The brilliant Ted Rall brings up an option to deal with our President that I
have thought of in the past. Follow the lead of California and start a national
recall.
One solution is to establish a California-style recall system on the
national level. If a significant percentage of Americans loses confidence in
the president and his administration to the extent that they’re willing to
sign a recall petition, a special election should be held within three
months. The number of required signatures should be high
enough–California’s system calls for 12 percent of the number of people who
cast votes in the preceding election–to ensure that recalls are only held
as the result of widespread disgust among the citizenry.To avoid disruption, the constitutional amendment creating the recall
provision could prevent such elections from being held more often than, say,
annually. And a recall won’t automatically result in a new party taking over
the White House–just a new administration. But it would replace our current
system of political stagnation with a more dynamic democracy.The threat of recall would make sitting leaders responsive to the people
more often than the current four-year election cycle, and would allow
disastrous and unpopular leaders like Bush to be replaced posthaste. Of
course, national recall elections wouldn’t guarantee that the people would
always be happy with their leaders. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the man who
replaced Gray Davis after the recall, currently “ranks among the most
unpopular governors in modern California history,” reports the San Francisco
Chronicle. But Californians don’t have to wait until the next election to
get rid of him.
View complete article
here.
It might seem like an extreme but considering the diminishing public support
of Bush and the continual pile up of dead soldiers in Iraq compounded with an
increasing national debt, it is possible. What would it take? Organization! It
would take numerous grass roots organizations to put petty differences aside and
all come together around the country to get a petition signed.
Actually Ted brings this idea up at a very opportune moment in our history.
We are 11 months from the mid-term elections and those up for re-election will
be more apt to side with voters than with party cronies inside the beltway. An
amendment in the Constitution to allow for a public recall of leaders is
something well overdo. Congress ignores its role of oversight so it is up to the
American people to enforce some sort of oversight.
Again the key to doing such a drastic action is organization. We need a
prominent voice in the left wing grass roots who has the contacts and resources
to organize such an endeavor. Once that occurs it will be up to the citizens of
this country to make a change. Considering a majority of Americans now want a
President with totally different views than Bush has the signatures should be
the easy part.