August 16 2020
This morning’s conversation solves major World Problems. First we solve the problem of war. Thankfully, nuclear weapons make this easy. All we need is a simple international fly-off to determine the most competent strategic systems – missiles, bombs, planes, subs, etc. Then the Americans, Russians, English, French, Chinese, Indians and so forth agree to possess only these systems. Known products with known capabilities in known quantities. No need for anyone to ever think they can get the drop on anybody else. It becomes evident that large massed assaults against bona fide states, ala the 1940’s, are as strategically ridiculous as they have been known to be since the early fifties. This is simply DeGaulle’s force de frappe on an international scale. Smaller national sovereignties might be guaranteed by lending of intermediate range systems to smaller states worried about such things. Arming codes could be supplied and renewed on an as-needed basis tied to good and neighborly behavior and political rhetoric for specified periods of time. Nukes aren’t going away, so we need to get them to work for us. There is a certain beauty in the way they make old-style war impossible.
There, no more war. Except that we have created a new problem – the big corporate interests that make money on war won’t like the idea. Nor will the young men who seek danger and death in glory.
So we need something equally large, expensive , gear-intensive, and as dangerous as war to throw to these companies as a replacement bone. No need to look far. Thank heavens for space exploration. It checks all those boxes. So does public health. The real enemies are microbes and only big (read expensive) science, research and technology can combat them. Ditto for climate change and new energy sources. Gee, replacing the military-industrial complex ought to be easy. There are lots of expensive pursuits which don’t involve sending lead hurtling through human bodies.
Now we need to solve America’s problems so that it can return to world leadership, such as it ever was. This is also simple, because the Constitution is the problem and it’s a short simple document.
We need a Constitutional Convention. This was expected by the Founders to be routine – so much so that they made two ways to call one. So what would be the most effective amendments? Here’s my list. Add yours.
Number 1: Term Limits for Senators and Representatives. Return elective government service to a duty and remove it as a career.
Number 2: Reproductive Rights (abortion). Let’s vote this up or down once and for all and stop it from polluting our politics and court system.
Number 3: The Electoral College. Just end it. One person; one vote. Plain and simple.
Number 4: Qualifications of the President. Thirty-five and born in the USA just doesn’t cut it anymore. You need more to fill out an employment application at McDonald’s. For a president, at minimum: full financial disclosure including tax returns; passing a standard civil service test; prior government service at the federal, state or local level; a demonstated familiarity with the Constitution, citing from memory its structure and the general content of its articles and amendments, by number; a mental health evaluation …
There you have it.
MOE
M.I.C.H. – Modernity, Intelligence, Complexity, Humanity