I think we need some common-sense changes. Nothing too radical or socialist, just...common sense.
1. The duties and requirements of the office of President need to be specifically spelled out. The "gentleman's agreement" of things like disposing of assets into a trust has clearly failed in the Trump era. It needs to be written into the Constitution that the President must place into trust all business and financial interests until such time as he leaves office. The emoluments clause needs to be clarified. Every time a foreign dignitary or lobbyist stays in a hotel owned by the President's business interests, it is a potential violation of that clause, and the potential for abuse is enormous. That abuse needs to be eliminated. Candidates for the office MUST release their taxes by no later than one month prior to the election. Likewise, it needs to be specifically stated that the President's pardon powers do not extend to him/herself. Yes, it's completely ridiculous that we even need to spell this out, but here we are. In a society where we have to tell people "do not take this medicine if you are allergic to it," we apparently also have to tell the President that no, you can't commit crimes and then forgive yourself for them.
2. The Electoral College needs to go, entirely. We currently do not have a "one person, one vote" democracy. Because of the College, a vote from a state with sparse population counts almost twice as much as a vote from a more populated state. It is grossly unfair, and it is why we have had three elections in my lifetime (so far) where the candidate who made it into the office of the Presidency had LOST the popular vote. There is sufficient protection for these states in the Senate, in that they have equal representation with all the other states. Their citizens' votes in elections should not be counted more than others. Currently (like it or not, Don) the majority of U.S. citizens do not have the President for whom they voted. We no longer live in an agrarian society where news takes weeks to travel back home from the Capitol. The Electoral College has outlived its usefulness. Let the popular vote decide the winner.
3. Term limits for Congress. No more professional politicians. Twelve years is enough time for public service for anyone. Two terms for Senators, six for Congresspersons. Let Congress get back to the business of caring for the people's needs instead of raising money to keep their jobs. Let's have a Congress made up of a diverse group of citizens again -- not just lawyers. Congress was perfectly OK with limiting the Presidency to two terms after Roosevelt. They should do the same for themselves.
4. We need a Consitutional requirement that vacancies in the Supreme Court be filled as soon as possible. Congress should never have had the power to hold a seat on the Court vacant for a year. Spell it out to make it illegal for things like McConnell's stunt to ever happen again. And yes, although I am left-leaning, I would have been equally outraged if the Democratic Congress had tried this same stunt with President Bush. It's not right. The Supreme Court vacancies should not be tied to the election cycle. (One exception, and it will take a sharper legal mind than mine to figure out the details--it should be expressly forbidden for a sitting President to nominate a judge while that President is under an investigation that might result in that same judge deciding the case for or against that President. Current events once again seem to make this convoluted circumstance a necessity.)
Think about it. Most of the strife in our current non-democracy is caused by one or more of the situations remedied above. Is it a perfect solution? No.
But will any of it ever happen? Sadly, also -- no.
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