How should we elect our presidents?
M. Orhan Tarhan
February 06, 2008
Our way of electing our President of the United States leaves a lot to be desired. It takes too long, we are spending a ridiculous amount of money for it, and we still are not always getting the quality people we should get.
This complaint is not new. I remember the election of Goldwater versus L.B. Johnson. I was in Bethlehem, PA. visiting a neighbor´s home, on a Sunday. Everyone thought that the choice of candidates was not good. An elderly gentleman who said he was the anchor man of a New England radio station, explained why it was so. He said that at the city and county levels, political jobs pay very little and are some times part-time jobs. Only lawyers who are not successful in their own profession take these jobs, some times as a second job. These people eventually become congressmen and senators and even president. Thus, the route to the presidency is like a two step beauty contest. In the first step we elect the ugliest girls in town. Then in the second step we elect a beauty queen among the ugly girls. "That is why, said the elderly radio anchor man, we have such a bad choice of candidates."
Thus, to improve the quality of our presidents, we should set certain quality standards that any candidate should meet. Our constitution tells us what the president does, but it does not tell us what kind of a person he should be and what his capabilities should be
Let us first discuss the quality person we need as a president. There are two lines of thought: The first is that a president cannot know every thing. Thus, we can even elect a dummy, but give him all sorts of consultants and advisors, who each are very knowledgeable in their fields. The second idea is to elect a very knowledgeable president who is a true leader and still give him all sorts of consultants and advisors. In the first case, the president will be a dummy, will think like a dummy, and will act as a dummy, no matter how many smart advisors he has. That is a very bad idea. We will certainly prefer the second idea and list the President´s desirable qualifications as follows:
(1) He or she must be a proven leader. He/she must have a track record of leadership in government or business. He/she must know how to manage a large organization and must have proven it. In view of the fact that the President of the United States is a sort of leader of the free world, the leadership quality is very important.
(2) He/she must have studied the history of the United States and of the world and he/she must know the contemporary geography of the world. This is absolutely necessary, because American public schools do not teach foreign history or geography. The president cannot be expected to make sound decisions on foreign lands, without knowing anything about them. That is knowledge that the president must acquire before becoming president. It would be helpful, but not necessary, if the president spoke at least one foreign language among French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese
(3) The president must be between the ages of 35 and 60 at his inauguration Under this rule there will never be a president older than 64
The Vice President must have the same qualifications as the President, because he/she has a chance of becoming president, if anything happens to the sitting President. The vice president must be trained , at the beginning of his/her term, in three months periods as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense
The election campaign should not take more than six months before November of the presidential election year. In the first three months , the parties shall elect their candidates and in the second three months the candidates shall campaign for the November election. There shall be no campaigning outside of these six months. The customary discussions among candidates, the questioning of the candidates by the people, the publication of each candidate´s ideas and plans, the party conventions, can all be programmed in the three months periods. The present custom of having over two years of campaigning is outrageously expensive, terribly hard on the candidates but very profitable for the TV industry. There is no proof that it produces a better president. Many people think that any one who consents to go through this long eroding and abrasive ordeal should have his/her head examined, and therefore should not qualify as a president.
The elections shall be financed by a presidential election fund that shall be collected from individual tax returns every four years at the rate of $0.10 a person.( It would produce about $7,500,000) Candidates shall not accept money or anything valuable from corporations or from individuals, outside of the Fund. Candidates who do not receive more than 5 % of the vote, must return what they received from the Election Fund. This change will eliminate the fringe parties from the election. The election fund will prevent the excessive influence of corporations and special interests in government policies. Our government will be a voters´ government, not a corporation´s government. Because the politicians will have to be loyal to the voters, not to the corporations.
The total votes cast in all the states shall elect the president. The role of the state electors shall be eliminated. The president shall be elected by all the people, not by delegates of states. After being elected, the President must always show that he is representing all the people. He should avoid partisanship and getting influenced by any group´s race, gender, or religion.
Finally, it must be made independent of political partisanship to impeach a president, if he would take the country to an obviously dangerous road, such as in to a war that is not a national defense war, or lead the country to a financial ruin by spending like a drunken sailor. A law must be passed to that effect. In this case the judge should be non partisan, it should be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. [The only legitimate wars are those of national defense. Anything else is a crime. Kemal Ataturk]
It is just the right time now to check the current Republican and Democratic candidates, whether they will measure up to the above qualifications. Do they know foreign history and geography? Are they true leaders, are they capable of running large organizations? Are they going to stop the Iraq War? Are they going to continue the fight against the Taliban and the Al Qaeda with the conviction that they will be defeated?
