Writing two blogs in as many weeks about the current state of the Democratic Party got me thinking about some of the necessary political reforms that will be required to avoid another Trump-like political phenomenon in the future. Admittedly, such thoughts assume that we will, at some point, throw off the chains of Trump’s dictatorship and return the country to some sort of democratic normalcy. I am a “Cup half full” person at heart rather than a “Cup half empty” pessimist, so I continue to think positively, although I hope not naïvely.
Two major changes immediately came to mind and, although I have mentioned them before, I think they are worth repeating. In the overall scheme of things, they may appear minor, but I think they contribute to a more stable and sustainable democracy, so I make no excuses for presenting them here and now. I also hope that we, the general public, can start thinking about a world of post-Trumpian politics, and begin to force our politicians to think the same way – they are supposed to represent us, after all!
The two suggestions I have at this point – to be supplemented as time goes by with your (my readers) help – are (1) The elimination of presidential “Executive Orders” without Congressional veto oversight, and (2) The elimination of “Sunset Clauses” from any, and all, legislatively-passed laws.
The concept of “Executive Orders” is not intrinsically bad – it was designed to allow a rational president to make quick decisions in emergency situations. However, it was certainly not designed to allow a deranged president from “ruling” through such documents. Other presidents have used Executive Orders in questionable situations, but nothing approaches the scale of abuse that Trump has visited on the concept.
I should perhaps add here that the vast majority of his Executive Orders came from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document, so they do not even come from an elected official. (Recent reports suggest that 53% of Project 2025’s domestic agenda has already been implemented, mostly through these orders).
The practice of Executive Orders should immediately be stopped until such time as Congress can design a system that permits the original concept of “quick reaction to emergencies”, while eliminating the possibility of presidential abuse of that power. The ability to react quickly to a valid emergency is obviously a necessary power for any country leader, but Trump has vividly demonstrated that it must be strictly and enforceably controlled to avoid future exploitation by any president, let alone a deranged wanabee dictator.
As a possible caveat to this proposed elimination of Executive Order “immediately”, I would remind my readers, and any future democratic President and Congress, that Donald Trump’s abuse of Executive Orders has opened up their possible use in a perhaps unexpected way; a future President could issue one Executive Order nullifying all of Trump’s Executive Orders from both of his administrations – one simple document. An interesting idea!!
I have written before about the lazy and counter-productive nature of legislative “Sunset Clauses”. Sunset clauses in legislation simply limit the timeframe of that law; the law automatically expires after a certain time period, which means it has to be re-enacted again to continue to apply. On the surface that doesn’t seem such a bad idea since legislative bodies seem to enact a myriad of laws just to prove that they are actually doing something – a bit harsh, I agree, but perfectly valid also. However, Sunset Clauses, which occur in most democracies worldwide, are generally added to legislation because the legislators are too lazy to put in the effort necessary to persuade opponents that the proposed law is valid.
“If you support this bill, it will run out in a few years anyway, AND I will support your next bill on the same basis even though I don’t agree with it” – legislative corruption legalized!!
It also means the legislators are creating future work for themselves, which may help to keep them in office, but which is time-redundant if the Sunset clause did not exist – again harsh, but true.
If a law is that bad, or becomes irrelevant, it can always be amended, or even revoked, but that means work on the part of the legislators that is not publicly-saleable for television time – obviously a no-no for any politician!
Few laws that are subject sunset clauses actually get re-enacted when they expire because there is little political gain from doing that. It is all about getting your name in the papers, and on television, for enacting something new. Many very worthwhile laws have ended up in the garbage can through this process. However, the public has a very short memory in our soundbite world and so, apparently, do our politicians.
Sunset Clauses are a stupid, lazy, politically expedient, concept that does us – the electorate – no good what-so-ever, is often even detrimental to us, and should be eliminated.
WITH YOUR HELP, THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF AN EFFORT TO IDENTIFY NECESSARY REFORMS FOR WHEN SOME SORT OF NOMALCY RETURNS TO THE U.S. POLITICAL SCENE!!
I live in hope.
