Mixed Doubles

After watching three Presidential Debates in their entirety, and listening to endless hours of the talking head pundits on both the liberal and coservative networks, I've come to a conclusion.

Our system needs an overhaul.   I know I'm not alone here.   Many have suggested doing away with the electoral college.   Although I'm more of a popular vote fan, I elect to keep it.   Others have discussed the need for a true independent party.  I'm in favor, but the problem is finding a candidate with the necessary funding to make a legitimate run at the Presidency.   Last week, a friend suggested a radical approach where the Commander in Chief be granted a 6-year term.   This way, he won't be burdened with the campaign trail after just a short 24 months.   I like this idea in concept, but if you truly dislike your President, six years is an enternity to wait for a changing of the guard.

Suffice it to say that no idea is perfect.   However, I've come up with a way for us to satisfy our need for the balance of power without extended terms, voter changes, or even an an additional political party.  This is something even Elephants and the Donkeys haven't thought of yet.

From now on, our political tickets should play a game of mixed doubles.   One from column A and one from column B.  You want a fair and balanced system?  You got it.

One Repulican and one Democrat on each side.   You want someone that can reach across the aisle?  How about reaching across the table, because that's how close they'll be.   They can share a bagel or a knish.  When they work on domestic and foreign policy issues, they won't have to worry about whether it will appeal more to the Senate or the House, or whether it will lean too far to the left or right.   Now, these bipartisan doctrines will go in fully vetted while reducing the likelihood of being thrown out.

The debates would be more interesting too.   Can you imagine?   I'd pit the Democrat against the Democrat and the Republican against the Republican.   Just out of the abject fear of agreeing with an adversary in the same party, they would be forced to bring original ideas forward.   That's someting politicians aren't accustomed to.  Currently, they're trained to repeat the same old mantras of their party.   But the same party battling against each other?  Now you'd have a horserace.

There was a recent article on Yahoo that uncovered an electroral vote permuatation that showed how Obama and Romney could actually finish with 269 votes each.   According to the aformentioned article, Constitutional law states that in the event of a draw, the incumbent President loses to the challenger, however, the current Vice President chooses the new one.   So conceivably, Romney and Biden would be in power.   It's a crazy thought, but it would make for some great ratings on election night....and beyond.

It could also set a precedent for a new democratic election system that becomes more the norm, and one that we could all live with.

A man can dream, can't he?