The Role of the President

Constitutionally, one of the President's main jobs is to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." He is also expected to "recommend to [Congress'] Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient"-- but it seems to me that this latter duty has taken such precedent over the other, that we now elect Presidents based in large part on what measures we think he/she will recommend. If I were a Presidential candidate, I would emphasize that executive role, carrying out the wishes of the people as expressed through their elected representatives, rather than trotting out a long list of potential programs that may or may not pass Congressional muster.

Repurpose the Military

Certain folks are fond of saying that the purpose of an army is "to kill people and break things." If I were C-in-C, I would push for the elimination of that definition - and the outmoded, obsolete thinking behind it - and repurpose the military explicitly towards countering injustice, protecting innocent lives, and serving the people. In fulfilling these goals, the military may indeed have to "kill people and break things" occasionally - and they would need the capability to do so - but that would not be their purpose. I think that this is not a trivial shift, psychologically speaking.

Makeup of the Supreme Court

Oh, and re the Supreme Court... I think the Court should have the following composition:

• 3 solid, experienced, nonpartisan and thoughtful centrists
• 2 generally conservative justices
• 2 generally liberal justices
• 1 hardcore right-wing maniac
• 1 hardcore left-wing maniac

Of course, we now have at least 3 hardcore right-wing maniacs, so it's going to take a while to get to that ideal state...

Jerusalem

Following Obama's AIPAC speech and discussion re his position about Jerusalem, I thought I should mention mine:

Jerusalem, being a critical part of the heritage of so much of humanity, should not be the possession of any one country. I would call for the entire city to be placed under a separate UN mandate. Countries that wished to locate any executive offices there would be allowed to do so.

Full statehood for the District of Columbia

I'm for it.

Death Penalty

I'm against it. Next?

Back to basics, government-wise: reorganize the Executive Branch according to Constitutional purposes

In the Preamble to the Constitution, the basic purposes of the United States of America are enumerated:

1. Form a more perfect Union
2. Establish Justice
3. Insure domestic Tranquility
4. Provide for the common defense
5. Promote the general Welfare
6. Secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

So if I were President, I'd reorganize the Executive Branch to fit. Six Departments, or Ministries, or whatever you want to call them, with the appropriate agencies and bureaus rearranged accordingly. Functions that couldn't fit within this scheme would be kicked back to the states, unless we decided by Constitutional amendment that we wanted to add other purposes.

Of course, there would be some very interesting conversations that would have to go into this redesign - what do we mean by things like "more perfect Union" or "domestic Tranquility" or "general Welfare," anyway? But once we were done, we would know that whatever the Federal government was doing was indeed something that it is intended to be doing.

¡SIESTAS! - More Naps, Less Stress

From whatever level of government I might find myself at, you can bet that I would work to encourage policies in support of - naptimes.

Studies have shown that the mid-afternoon nap boosts productivity, decreases stress, and generally increases well-being.

For example -- take a look at these, just three links out of many you get from searching on "nap benefits":

• http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2006/06/benefits-of-power-napping.html
• http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-disorders/archives/insomnia_drjacobs_benefits_of_naps.htm
• http://www.metronaps.com/about/science_faq.php

That last link, of course, comes from a business that makes "nap pods" available in airports, shopping centers, and the like. Pretty cool.

Furthermore, an increase in naptime would contribute to the general Slowing of things - but that's for another post.

I say, "Chill, America - you deserve more rest!"

Welcome to "Mendler for... Whatever"

Hi! My name is Skip Mendler, and I am not - repeat, not - running for any political office.

I'm not even contemplating forming an exploratory committee.

However - should you find yourself in need of someone to vote for, I would be available to fill various offices for which I might be qualified, and I'm happy to offer myself as a write-in candidate for - well, whatever. (Hence the title of the blog.) I do have some opinions, and some of those would even qualify as political positions - and some of those are actual policy suggestions. I'd even be willing to serve if I happened to win an election... to something... somewhere... But, of course, I'm not running for anything in particular, did I mention that?

Different kinds of ideas are appropriate for different kinds of political offices, from the local to the global. So in this blog I will post position statements that would apply to campaigns for various offices - if I were to be running for anything, which as I said before I'm not.

Some of these positions will be weighty and serious, and some might appear, well, kinda frivolous at first glance. But eventually, I hope you'll see how they all hang together to form a coherent viewpoint.

State- and local-level positions are generally written with my particular neck of the woods in mind. (I live in northeastern Pennsylvania, in a small rural county just outside the "NY Metro" demographic area.) Nonetheless, you might find them applicable to your own area as well.

Feel free to respond to these ideas with platform planks of your own. Part of my purpose here is to get ideas out of my head and in front of your eyes so that they might engender ideas in your own head in turn. Enjoy!