How Do We Fix the Incentives?
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are symptoms of several problems that come from bad incentives. The two-party system in the United States is broken due to bad incentives. It attracts bad actors, grifters, and cons.
Meaningful solutions must include two components. Term limits for the House and the Senate. Cumulative service should be capped at 12 years in the Legislative Branch. We also need age limits. I think that should be capped at age 70. National office should be barred for people who would enter office at that age.
This would mean anyone interested pursuing national politics would be limited to 20 years (12 in the Legislative Branch, and 8 in the Executive Branch). Supreme Court Justices should be retired by age 75. Senators and Congressmen retired by age 70.
This would trigger healthy turnover in the all three branches of national governance in the United States. Until we come to grip with bad incentives for political figures, the situation won’t improve.
What do you think? How can we get Federal Governance that debates real problems in rational ways? I know this kind of change is difficult, but if enough voters insist, it can happen.