Members of Congress consistently receive a 15 percent approval rating but a 95 percent re-election rate. Clearly, something is wrong. My proposal would help to make better, more responsive, politicians as they'd have to stand on their record rather than their political party's ability to get them re-elected.
Therefore, I propose the following which would significantly enhance bi-partisan cooperation while governing on behalf of the electorate:
When elected to the US House or the US Senate the elected official can only run for two terms under the party from which they were originally elected.
If they opt to run for a third, fourth or fifth, etc, term they must not run from a political party. They must run identified only as an Incumbent, not identified with any political party. They automatically would be on the ballot without participating in a primary.
Thus, the general election would often see on the ballot the Incumbent, a challenging Democrat, a challenging Republican and challenging Independent candidates. The incumbent, rather than win nearly automatically, will therefore win based more on the merit of their performance while holding the office.
Re-election under this proposal would encourage the elected official to work harder for the people rather than for the donors of a political party. It would mean an incumbent would have to stand more on the principle of good governance, rather than for party acceptance.
This just might shake up the system enough to allow for more openness and honesty in government, and free up the incumbent not to become bogged down with party politics which clearly seems to ruin everything.
What are your thoughts on this idea?
I'm not completely opposed to the idea, but I don't see it bringing in any new ideology to the governing system. A former politician, although running as an independent, will likely still make decisions based on their former party affiliation.
It would be better to implement a system to promote alternative political parties. So that their ideas can be introduced into the current system. The Libertarian and Green parties, for example, need to gain more ground on the political field. John Adam's once said that the greatest threat to our republic is a battle solely between two political parties that are completely opposed to eachother. He was right.
I agree with you and have always advocated same. My proposal at least forces challengers from each party to come up with better ideas in order to oust the incumbent. It also forces the incumbent to work harder for the people since, theoretically, it is their vote that counts.