She suggested suspending elections because of gridlock. Good grief! The official word is that she was not serious, though apparently she certainly sounded serious at the event. Way to give the Republicans ammunition, Bev. Obviously we can't simply suspend parts of the constitution, and there's no way to reinterpret the requirement for biennial elections. It's mundane, procedural, and highly specific.
If, on the other hand, you want to suggest extending the length of House terms, I'm very open to that. I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to, say, making the House term variable length with a maximum of four years with new elections to be called after at least one year upon the command of the president. In exchange, the president would give up the veto, thus eliminating another element of gridlock, while the presidential ability to call a snap election would replace it as a check on the legislative branch. That's the way it works in Fifth Republic France.
Or you could just make them four-year fixed terms. If you want to maintain the check on the executive that midterms provide, straddle them so that the House is only elected on the midterms. That's the way the Virginia Senate works. I'm not entirely sure that would help with gridlock, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment