America Needs a Second Reconstruction

It is not too soon to think about a restructuring of our political society and governing institutions

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It’s 476 A.D. in America

In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion of mankind… The gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury.

This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated.

Instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. [Emphasis added]

Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Gibbon’s epic work was published in the 18th Century. He marked 476, the year a Germanic barbarian leader deposed the 11-year-old Roman Emperor and declared himself king of Italy, as the end of the Roman Empire.¹ Given the chaos that has accompanied Donald Trump’s return to the White House, we could consider that the United States is experiencing its own 476. We have been abusing “the advantages of wealth and luxury” for decades, and the current administration is hellbent on extinguishing ”the fire of genius” that marked the growth of our fledgling republic into the world’s superpower. We are sliding into a full-blown kakistocracy, with the worst among us guiding the ship of state onto the rocks. Our economic stability is threatened, our place as the leader of the free world is diminishing, and our President is cozying up to authoritarian leaders who are the enemies of democracy. A homegrown barbarian is now our head of state.

These are dark times, but I believe that a brighter future is still possible. We are in a war of sorts, a war in which the nation, having ignored obvious warning signs, has been surprised by the rapidity with which Trump and his minions are assaulting the institutions of our government and trampling on long-accepted norms. Winning this war will take time, most likely several Presidential election cycles. Progress will be incremental, but the goals should be set high. The time to define these goals is now.

Reform: An Aspirational List

What follows is a list of some changes to our political society suggested by our experiences with American government, both past and present. The list is not exhaustive- it is a starting point for rethinking how the republic should function. Many proposed changes would require constitutional amendments,² while others involve codifying unwritten norms into legislation.

• Get money out of politics. Candidates should win elections based on their qualifications, not the money spent on their campaigns. Adopt a system similar to Great Britain, which limits the amount spent on campaigns by individual candidates, political parties, and third-party entities.³ Amend the Constitution so that political contributions are not considered protected speech. Countries such as Great Britain also limit the length of campaigns, thus reducing overall campaign spending. Limits on lobbying should also be enacted. This would include a 3-year waiting period before members of Congress become lobbyists after they leave office.

• Voting. Make voting compulsory for all citizens. According to the CIA World Factbook, 22 nations mandate voting. Perhaps we should emulate Australia, which fines citizens a nominal sum for failing to vote. An updated Voting Rights Act would prevent states from restrictive practices like purging eligible voters from rolls. Enacting uniform standards for absentee voting and voting by mail would help guarantee that every eligible voter’s ballot is counted.

• Mandatory national service: Many nations stipulate compulsory military service for citizens, generally beginning at 18 or after completing high school. There are other forms of service aside from the armed forces, however. In the US, we have volunteer programs such as the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, but no compulsory, non-military service options. As the military experience has shown, such service allows young people from varied backgrounds to engage in shared experience: people from different regions, ethnicities, and religions, working together and listening to each other. It is unifying, a social glue. The potential benefits to our society would likely exceed the financial costs.⁴

• Curb capitalism: Given the dominance of many sectors of the economy by large corporations and financial interests, the principle of a competitive marketplace is a chimera, observed, if at all, in the breach. Many markets are dominated by a handful of companies, oligopolies whose economic heft gives them a great deal of influence over the political system.⁵ A first step in restoring competitiveness to the marketplace is vigorously enforcing antitrust law, which is essentially a political matter.⁶ Regulation regimes by federal agencies should be reformed, as described below.

• Regulatory Reform: As a basic principle, regulations should not hinder economic activity. That said, rules and regulations must prevent anti-competitive behavior and ensure a fair marketplace. The current process for creating rules and regulations is problematic: Congress passes the laws, but relegates the rule-making process to the executive branch agencies. The responsible correction for Congress would be to be 1) more specific when writing laws to limit rule-making by the executive branch, and 2) be more painstaking in exercising its oversight duties. The excuse that “unelected bureaucrats are writing the regulations” begs the question, another example of elected politicians avoiding responsibility for their legislative actions. These results weaken the system of checks and balances as Congress relinquishes more power to the Executive, circumventing the Constitutional separation of powers.

• Congress: The logic of democracy dictates that as the nation’s population has grown, the number of members in the House of Representatives should also increase. Since 1913, the number of voting seats in the House has been fixed at 435. In 1924, the average population of a congressional district was 243,726. The current average is 769,221.⁷ In theory, a larger number of members, each representing fewer constituents, would mean Representatives would have a closer relationship with the voters in their districts. Further, apportioning Senate seats by state population would eliminate the antimajoritarian bias of the upper house. Both Houses of Congress need to spend more time doing the people’s work.⁸

• Ban insider trading: Members of the Senate, the House, the Executive Branch, and their families and associates should be prohibited from managing their investments when in office. Portfolios should be placed in blind trusts while a person is in office. Further, as Scott Galloway suggested in a recent podcast, salaries for the President and the members of Congress should be much larger to obviate the need for personal income. ⁹

• The Senate: Eliminate the filibuster, a procedure not codified in law but is a rule of the Senate. All matters should be decided by a simple majority, except for the two-thirds majority to remove an impeached President from office.

• Taxation: Our tax system, based on the income tax, is the arena where a convoluted game is played between special interests and lawmakers. As I wrote 12 years ago, our “tax code is breathtaking in its scope, disheartening in its lack of impartiality, and confounding in its vast labyrinth of deductions, credits, and exceptions.” Alternative ways for government to raise revenue should be explored. (This does not include tariffs.) Forms of a consumption or Value-Added Tax (VAT) can be structured to be progressive, in contrast to a regressive, flat-rate sales tax An intriguing approach is David Bradford’s X tax, which simplifies the tax code, encourages investment, and is progressive.

• Religion in politics: Sen. Sam Ervin of North Carolina said that “Political freedom cannot exist in any land where religion controls the state, and religious freedom cannot exist in any land where the state controls religion.” Practicing faith should be reserved for the church, the temple, the mosque… The Christian Bible can be studied as literature, as should any other text that is part of the cultural history of a group of people. The tax-exempt status of religious property should be eliminated.

These are just a smattering of the places where our political edifice needs to be renovated. There are others, and I intend to revisit this subject regularly.

Making a Plan: Some Basic Ideas

When a professional sports team has been unsuccessful, a new coach and management team are brought in to revamp things, “to change the culture”. Problems are identified, solutions investigated, and priorities set; a plan is laid out. Changing our political culture will take time, so perseverance is necessary. The forces aligned against democracy are formidable, but, as has been said, “a crisis is an opportunity”. The depredations of the current administration are at a crisis level.

So, where do we begin? The immediate changes that can be made are personal. Since society’s cohesion and stability depend on some agreement on what is right and wrong, standards of behavior, moral and ethical, need to be reestablished. One domain of standards is the rule of law. Another, the domain of organized religion, has lost much of its authority, partly due to the examples of human frailties by clergy (sex scandals), the perversion of doctrine (Islamic jihadists, the prosperity gospel of some Christian sects), and a relativistic regard for morality among the population. The journalist and political observer Walter Lippmann wrote that “If what is right and wrong depends on what each individual feels, then we are outside the bounds of civilization.”

We can strive to be our better selves, to do the right thing, and to treat others as we want to be treated. Tolerance, respect, honesty, compassion- these can all be practiced on an individual level. In Federalist No.10, Madison wrote:

Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks-no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea, if there be sufficient virtue and intelligence in the community, it will be exercised in the selection of these men . So that we do not depend on their virtue, or put confidence in our rulers, but in the people who are to choose them.

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1. This applies to the Western Roman Empire, essentially Italy and the European provinces. The Eastern Empire (known later as the Byzantine Empire) was based in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), and ruled over the lands of the eastern Mediterranean until falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

2. A Constitutional Convention has long been the hobby horse of the reactionary right, whose goal was to use it to shape the federal government to their liking: e.g., a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Convening a convention would be a fraught endeavor in the current political environment

3. The Institute of Government

4. This article by Steve Cohen offers background on national service programs and how a mandatory program might be structured.

5. Some examples of market dominance by a few companies: technology and information processing, airlines, groceries, and media. The result is a small number of choices for consumers.

6. It is unlikely the Trump Administration will pursue antitrust cases.

7. If the population per Congressional district were capped at 500,000, the current House would have 670 voting members.

8. Limiting campaign spending would reduce the time devoted to fundraising by members. And modern technology would allow for some part of constituent contact to be done via interactive video, meaning less time spent returning to a member’s district or state.

9. Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway: I absolutely think we need to move to a Singaporean model. I think the president should make 10 million bucks a year. I think senators should make three million and representatives should make a million dollars a year, and in exchange for that, abso-fuckingutely nothing resembling corruption. Speaker Emeritus Pelosi- you can't trade stocks. You cannot when you're voted out of office- there's a three-year sunshine period. You can't go to work for a lobbyist. You can never talk about an individual company … None of your family members can start a crypto company. Zero tolerance [for] corruption, but we're going to pay you a lot of money… To be fair, when you're making $185,000, which is what our Congress people make, and they have to support two homes, the opportunity- and they see everyone else engaged in grift- [and] the seduction of grift just becomes too great. Yeah, so pay them a lot of money. These are important, impressive people who have a big impact on our economy. Pay them a lot of money.