This complaint is not new. I remember the election of Goldwater versus L.B. Johnson. I was in Bethlehem, PA. visiting a neighbor´s home, on a Sunday. Everyone thought that the choice of candidates was not good. An elderly gentleman who said he was the anchor man of a New England radio station, explained why it was so. He said that at the city and county levels, political jobs pay very little and are some times part-time jobs. Only lawyers who are not successful in their own profession take these jobs, some times as a second job. These people eventually become congressmen and senators and even president. Thus, the route to the presidency is like a two step beauty contest. In the first step we elect the ugliest girls in town. Then in the second step we elect a beauty queen among the ugly girls. "That is why, said the elderly radio anchor man, we have such a bad choice of candidates."
Thus, to improve the quality of our presidents, we should set certain quality standards that any candidate should meet. Our constitution tells us what the president does, but it does not tell us what kind of a person he should be and what his capabilities should be
Let us first discuss the quality person we need as a president. There are two lines of thought: The first is that a president cannot know every thing. Thus, we can even elect a dummy, but give him all sorts of consultants and advisors, who each are very knowledgeable in their fields. The second idea is to elect a very knowledgeable president who is a true leader and still give him all sorts of consultants and advisors. In the first case, the president will be a dummy, will think like a dummy, and will act as a dummy, no matter how many smart advisors he has. That is a very bad idea. We will certainly prefer the second idea and list the President´s desirable qualifications as follows:
(1) He or she must be a proven leader. He/she must have a track record of leadership in government or business. He/she must know how to manage a large organization and must have proven it. In view of the fact that the President of the United States is a sort of leader of the free world, the leadership quality is very important.
(2) He/she must have studied the history of the United States and of the world and he/she must know the contemporary geography of the world. This is absolutely necessary, because American public schools do not teach foreign history or geography. The president cannot be expected to make sound decisions on foreign lands, without knowing anything about them. That is knowledge that the president must acquire before becoming president. It would be helpful, but not necessary, if the president spoke at least one foreign language among French, German, Japanese, Russian, and Chinese
(3) The president must be between the ages of 35 and 60 at his inauguration Under this rule there will never be a president older than 64
The Vice President must have the same qualifications as the President, because he/she has a chance of becoming president, if anything happens to the sitting President. The vice president must be trained , at the beginning of his/her term, in three months periods as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense
The election campaign should not take more than six months before November of the presidential election year. In the first three months , the parties shall elect their candidates and in the second three months the candidates shall campaign for the November election. There shall be no campaigning outside of these six months. The customary discussions among candidates, the questioning of the candidates by the people, the publication of each candidate´s ideas and plans, the party conventions, can all be programmed in the three months periods. The present custom of having over two years of campaigning is outrageously expensive, terribly hard on the candidates but very profitable for the TV industry. There is no proof that it produces a better president. Many people think that any one who consents to go through this long eroding and abrasive ordeal should have his/her head examined, and therefore should not qualify as a president.
The elections shall be financed by a presidential election fund that shall be collected from individual tax returns every four years at the rate of $0.10 a person.( It would produce about $7,500,000) Candidates shall not accept money or anything valuable from corporations or from individuals, outside of the Fund. Candidates who do not receive more than 5 % of the vote, must return what they received from the Election Fund. This change will eliminate the fringe parties from the election. The election fund will prevent the excessive influence of corporations and special interests in government policies. Our government will be a voters´ government, not a corporation´s government. Because the politicians will have to be loyal to the voters, not to the corporations.
The total votes cast in all the states shall elect the president. The role of the state electors shall be eliminated. The president shall be elected by all the people, not by delegates of states. After being elected, the President must always show that he is representing all the people. He should avoid partisanship and getting influenced by any group´s race, gender, or religion.
Finally, it must be made independent of political partisanship to impeach a president, if he would take the country to an obviously dangerous road, such as in to a war that is not a national defense war, or lead the country to a financial ruin by spending like a drunken sailor. A law must be passed to that effect. In this case the judge should be non partisan, it should be the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. [The only legitimate wars are those of national defense. Anything else is a crime. Kemal Ataturk]
It is just the right time now to check the current Republican and Democratic candidates, whether they will measure up to the above qualifications. Do they know foreign history and geography? Are they true leaders, are they capable of running large organizations? Are they going to stop the Iraq War? Are they going to continue the fight against the Taliban and the Al Qaeda with the conviction that they will be defeated?
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