A More Perfect Constitution

1. The Constitution is an inspired but outdated blueprint that requires a modern structural renovation.

The time is now to form a more perfect Union by creating a more perfect Constitution.

Archaic structural failures. The original U.S. Constitution was a masterpiece of eighteenth-century political compromise, but its basic machinery has rusted over 220 years. While the core principles of liberty and separation of powers remain sacred, the structural details are failing a continental nation of over 300 million people.

The cost of stagnation. Our political system is paralyzed by gridlock, special-interest dominance, and a permanent campaign cycle that prioritizes reelection over sound public policy.

• Partisan gerrymandering has eliminated competitive elections.
• The Senate has become highly unrepresentative of the actual population.
• Lifetime judicial appointments insulate judges from the democratic mainstream.

A generational duty. The founders never intended for their work to be treated as an unalterable, sacred text. Leaders like Washington, Jefferson, and Madison explicitly expected future generations to adapt the constitutional framework to the practical realities of their times.

2. Rebalancing the Senate and House will restore true representative democracy.

Therefore, the current Senate is absurdly skewed in the direction of the small states.

Severe representation disparities. The Senate's equal-representation rule has reached a grotesque extreme, where the population ratio between the largest and smallest states has grown from 12-to-1 in 1787 to 70-to-1 today. Currently, a mere 17 percent of the American electorate can install a majority of U.S. senators, creating a tyranny of the minority.

A balanced legislative fix. To restore fairness without destroying the federalist structure, we must expand the Senate to 135 members using a tiered population formula.

• The 10 largest states would gain two additional Senate seats.
• The next 15 largest states would gain one additional seat.
• The 25 smallest states would retain their current two seats.
• Former presidents and vice presidents would serve as non-partisan "national senators."

Expanding the House. Simultaneously, the House of Representatives should be expanded to 1,000 members to bring representatives closer to their constituents. This expansion would reduce the average district size to 300,000 people, lowering campaign costs and diluting the influence of professional political elites.

3. Generous term limits and nonpartisan redistricting are essential to break the incumbency stranglehold.

Instead of the people choosing their House members, the House members now use redistricting to choose their voters.

The death of competition. Incumbency has become a self-perpetuating oligarchy, with reelection rates in the House frequently exceeding 95 percent. Through sophisticated computer modeling, politicians carve up voting districts to guarantee safe seats, effectively draining the lifeblood of democratic choice.

Restoring electoral choice. We must mandate a constitutional system of universal, nonpartisan redistricting to replace the corrupt gerrymandering process.

• Independent citizen commissions or panels of retired judges will draw compact districts.
• District boundaries will prioritize geographic compactness and community cohesion.
• Partisan competition will be actively built into the map-drawing process.

Enacting term limits. To complement redistricting reform, a constitutional limit of twelve years of consecutive service should be established for both the House and the Senate. This generous limit preserves institutional memory while ensuring a healthy, regular rotation of fresh talent and ideas.

4. A Balanced Budget Amendment and Continuity of Government plan will safeguard America's future.

I sincerely believe . . . that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale.

Generational fiscal theft. The federal government's chronic inability to balance its books has saddled future generations with a mountainous national debt. Because politicians are incentivized to please immediate special interests, they borrow from the unborn, who have no voice in today's elections.

A flexible fiscal constraint. A Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA) must be added to the Constitution to enforce long-term fiscal discipline.

• Outlays must not exceed revenues in any given fiscal year.
• A 55 percent supermajority in both houses can waive the requirement.
• Automatic escape clauses will apply during times of war or economic recession.

Preparing for catastrophe. Additionally, we must establish a Continuity of Government (COG) plan to protect the legislature from terrorist attacks. If a substantial number of lawmakers are killed or incapacitated, governors must be empowered to make temporary appointments from a pre-set, same-party succession list.

5. A six-year presidential term with a confirmation election will end the permanent campaign.

A president without the threat of humiliation by defeat would be potentially dangerous.

The permanent campaign. Under the current four-year term, a president spends the first half of their term adjusting to office and the second half campaigning for reelection. This constant political posturing forces chief executives to make policy decisions based on short-term electoral salability rather than the long-term national interest.

The confirmation compromise. To solve this, we should establish a six-year presidential term with a unique fifth-year confirmation election.

• The president is elected to an initial six-year term.
• In the fifth year, voters cast a simple yes-or-no ballot on the president's performance.
• A "yes" vote grants a two-year extension, totaling eight years in office.
• A "no" vote triggers a competitive, two-party election in the sixth year.

Centrist policy incentives. This system removes the need for a president to pander to their party's ideological extremes for renomination. Instead, they are incentivized to govern from the pragmatic center to secure a majority in the up-or-down national referendum.

6. Restoring the constitutional war-making balance will curb unilateral executive overreach.

The era of open-ended, unilateral war making by presidents should be brought to an end, and it will not happen without a remedy such as the one discussed here.

