President Elect Obama comes into office with America’s economy facing the worst crisis in decades, a ten trillion dollar debt, projected deficits of over a trillion a year, major financial, industrial and even retail institutions at risk of collapse, American troops still at war in Iraq, the growing threat of Afghanistan, and escalating unrest in the Middle East, and a world view of America that is to say the least tarnished. And that’s just the beginning of America’s problems. So what should Obama’s top priority be?
Obama has talked endlessly about what he is going to do to rescue the economy. And without doubt, he sees that as his first priority. The problem is that he’s very likely to fail…partly because the situation is bigger than the President and what he can do, partly because his solutions aren’t sufficient, and partly because the root problems, and what got us into this mess in the first place is systemic…and requires cleaning up Washington, changing the way Washington operates and taking on the political establishment itself.
I think Obama’s top priority should be to radically transform how Washington works, and take dramatic steps to overhaul the political system and engage the American public in a new chapter of our amazing democracy.
At the end of the day, Obama’s biggest and most important task is to ensure that over time we can get out of the mess we’re in, and then not get into it again. Business as usual won’t accomplish that. Neither will just asking for hundreds of billions of dollars to throw at the problems. Obama needs to use the Presidency to immediately do two things:
1) First, throw down the mantle in Washington and effectively call out the system and all those who enable it. Our bankrupt, partisan, two party political system -- full of long term politicians with short-term all about the next election not the next generation attitudes got us into this mess. And it will take challenging that system and culture, and changing it, to get us out.
2) Second, Obama needs to use the bully pulpit of the Presidency to engage, inspire and mobilize Americans to join him to fight through these difficult times, rebuild America, and change the way Washington works.
Obama can’t fix what’s wrong in America without fixing what’s wrong in Washington and he can’t do either without the active trust and support of the American people.
The American public is deeply distrustful of Washington, cynical about politics and politicians, and increasingly disillusioned with how the federal government handles our money and our national interest. The first chapter of the first $700 billion bailout is a great example. Washington urgently demanded, and then hastily handed out 350 billion taxpayer dollars without even the slightest accountability…not even a requirement that the recipients keep track and report what they did with it. Obama is asking Congress to authorize him to spend the second half of that bailout, and in addition is asking for another 700 plus billion dollars to try to stimulate the economy. He wants it now, and without preconditions.
All too quickly, the man who promised hope and change could find himself exactly where he doesn’t want to be – the guy who promised change and can’t deliver it. Obama’s already out there quickly trying to lower our expectations. America’s economic rebound is not going to happen quickly, and the President’s long list of campaign promises are going to have to wait, possibly for a long time.
So why not change the dynamic altogether. What Obama is doing, however well intentioned is still a basic version of what we have already tried, and it still relies on the same people, institutions, and systemic mechanisms which have been failing us. Why not go out on a limb and try something truly radical? Turn Washington upside down and in the process reengage the American people in the political process in an active and ongoing way. Along those lines, here’s two things Obama could immediately do that would shake up Washington, capture the public imagination, and show that Obama is about real change.
First, Obama should put us on the path to a more direct democracy. Make all of America part of guiding and solving the national crises we face today. The old way of doing business was to elect a politician and then let them go to work for us for a few years and see if we’re happy with what he or she did before deciding to reelect or replace them. We live in the era of instant communication, people vote for the winners of American idol on their cell phones, and we still don’t directly influence what our government does? Why not ask the American people to help guide what happens over the next four years? For the bailout, for example, President Obama could give the American public a choice in what they want him to do with the money…give everyone a dozen options, and let the public vote on line to pick the top 5. Maybe the public says take the one trillion that’s up to be given out and divide it among every adult American. Granted, that’s only about $5,000 a person, but it’s our money after all, so why not let us decide how best to use it? Would we make good choices? Maybe, maybe not. But could we really do much worse than what Washington has done? With practice, Obama could use this direct democracy approach to periodically give the public actual choices over big issues that his team has narrowed down to a few key options.
Second, Obama should call for a Constitutional Convention to address systemic problems in how our government governs and to allow us to get clarity on numerous major national issues. From gun control and the Second Amendment to the failure of the Fourth Amendment to adequately protect and address modern civil liberties, there are numerous Amendments that need to be clarified and restructured to make them fit the times we live in. And we could provide some new and needed direction for the future -- from establishing term limits on members of Congress and even a limit to how long someone can serve on the Supreme Court to establishing and defining a literal privacy right.
A Constitutional Convention would allow us to put all kinds of key systemic issues on the table, and ensure that the government we have is truly a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and that it’s governing document is suited to the times we live in, not to those of generations ago. Thomas Jefferson himself said that American’s should have a Constitutional Convention every 20 years to “perform periodic repairs.” By Jefferson’s standard we’re already more than ten overdue. A Constitutional Convention would be a call to action for all of America. It would challenge us, engage us and inspire us. It would be the most meaningful political event in generations, and it would transform America, allow us to better deal with the challenges we face today, and ensure a more secure future for generations to come.
Direct democracy. A Constitutional Convention. Extraordinary actions? Perhaps. But these are no ordinary times. These kinds of actions would not just be radical and out of the box, but potential transformative, not just addressing the symptoms of our crisis, but the underlying causes. These actions would be so bold and innovative that they would have a catalyzing effect on both the American public and the Washington establishment. Is it a risk? A huge one. But America is in a crisis -- a crisis of confidence as much as dollars and cents. Just taking hundreds of billions more of our money and saying you’re going to spend it better than George Bush did or would is neither inspiring nor bold. And it’s not going to inspire Americans, nor get us to reengage in the process of fixing this country and believing in our government once again. A radical departure from politics as usual and a genuine jolt to the system just might.
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