We must now decide if we are to keep our Republic or if, as Germany, Italy and Spain did in the late 1930's, we will let it slide away into the hands of an authoritarian and fascist regime.
We have a system that has relied on a modicum of integrity from those who have power. But the system has major weaknesses that make it vulnerable to someone like Trump and those who support him. We will not be safe until those weaknesses are fixed. They include:
1. A judiciary whose independence is not required by the Constitution.
2. Lifetime appointments to SCOTUS. (I would go further and - for balance - have a new member nominated every two years by the party that LOST the most recent election.)
3. Gerrymandering. It should be a crime. (Now, there is no penalty for trying it. The worst that can happen is that you don't get the advantage you sought.)
4. Contributions to election campaigns should be legal ONLY from those who are entitled to vote in an election, i.e. within a district for the House, within a state for the Senate, etc. If you don't have a vote, you should not be able to influence an election, for the same reason that foreigners aren't allowed to contribute to presidential campaigns.
5. Electoral College: abolish it.
6. Presidential pardons: abolish them.
Sadly, this is a long list. We are a very long way from having a bullet-proof system of government.
We have a system that has relied on a modicum of integrity from those who have power. But the system has major weaknesses that make it vulnerable to someone like Trump and those who support him. We will not be safe until those weaknesses are fixed. They include:
1. A judiciary whose independence is not required by the Constitution.
2. Lifetime appointments to SCOTUS. (I would go further and - for balance - have a new member nominated every two years by the party that LOST the most recent election.)
3. Gerrymandering. It should be a crime. (Now, there is no penalty for trying it. The worst that can happen is that you don't get the advantage you sought.)
4. Contributions to election campaigns should be legal ONLY from those who are entitled to vote in an election, i.e. within a district for the House, within a state for the Senate, etc. If you don't have a vote, you should not be able to influence an election, for the same reason that foreigners aren't allowed to contribute to presidential campaigns.
5. Electoral College: abolish it.
6. Presidential pardons: abolish them.
Sadly, this is a long list. We are a very long way from having a bullet-proof system of government.