Those of you who attended the Law Conference of Champions last week heard a lot of talk about my possible congressional run next year.

I am still thinking it through because the consequences are quite dire:

1. I couldn’t practice law for two years (what?);
2. I couldn’t be a partner at my own firm anymore (what?); and
3. The firm’s name would probably have to change! (but we are working through that.)

And THIS is why so few qualified lawyers run for office (and really ONLY lawyers are qualified to be lawmakers since, you know, they… make… laws..)

Well that and the pay is so dang low. (Topic for another week.)

Anyway since I am on a listening tour here– need buy in from a ton of folks including clients (who must feel confidant the firm can operate without me (and it can)) and my team (who must feel confidant they can operate without me (and they can))–I figured I would share some of my views on how the political system in this country ought to work and I what I would do to make it work.

Now for starters anyone who reads this blog knows I am no normal dude.

World class attorney. THE best known subject matter expert in arguably the fastest-moving and most nuanced area of law in the nation. Handle multi-billion dollar litigation with ease. Written millions of words worth of legal articles and analysis I share freely. Accomplished trial lawyer. And at $4,200.00 an hour, one of the most sought after and expensive legal counsel on Earth.

Plus I have my own magazine, conference, podcast, lifestyle brand and I’ve built the most incredible legal team that has ever existed on the face of the planet (for real).

Oh yeah, and great dad, fun dude and overall winner. Whatever.

The point is I’m a guy who gets stuff done.

And there’s a lot that needs to be done right now. And nobody else really even seems to be on the right track.

See everybody is focused on what they want the government to do. But nobody is focused on the process by which those decisions are made.

So let me help.

The truth is most of the way things are working right now are UNCONSTITUTIONAL, which is why nothing seems to be working the right way.

It isn’t working the right because it literally isn’t working the right way. Hahaha.

Let’s use an example of something that is so off track we probably can’t even put it back on track– so this first post will be more of a thought experiment than anything else.

The electoral college.

My goodness are we off the path on this one.

Today we vote for a bunch of people who have sworn to vote for a specific candidate. The majority in a state vote blue, the blue electors send their votes for the state. A state votes red, the red electors send their votes.

This is pretty much the dumbest system ever designed. And, no surprise, it wasn’t designed to work like this at all.

But the way it was supposed to work would look so wildly different than the way things work today that it is almost hard to imagine it.

For starters, keep in mind that the founders of our nation never contemplated people would directly vote for a president.

Weird right?

Indeed, the notion was that the people would really not even know who was running for president in the true sense of the word– and since the president was not even viewed as a terribly important role (more of a chief bureaucrat whose actions would be largely invisible in the lives of most Americans) there was really no reason for the people to select him (and the Constitution specifically references the president as a male, which is another interesting fact.)

Instead folk would vote for a wise and learned person from their geographic area–an elector– who would join with a bunch of other wise and learned persons from throughout their state. They would get together in something called a “college”. They would talk about who they think should be president. And then they would decide for the people of their state who should be president.

Now the Constitution is very thin on details in terms of how this process should play out– but one thing that is utterly clear from the writings of the founders is that the folks selected for the college SHOULD NOT have their minds made up at the time they are sent to determine who should be president.

Indeed, this concept is utterly inconsistent with the entire idea of an electoral college– wise and learned persons are supposed to get together, debate and decide who the president ought to be- free of passion or partisanship.

Its like being on a jury. You’re elected. You hear the evidence. Then you sit in a room and talk it through.

But the current electoral college is like a jury being empaneled who have already sworn to vote for the prosecution or the defense before the deliberation ever began.

Not good.

Now the “down side” to the constitution’s path is that the people literally do not select the president at all– so fans of direct democracy aren’t going to like this. But the constitution says what it says.

The other issue is that when we vote in November we have NO IDEA who is going to win. Indeed we are just voting for electors. Not a president. That’s it.  The presidential candidate’s name is LITERALLY NOT EVEN ON THE BALLOT. And the people we are voting for–the electors– HAVE NOT DECIDED who they will vote for. We’re just trusting that this person is smart and wise and will make the right decision for us.

So we might not know who wins for weeks– or really who is even being seriously considered.

Seems crazy today right?

But again, the concept was to keep the president’s role in our lives WEAK and INSIGNIFICANT. The inability of the people to even really know who is running only emphasizes the impotence the man selected was supposed to have over our daily lives.

Another interesting wrinkle is that according to the constitution the VICE president was automatically the second leading vote getter. This means the guy with the most votes is president. The guy with the second most votes is vice president– and president of the Senate!

This assured “ambition would check ambition” as the legislature and the president duked it out and only acted in concert, presumably, when it really mattered for the good of the nation.

So according to the original constitution– we elect smart people to get together and discuss (without prejudice or partisanship) who the right person is to run the country. The top guy is president. The second guy is vice president. And the people basically stay out of the voting.

I presume most of you already know all of this (I think its basically covered in 7th grade) but what they don’t really teach you is why it doesn’t work like it is supposed to.

Indeed, shouldn’t it be wildly illegal for electors to pledge to vote for somebody before they even get to the place where they are supposed to debate and figure out who is the right choice? And why in the world was the constitution amended to allow a single ticket to determine both the president and the president of the senate? Isn’t that the opposite of how separation of powers is supposed to work?

Well.. yeah.

The root problem– and as we shall see, the root problem with basically the entire political system right now– is the corruption of the system by political parties.

The political party is an extra-constitutional (indeed, unconstitutional) conspiracy by a group of people to control the government and make it work for them.

I don’t mean to offend anyone by saying this– but it is simply the truth.

Just sit back and think about it.

Isn’t the literal entire purpose of a party to control the government and make it do what its members want?

More on that topic another day.

And, to be sure, there were political parties at the time of the constitution. And, to be sure, there is ZERO mention of political parties in the constitution. And that is by design.

The entire concept of political parties nominating a ticket and having pledged electors swear to vote for them to enable the names of their presidential choices to appear on a November ballot– ENTIRELY divorced from the constitution. Was NEVER supposed to work that way.

So what do we do about the electoral college?

Not sure.

I’d certainly support a return to the original constitutional path, but we’re pretty far down our new path at this point. Not sure the people would want to adopt the framer’s original vision anymore.

And that last point is an important one.

I am not here to tell you what to think. I’m here to tell you to think. 

And should I be duly elected by intelligent people to serve as a member of the house of representatives it is my job to see that their choices are fulfilled– not to tell them what choices they should make.

But it is my job to raise issues.

Facilitate debate.

To help people to see things in a new light.

And– most importantly– help people to see the true ROOT CAUSE of the problems that impact them.

The political parties don’t do this. They simply point at one another and ask you to be angry with the “other side.”

If you ask a democrat everything that plagues you is Trump’s fault. If you ask a republican– its all because of the woke liberals.

Its gang warfare. Bloods vs. Crips.

Blue vs. Red.

Truth doesn’t matter.

But that’s a topic for a different Saturday.

For today let’s ponder what the nation would look like if the president (and vice-president) were chosen as the constitution originally contemplated– by an ACTUAL electoral college.

I will concede it is difficult for even me to imagine the system working the way it is supposed to anymore– but it is deeply fascinating to consider.

Until next week.

Chat soon.