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Ron DeSantis would, I’m sure, be an outstanding Secretary of Defense. He’d be a better President. I don’t think he can be both.

He needs independence if he wants to make a run in 2028. Working for Donald Trump wouldn’t work. He needs to be his own man, not subject to the caprice of an impulsive authoritarian. Vice President Vance has the inside track to be the Donald’s designated successor, and he will resent anyone competing in his lane.

DeSantis needs his own lane, and I think one is available – Reform Republican. The reforms which are needed are all understood and supported by large majorities of voters, both Republican and Democrat. But the needed congressional action will never happen, because these reforms are of Congress itself.

First, and most obvious, is fiscal reform. To have any teeth, it needs to go into the Constitution. It could be as simple and obvious as a line-item veto. 44 Governors have it, people are familiar with it, and it works. If the President had this power, he would be responsible and politically accountable for deficit spending. There are other fiscal reforms which work in other countries, like the Swiss debt break.

Next is congressional term limits. Want to drain the swamp? Keep recycling the swamp creatures. Don’t let them get too comfortable. The American people understand this issue, and they dearly desire that someone takes up this cause.

Third is campaign finance reform. Using the powers granted to it in Article 1, sec. 4 of the Constitution, Congress has created a web of federal campaign finance laws suited perfectly to the incumbent. This power needs to be taken away from Congress, and returned to the states, and the people. Let each state decide on how it wants congressional campaigns financed within its borders. Kansas will do it one way, Rhode Island another. In states with an initiative available, the voters can decide, directly, how they want to regulate campaign financing. Every state already does it, but only for state elections. Give them the power to regulate congressional races as well. Simply remove that part of Article 1, sec. 4 which was inserted at the last minute by James Madison.

In 1787 state legislatures were the center of the anti-federalists. These people didn’t want the Constitution, which would mean the central government taking away their power. Madison was afraid that if the state legislatures controlled elections to Congress, they would abuse that power and somehow sabotage the first Congress.

It made sense at the time, but that concern is no longer a problem. Congress is the problem.

These three reforms must all be achieved using Article V of the Constitution. The states, acting together, can propose these amendments themselves, bypassing Congress. This provision was inserted because the delegates to the Convention knew that Congress, itself, could be the problem, which could not be relied on to reform itself. Article V was written specifically as a means of reforming Congress.

The effort to achieve these reforms began in 1975 with two blue dog southern Democrats. It’s had fits and starts along the way. But it has never gone away. It has never succeeded because it’s never had a leader.

Gov. Ron DeSantis could be that leader, and if the effort succeeds it would be as significant as the progressive reforms enacted at the beginning of the 20th century: direct election of Senators, the income tax, and women’s emancipation.

There were Progressive Republicans and Progressive Democrats, and there need to be Reform Republicans and Reform Democrats. It’s the on ly way it can work. Which is why anyone associated with Donald Trump cannot lead it.

Kash Patel, fanatically loyal to Trump, liked to call DeSantis “Tater Tot Ron” for having the temerity to challenge Trump. That’s the kind of loyalty Trump wants. It’s too much.

DeSantis is better off staying away from Washington. Instead, he should travel the states to gather support for the Reform Republican agenda.