Two (and a half) critical reforms for America’s polity (2008)

November 20, 2008 — drsubrotoroy

American friends tell me they have liked what I had to say in my November 2006 article “American Democracy”,  which may be found elsewhere here.   I continue to think the polity of the United States needs long-term reform for the reasons stated in that article.

Surprisingly enough, the critical reforms would be rather simple and two-fold:

(A) Extending the tenure of the House of Representatives to, say, four years.

(B) Separating the Head of State from the Head of Government.

The former cannot be something very hard to accomplish, relatively speaking, though of course it would need amending the Constitution. Its positive result would be to calm political discussion and behaviour, making them less myopic and nerve-racking than at present.

The latter would be more complicated as there are alternatives possible.  A French model preserves the political power of the Head of State relative to the Head of Government.  Other models, e.g. of Germany or Britain or India, has the Head of State being a mere (but crucial) constitutional figurehead, while the real political business is carried out by the Head of Government.

My own recommendation would be to have an indirectly elected Head of State in the United States (elected, for example, by the House and the Senate as well as the State Legislatures) who maintains the dignity  of the nation and the decorum of the office and is above the fray, while the Head of Government is elected directly much like a President is now (except there need be no Veep running-mate).

Indeed the present nomenclature need not be too hard to modify once it is seen possible for a President as Head of State to be elected indirectly and be a constitutional figurehead, while the Vice-President (?)/Prime Minister (?) could be elected as the Head of Government much in the way a current President is.  The term in office of the Head of State and  that of the Head of Government probably should not coincide.

Politics is a tough and ugly business and it is dismaying  (and destructive) to see, under the present American system, every Head of State inevitably dragged through the mud as has happened since the end of the Eisenhower Administration (coinciding too with the rise of the television age).

Subroto Roy

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