The deficit is getting out of hand. This year, we will have the largest peacetime deficit ever. And despite President Bush's rosy forecasts (which have never been even close to reality), there's no end in sight. Something needs to be done. Something new, for the same old answers don't work. Somebody needs to come up with a new idea for raising money.I have one idea.
A government lottery, with tickets sold for $1 each, and the winner gets, not money, but the chance to be President for a day. Every day, a drawing is held, and the winner gets sent to Washington for a month of training before taking the oath of office.
This isn't as crazy as it sounds, and frankly it sounds a lot less crazy than some "serious" proposals made by some politicians. Yes, it would take a constitutional amendment, but think of the advantages:
- Millions of dollars could be raised every day, adding up to tens of billions of dollars every year.
- The money saved in campaign matching funds could be used for training the new President, so there would be no extra costs.
- Since no President would campaign, no President would have to spend time raising money. The President could spend all of his or her time being President.
- A term of office would only be 24 hours, so the President could be on the job for the entire time. No more vacations.
- Change the veto law so that three Presidents have to sign a bill before it becomes law, but any President can veto the bill before three Presidents sign it. That way, new laws, tax changes, etc., would have to have wide support in order to become effective.
- We wouldn't be subjected to endless campaign commercials.
- There wouldn't be time enough for a President to get to know his interns that well.
- No President could go to war based on a lie. By the time troops were mobilized, several other Presidents would expose the lie and stop the war.
- Our entire foreign policy would have to be more transparent. We could no longer support a dictator just because one President thinks we could gain something. Which means we wouldn't have to invade the dictator's country when we don't like him any more.
It's such a good idea that it will probably never happen. But just suppose it did?
How would you like to be ... President for a day?
Copyright 2004, Dan Jacoby
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