President and Vice President - One and Done

ONE AND DONE

The next election for the President of the United States will be over eventually.  Can't be too soon. We are tired of all the negativity. The party out of power spends a great deal of time and effort in demeaning the current President and Vice President in hopes of damaging them enough so that their candidate can get elected. Terrible way to run a country.

This is damaging to our nation. We should correct the problem.

My solution?  Change our rules so that both the President and Vice President can be elected to either office only once. The President and Vice President can never run for either office again. One and done.

This would stop some of the negativity. Since the President can now run for a second time, and the Vice President can also run again, the opposition continuously denigrates them.  This has to be counterproductive for the individuals and the nation.

The Presidency and Vice Presidency are tough and difficult jobs.  Four years is more than adequate.  If the current President and Vice President cannot run again they will concentrate on their duties in the job instead of getting reelected.

There are a number of tough issues that are unpopular - fixing Medicare, Social Security, taxes, etc.  An incumbent who hopes get reelected will kick the issue down the road, often exacerbating the problem.

I contend that the second term is often not productive. Most of what the new President accomplishes is accomplished in his first term. The second term is often coasting on the accomplishments of the first term.  And eight years gives more time for problems to emerge. Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Nixon, Clinton, and Bush all had second terms - and I think both their reputation and the country were worse for the second term.

And being unable to run a second time means that the current office holder is less likely to resort to criminal means to stay in office. The problems encountered by President Nixon, President Trump, and the country would be much less likely to happen if they could not be elected for a second time.

The once elected President and Vice President would be prohibited from ever running for either office again.  My theory is that the party out of office will be more likely to support the current administration and not spend all their time denigrating the two leaders.

If this change is adopted the Vice President would likely be an older seasoned person since they could never run for the Presidency. In practical terms any legislation should be done so that it does not affect the incumbent.  Change the rules going forward so that it does not affect the sitting incumbent.

One and Done.