Political what-if: A second Constitutional Convention

[robkelk]

This board's rules are "Have Fun, and Play Nice". It's time to have fun in this sub-forum.

If there was to be a second Constitutional Convention (Yes, you had one before -- almost nobody remembers the Articles of Confederation) called today, what would you like to see included in its results?

Here's my wish-list - implement all of these and you'll drag the political system in the USA kicking and screaming into the 20th century. (Yes, I know this is the 21st century. I'm not expecting a miracle to happen here.)

• Dissolve the Electoral College and have Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections by direct vote.
  
• Get rid of the time lag between the election and the taking of office, which leads to "lame duck" office-holders. Once the votes are counted, the winner takes office immediately. (FedEx and UPS can get packages anywhere in the USA overnight, and this internet posting was available to you as soon as I posted it; there's no need for a delay any more.) And "immediately" means immediately -- the Chief Justice is standing beside the person who announces the Presidential and Vice-Presidential vote totals, bound copy of the Constitution or religious book of the elected candidate's choice in hand, ready for the winners to take their oaths then and there.
  
• Each electoral district must be contiguous in and of itself. (This won't eliminate gerrymandering, but it'll reduce it.)
  
• In order to remove the appearance of conflict of interest, anybody who is responsible for drawing the boundaries of electoral districts must surrender the right to vote. (This won't eliminate gerrymandering, either, but it'll reduce it.)
  
• One from the Canadian model: Electoral district boundaries are to be drawn and elections are to be overseen by a civil service body made up solely of civil servants who have the power to spend whatever is necessary in order to ensure all elections are free and fair.
  
• One does not lose the right to vote simply because one is in jail. Anyone serving a term in a federal prison (owned by either the government or the private sector) is deemed to be resident at the person's last address of record before being arrested, or if the person had no address of record is deemed to be resident in the district where the arrest took place.
  
• Cap the total amount of money that any individual can contribute to all candidates and PACs put together, and forbid corporations and governments from contributing to candidates or PACs altogether.
  
• All Justices of the Supreme Court must retire from the Supreme Court at age 85.
  
• Separate the powers of the Head of Government and the Head of State. Let the Head of State handle all the ceremonial stuff (meeting with other Heads of State, pardoning the Thanksgiving Turkey, holding parties in the Rose Garden, staging photo ops, etc.) and defend the Constitution from a Head of Government who's gone too far, and let the Head of Government concentrate of governing (meeting with other Heads of Government, working with the House and Senate Majority leaders to turn bills into law, issuing executive orders, etc.).
  
• The total hourly remuneration (salary and benefits added together) of a Congressperson may not exceed five times the legislated hourly minimum wage in that Congressperson's congressional district. Any benefit available at no charge to everyone in a Congressperson's congressional district does not count toward this salary and benefit cap. (It's taxpayer money that funds their salaries and benefits - no fair asking those taxpayers to fund putting a Congresscritter into The 1%.)