Fixing A Broken System
When most of you are reading this, the election may be over and perhaps the winners will be announced. The campaigning will be over and the much tougher work of governing will begin in earnest. For the winners, there will be a short time to cheer, but the task will be to begin the process of establishing an administration to govern. For the losing side, it will be time to reflect on what went wrong and to best make sure that their positions are heard.
Regardless of political party, affiliation or belief; one thing that just about everyone can agree on is that our system of electing a President is seriously flawed and needs to be fixed. The campaign season is way too long. We are bombarded with nasty negative campaign commercials designed to inflame passions. There is way too much money spent on campaigning and not much attention paid to governing. There is way too much attention paid to a few “battleground” states that can flip from one party to the other, while the other states are ignored. As a result, by the election day, voters are cynical about all candidates regardless of their political party.
Nasty election campaigns and contentious elections have been around a long time. Here is some history. In the 1824 election, four presidential candidates received electoral votes, but none had a majority. Andrew Jackson had the most popular votes as well as the highest number of electoral votes. John Quincy Adams, the son of John Adams the second President had the second most popular and electoral votes. William Stewart had the third highest number of popular votes and electoral votes, and Henry Clay had the fourth highest number of popular and electoral votes.
Under the constitution, this election would be settled in the House of Representatives where Henry Clay was the speaker. Stewart released his electors and Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams because he detested Andrew Jackson. That made John Quincy Adams the 6th President. So, there was a problem two hundred years ago.
Fast forward to the present day. The electoral college is outdated and twice since 2000 the person who won the electoral vote lost the popular vote. The last time that happened was in 1888 when Benjamin Harrison won the electoral vote but lost the popular vote and defeated Grover Cleveland. Four years later, Grover Cleveland won both the popular vote and electoral vote and became the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms.
We need to bring our process of electing a President up to date in the 21st century. How about establishing a national presidential primary held six months before the general election with all states participating on the same day. This would force candidates to campaign nationwide. It would force serious presidential candidates to go back to the old-fashioned method of working with state and local officials in advance to build a strong campaign team and make their case. The political parties would still hold their nominating conventions in the summer with the “official” campaign season beginning in late summer. This would “weed out” weak candidates that cannot raise enough money to fund a campaign or whose message just doesn’t get through to the voters.
Then, let’s require that all candidates accept public funding while strictly limiting campaign contributions from wealthy people and those who are “self-funding” their campaigns. We need to repeal the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling that opened the flood gates to unlimited donations to third party advocacy groups that have proliferated since that ruling. All candidates, political parties and third-party groups must publicly disclose all their donors and amounts donated.
Currently our elections are running smoothly for the most part. The election of 2020 showed that mail in voting as well as early in person voting allows for greater participation and it is always a good thing when more Americans are voting and involved. One flaw is that we need to declare election day a national holiday for federal elections and a state holiday for state elections. This way, those people who are working on that day can have the day off or be able to take time off from their work to go vote.
Regarding that disputed election of 1824, Andrew Jackson who had the most popular and electoral votes called it a “corrupt bargain” when Henry Clay threw his support to John Quincy Adams and Jackson did what he could to make John Quincy Adams presidency as difficult as possible. Four years later in 1828, there was a rematch with no other candidates receiving electoral votes and this election has been described as the dirtiest election in our nation’s history. This time Andrew Jackson clearly won.
John Quincy Adams was elected again to the House of Representatives where he became a leader in the movement to abolish slavery and got the mutineers acquitted of the mutiny on the slave ship “Amistad” in their trial. They were repatriated back to Africa. He served in the House of Representatives until his death while at his desk in the House chamber in 1848 at the age of 80. Andrew Jackson had died in 1845 at the age of 78.
Lee Kamps
Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.