Trump’s SOTU, instead of being a catalogue of fabulous eccentricities, should be a panoply of congressional failures sourced from the last 30 years. During this portion of the presentation a rotating screen will capture the projected images of those bad actors responsible for these legislative failures including those who have made a career out of bleeding the American Public by remaining in office for more than 2 terms. Trump would serve the interest of the American public best by illustrating how quickly even the best and most promising of his ideas quickly decomposed due to bipartisan compromise or the poisonous elixir of political expedience, a system unwilling to be productive. Trump should include a new SOTU feature which highlights the legislative or meritorious bumbling of Congressional Members including a current year report by the Congressional Ethics Committee. For the inaugural offering might I suggest the illustrious antics of Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Barton, Sen. Graham or Sen. Durbin.
I believe the SOTU should be used to inform the general public, to truly give the People an inside view of the activities that lie behind the actual State of the Union; let them see what is being done in their name, allegedly, for benefiting, improving or otherwise advancing the interests of the American People. Presidential content will be strictly limited to reporting on the general economic well-being of the nation, legislative and policy advancements, economic and fiscal measures, percentage of savings and debt-free housing improvements as well as immigration and security measures. The presentation will be limited to a maximum of forty-five minutes with the customary rebuttal delivered by the Senior Member of the Minority Party. The rebuttal, whose duration should not exceed twenty minutes, must occur immediately following the Presidential address. At the conclusion of both presentations the text, including documentation relied upon in support of any/all claims or assertions presented, shall be submitted to the Sergeant at Arms for fact-checking and ultimate scoring. The results (scoring), with explanations, are to be made public on or before twenty-four hours following the conclusion of the SOTU address. I think it’s about time we attempt an element of authenticity otherwise, let’s strip them all down to their jogging suits and make them play dodge-ball for an hour or so. As it is the entire affair is simply a painful reminder of just how far the decay has progressed.
Curtis C. Greco, Founder
The following are additional comments/questions and or responses added post publication. They may be of interest.
I believe that the moment the distinction of statehood, the term confederation and representative-democracy join into the same conversation is the very same moment the concept of popular-vote goes out the door. For those who find the topic (Popular Vote) of interest the writings of James Madison (Federalist No 10) and Alexander Hamilton (Federalist No 68) offer very interesting perspectives on the universality of Sovereign Freedoms which takes the discussion beyond the realm of the one man-one vote concept and into the discussion of what is “representative of the whole” when thinking in terms of not just the Individual or the Individual State but what becomes representative of the whole when considering the national level. Since the passage of the 17th Amendment, prior to which Senators where elected to a 6 year term by the State Legislature, the Popular Vote is the method used to select Senators (two for each state). This process of electing Senators by popular vote has, over time, proven to be less than representative, particularly in the cases where state redistricting has favored one party over another. California, for example, is the perfect case study where the convergence of party influences and redistricting of and over highly concentrated (population) areas overwhelmingly influence election results and, effectively, rendered the State ungovernable. The short version is this: In a nation such as the U.S. where the convergence of Sovereign Statehood merges under a confederation/central government, the use of a Popular Vote mechanism, versus an electoral method untethered to party identity, diminishes the representative ideal as population variance among state grow both in number and in disparate characteristics. Finally, to one of the comments that referred to “Pluralism” I think we should be cautious with allowing this concept to become too influential; which is one of the most conspicuous problems of our time. It is true that a plurality of Humans came together, and more over time, each with their own unique backgrounds, wealth, faith, skills, race etc. and yet, and this is critical, they manage to converge upon a Common Ideal that they agreed upon as being those Ideals that we could hold to be true for all. It is critical that we return to the understanding of what the Common Ideal is and why it is essential that it not be displaced by political expedience or advantage. Our failure as a Nation is that we’ve lost track of the very system that, despite our many differences, allowed our form of government to work and for the nation to prosper. CG
