This is part 2 in the massive multi-part update that holds in it the secrets to keeping and revitalizing our great republic. Last time, for those that did not read, I discussed the House of Representatives and how they should be chosen by a lottery. This update we will be focusing on the Senate.
Now if you're anything like me, and chances are you're not, you'd be a big fan of ancient Roman history. Watching the decline of the Roman Republic I can see a lot of those elements within our own American Republic. And the greatest embodiment of republican virtue was, and should be, the Senate. Now unlike the Romans we do not determine senators based on birth or social class. We do it by democracy. And in this, unlike the House, I have no problem. The Senate shouldn't necessarily be a representation of the people but be a body to represent the whole of the nation. The people and the nation itself do not always share the same interests, which is part of the reason for distinction between the two houses. The Senate is also supposed to be a more enlightened, impassioned body of legislature, where cooler heads reside.
The problem with the Senate arises however, where much like the House, it has essentially become a social class of its own. This promotes two equally bad qualities in senators; legislative stagnation where senators are relatively the same across the board and seek only to maintain their opulent lifestyles, and to combat this, it increases radicalism in new candidates seeking to differentiate themselves from the incumbent they run against. Simply put, power stays in too few hands for too long. This is never good for a modern government. But to combat this I do not propose a radical new system of democracy. No, what I propose is much more mundane and established; term limits.
The basic system of senatorial elections is, for the most part fine. But with term limits it forces new people into the system, which decrease incentives for senators to promote a self sustaining power system. After all, Senators are going to be back in the civilian system after a period of time, it's unlikely they're going to support a opulent lifestyle that they won't get to enjoy for very long.
Keep in mind, I think a large portion of senators aren't the problem. The problem is the party system. It subverts actual change to the APPEARANCE of TRYING to change or accomplish something. Senators are forced to rely on the party to continue to be reelected, and as such they aren't going to try and dynamically change things if the situation calls for it. Which means we as a nation stagnate. Ensuring that senators only have 2 possible reelections to worry about, weakens party controls but it frees senators up to worry about things other than themselves.
But what should the limits be? Well, to be it's fairly simple. No more than 3 terms of 6 years apiece (grand total of 18 years) with no more than 2 consecutive terms to be served. In simple terms it means that any senator cannot serve more than 18 years in a life time with at least 6 years of a break somewhere between terms.
Now, this won't have the drastic change on the Senate that the lottery would have on the House, and in truth it's not supposed to. The goal is to keep the Senate from becoming a social club for its members and increase the pool of people who have experience in government. The only radical change I'm suggesting is that the vice president, who presides over the Senate, would be a new position; one that is not tied to political parties. The sole duty would be leading the Senate and casting tie votes. This ties in with my suggestions for Presidential changes but I won't give those away until the next update.
To me the Senate should be the primary means of governing our nation. Not the House, even though it is a more direct representative of the people, nor the President, because that is an office more for representing our nation to other nations. Which means we need to promote the best and brightest to the senatorial ranks and we need to keep forcing the best and brightest into it. Let someone younger, hungrier, more driven, into the ranks.
