ABSTRACT
America’s deepest commitment is to self-government, “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” To introduce a power of dissolution into our political system, it would be necessary to amend the Constitution. The simplest way to do it would be to provide that the president, by proclamation, could call for national elections at any time during his term of office. In parliamentary countries, whenever the legal time limit is reached, or it is no longer possible for a cabinet to gain support from existing members of parliament, whichever comes first, government is dissolved and the nation proceeds to new elections. Prime ministers must form coalitions when they put together their cabinets. The framers’ decision to fix the president’s term and insulate his tenure in office from political reprisal was the shrewdest, most farseeing thing they did in 1787.