The imperial presidency. Over the last century, the constitutional division of war powers has been systematically dismantled by executive overreach. While the Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war, successive presidents have used their commander-in-chief status to launch unilateral military adventures without legislative accountability.

Binding executive mischief. We must codify and strengthen the War Powers Resolution directly into the text of the Constitution.

• Unilateral presidential military deployments will be strictly limited to ninety days.
• Congress must vote up-or-down to authorize any continuation of hostilities.
• Legislative authorizations will automatically expire after six months or one year.
• Re-authorization will require a fresh congressional vote, free from presidential veto.

Shared national sacrifice. Forcing the executive to secure continuous, explicit legislative approval ensures that the nation is truly committed before putting American lives at risk. This rebalancing of power will prevent long, bloody, and unpopular conflicts that drain our treasury and divide our society.

7. Eliminating lifetime judicial tenure will bring humility and accountability to the federal bench.

A judge insulated from the normal currents of life for 25 or 30 years was a rarity then but is becoming commonplace today.

The ivory tower problem. Lifetime judicial tenure has insulated federal judges from the democratic mainstream, transforming the courts into an unelected super-legislature. Freed from any accountability, judges frequently "evolve" to impose their personal political and moral preferences under the guise of constitutional interpretation.

A term-limited judiciary. To restore humility and balance to the federal bench, we must establish clear limits on judicial service.

• All federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, will be limited to a single, nonrenewable fifteen-year term.
• A mandatory retirement age of seventy-five or eighty will be established for all federal jurists.
• The Supreme Court will be expanded from nine to twelve justices.
• An even-numbered bench of twelve will reduce the outsized influence of a single "swing" justice.

Protecting judicial independence. While limiting tenure, we must safeguard the judiciary's independence by guaranteeing automatic, annual cost-of-living salary increases. This package of reforms ensures that the courts remain supreme but not eternal, keeping them anchored to the society they serve.

8. A regional lottery system and a mended Electoral College will fix presidential selection.

The incoherent organization of primaries and caucuses, and the candidates’ mad-dash attempts to move around the map, would be funny if the goal—electing the leader of the free world—weren’t so serious.

A chaotic nominating system. The current presidential primary calendar is a front-loaded disaster that gives two small, unrepresentative states—Iowa and New Hampshire—monopolistic power over the selection of nominees. Candidates must spend years raising millions of dollars to compete in a chaotic, exhausting, and highly polarized process.

The regional lottery solution. We must establish a constitutional Regional Lottery Plan to bring order and fairness to the nominating calendar.

• The nation will be divided into four contiguous geographic regions.
• A lottery held on January 1 of the election year will determine the monthly voting order.
• Primaries will be restricted to a four-month window from April to July.
• Two randomly selected small states will lead off the voting in mid-March.

Mending the Electoral College. To prevent future popular-vote misfires, we must reform the Electoral College by eliminating faithless electors and allocating additional electors to larger states. We must also abolish the undemocratic House unit-rule for breaking ties, replacing it with a "one congressperson, one vote" system.

9. Universal National Service will foster a shared culture of civic responsibility.

Enjoying the benefits of living in a great democracy is not a God-given right.

A bill of responsibilities. Modern American citizenship has become heavily focused on individual rights while largely ignoring the obligations of the social contract. To rebuild a sense of shared national purpose, we must establish a constitutional requirement for Universal National Service (UNS).

A flexible service mandate. All able-bodied citizens between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six will be required to devote two years to their country.

• Participants can choose between military service and a wide array of civilian options.
• Civilian options will include conservation corps, disaster relief, and tutoring programs.
• The program will be administered by decentralized, local national service boards.
• Subsistence-level wages and basic health benefits will be provided to all participants.

Bridging social divides. UNS will bring young Americans together across lines of race, class, and geography, fostering a healthy, shared democratic culture. By requiring everyone to contribute, we will ensure that the burdens of national defense and community building are shared equitably by all.

10. An Article V Constitutional Convention is the only viable path to comprehensive reform.

The Founders foresaw that and they provided the Convention as a remedy.

The congressional graveyard. Congress has proven to be a dependable graveyard for constitutional reform, having proposed only a handful of amendments in recent decades. Because many of the necessary reforms directly limit congressional power and privilege, the legislature will never willingly reform itself.

The state-initiated convention. Fortunately, Article V of the Constitution provides a second, untried method of reform: a state-initiated national convention.

• Two thirds of the state legislatures (thirty-four) must petition Congress to call a convention.
• Delegates to the convention will be elected by the people on a nonpartisan basis.
• The convention will operate under a "one person, one vote" rule for all delegates.
• Any proposed amendments must still be ratified by three quarters of the states (thirty-eight).

A participatory national dialogue. A modern Constitutional Convention would spark a vibrant, nationwide debate assisted by the Internet and mass media. By bypassing the paralyzed Washington establishment, we can seize back for the people the ability to define our national destiny and form a more perfect Union.