Updating the Requirements for Election

As I noted in my post last Wednesday, we have a problem with our elected officials in this country. You're shocked, I know. But the problem is not the obvious one of the despicable venality of some of those we've elected* ... the problem is that there's nothing to prevent them from getting elected in the first place.

As I see it, the fundamental problem is that the Constitution prescribes virtually no guidelines for eligibility for election to Congress, the Presidency, or the Vice-Presidency. Here are the current Constitutional rules on eligibility for office:

Article I, Section 2: No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Article I, Section 3: No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

Article II, Section 1: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Those are some pretty low bars under which the unqualified can limbo.

It's clear to me (and to other commentators smarter than I) that we need some better guidelines to weed out the venal, the incompetent, the traitorous, the criminal, and the just-plain-crazy** from running for the nation's highest offices. To that end, because I don't believe in bitching about a problem without offering a solution, here is my proposal for a Constitutional Amendment to place some updated requirements on office-seekers:

Amendment XXVIII

Section 1.

Article 1, Section 2, Clause 2, of the Constitution is deleted and replaced with the following:

No person under twenty-five years of age and a citizen of the United States, whether native-born or naturalized, for less than seven years at the time of election shall be eligible for election to the House of Representatives. A person elected to the House of Representatives must, as of the date of election, have been a legal permanent resident of the district in which elected for at least five years.

Section 2.

Article I, Section 3, Clause 3, of the Constitution is deleted and replaced with the following:

No person under thirty years of age and a citizen of the United States, whether native-born or naturalized,  for less than nine years at the time of election shall be eligible for election to the Senate. A person elected to the Senate must, as of the date of election, have been a legal permanent resident of the State in which elected for at least five years.

Section 3.

Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5, of the Constitution is deleted and replaced with the following:

No person under thirty-five years of age and a citizen of the United States, whether native-born or naturalized, for less than twenty years at the time of election shall be eligible for election to the office of President of the United States.

Section 4.

No person who is ineligible for award of a Top Secret security clearance, according to the requirements defined by the the Department of Defense as of the date of election, shall be eligible for election as a Representative or Senator, or to the Presidency or Vice-Presidency.

In order to expose potential improprieties or conflicts of interest on the part of elected officials, any person seeking election to the House of Representatives, the Senate, the Presidency, or the Vice-Presidency shall submit to the Judiciary Committees of both Houses of Congress and, through such mechanism as the Department of the Treasury may direct, to the people, full and complete copies of federal and state tax returns, both personal and for any businesses, for the ten years preceding the date of election.

Section 5.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

I don't think these are overly onerous requirements for those who wish to be elected to offices in which they will make decisions which affect every American ... and, indeed, the world. Some might argue that the security clearance requirement is somehow discriminatory, but I think exactly the opposite; in fact, I think it would be easier for an average lower- or middle-class American to get a clearance because their financial and social situations would be less likely to be as complex and murky as those of the wealthy. And who could oppose weeding out those with criminal records? In addition, a clearance does not require or presuppose any particular level of education (although a good - not necessarily college - education is always a good thing). What do you think? What would you add or subtract? What would you modify? Why? Leave a comment.

I have shared this by letter with my Senators, my Representative, and the White House, where it will probably go into the "Letters from That Noisy Crank, Bilbo" file, but at least I'll feel good about having suggested something.

Have a good day. Demand more from your elected officials, but expect less. Sigh.

More thoughts coming. 

Bilbo

* Think Der Furor, George Santos, etm.

** Yes, Empty G, Louie Gohmert, Ronny Jackson, etm, I'm talking to you.