The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Terry Bracy
American democracy is arthritic and in need of treatment. Consider this: half of the Members of of the Senate are 65 or older. One, namely Mitch McConnell, may only be half alive and is carried to the Chamber when needed for a vote. The average age of House Members is nearly 60.
Our current system favors the incumbency of many Members whose greatest achievement is to exit in a casket. That said, change will likely be fought by legislators hanging on for dear life. At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, an 80-year-old is showing the mental and physical rust acquired in a hard lived life.
Age is not always a measure of capacity, but the rapid decline of Trump is unmistakable and a danger to the Nation. His impulse to start a war with Iran, after nearly every experienced military advisor voted no, is an example of both fantasy and obduracy that can invade the aging mind.
People are also reading…
We must begin with term limits. As a typical Washington veteran, I scoffed at the idea that a constantly revolving Congress could acquire the requisite experience to generate good policy.
The opposite turns out is true as the elected body has offloaded its Constitutional power to a rogue White House on a mission to destroy representative governance. Ten years in the House and two terms in the Senate are plenty. This approach would refresh our legislature with younger talent and allow it to adapt to rapidly changing times.
No candidate older than 75 should be allowed to run for President. Term limits for service in the House and Senate and President are essential steps, but not nearly enough. America’s Road to Damascus is across
the street from the Capitol at the Supreme Court, currently controlled by conservatives who would be more appropriately dressed in red rather than black robes. In a single term, and with brazen arrogance, they have turned the clock back a half-century on women’s rights, banished local regulations on hand guns, deregulated our entire election system, and granted an outlaw President a free pass to commit what used to be felonies. Justice Alito gives new meaning to the word condensation in his partisan rulings, but at least he didn’t lie to get his job. That was the province of Amy Coney Barrett and Bret Kavanaugh, both of whom testified under oath that on abortion Roe was settled law yet when approved by the Senate they coldly abolished it. Perhaps the most damaging decision by the Roberts Court came in an earlier case, Citizens United v. FEC, where the conservative majority equated money with free speech, thereby wiping out the impact of every single legal restraint on political spending in the United States. That decision turned America’s political system into a casino inviting corporations and billionaires to place unlimited bets on both parties and always win the trifecta. Worse, the Court allowed anonymous contributions to PAC’S, so that voters don’t know whether the money is coming from Minneapolis or Moscow.
Once again, I find myself backtracking on a prior belief that the Court was sacrosanct and should be left alone to do its business. I now favor 12-year-terms to provide balance in the appointments to better keep up with a changing electorate. If I sound like a grouchy old man, let me give you one more target — ethics. The Supreme Court leaves ethical decisions to the individual Justices, implying that men and women of such distinction could surely police themselves. Maybe so, but there is plenty of evidence that Justices improve their incomes by taking soft side jobs as lecturers at universities, and that many enjoy elegant junkets graced by unnamed benefactors. The intellectual godfather of the right-wing Court was Justice Anthony Scalia who died at a luxury quail hunting resort as the guest of a still unidentified host. Although known as the junket king, Scalia had plenty of company on the liberal side of the bench.
Meanwhile, Congressional ethics rules tightened after Watergate have been watered down to the point that according to the New York Times, 20% of the Members are buying and selling stocks with the benefit of inside information. The buying and selling by Congressmen and Senators should be banned.
W. H. Auden observed that a poem is never completed, only abandoned. The same may be said of a great democracy: it is either constantly improving or laid to waste. What will it be?
Follow these steps to easily submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star.
Terry Bracy has served as a political adviser, campaign manager, congressional aide, sub-Cabinet official, board member and as an adviser to presidents.
