush the First & Iran-Contra. I'm not talking about taking away the pardon, just limiting its use to everyone who has not worked in the same administration as the current President.
Secondly, "We the People" should have the ability to recall the executive branch. (Thanks Mike Wallace & others) I'm not sure what the details should be, but obviously more than a simple majority. It should take at least 60% of the popular vote to remove a President, and I would like it to be an annual event. There would potentially be too much turnover with a simple majority. Congress can still impeach for high crimes, but give "We the People" the ability to fire the executive if we don't like the direction we are being led.
I believe both of these ideas would go a long way towards restoring our country to democratic ideals. If the press is the unofficial fourth branch of government, I like to think of us, "We the People", as the neglected and under represented fifth branch of our representive democracy. We need more power in our government.
I know there are people a lot smarter than me out there who could word this better. I hope the ideas are clear. Let me know what you think. Thanks for reading.