The State of the Union Address, Now and in the Future

On Monday, Jan. 28, 2008, I watched President Bush give his seventh and final State of the Union Address. He touched on a number of crucial issues facing our country today, ranging from the War on Terror, to taxes, to Social Security, and more. Those issues, although they are important, are not what interest me in this article. Actually, that's not entirely true... I am interested in the War on Terror-primarily, how it relates to the State of the Union Address.

Basically, I think it is a very bad idea to collect almost all the members of our federal government in the same building in the same city, no matter what the reason. Such a gathering presents an extremely tempting target for any would-be terrorist or terrorist group. With a single bomb (or perhaps series of bombs), all the leaders of our federal government could be wiped out: the President, the Vice-President, all the members of the Senate, all the members of the House, the justices of the Supreme Court, the President's Cabinet, and God knows who else. Its just absurd that, in this day and age, while we are facing the enemy that we are, we should take such a foolish risk every single year. It is sheer folly. And terrorists aren't the only threat. Natural disasters, although not nearly as likely, could bring about the same end. An unexpected asteroid hit (very, very, very unlikely, I know, but possible), an unexpected tsunami, or what have you. Obviously, the terrorist threat is the far more probable threat, but we should be prepared for anything.

Given current technology, there are a number of steps we can take to safeguard our government, lest the terrorists kill the United States by cutting off its head. First, instead of having the President be physically present in the building, just move in a large television screen and have him give a tele-speech. Identical screens could be set up in the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. The President could give his speech from the White House, or better yet, some safe, undisclosed location. Granted, in the case of nuclear attack, these safeguards will be of little value... we'd have to move the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court to entirely different cities. That could be done, but may have unforeseen ramifications on the legislative process.

Finally, what should we do if a terrorist attack successfully wipes out all the heads of our federal government? I would hope that the government does have a plan for such an eventuality. I know there is an order of succession to replace the President, if he or she is killed, which begins with the Vice-President. I don't know of any other safeguards for the remaining positions of power. I suspect that the founding fathers never imagined that the entire elected body of the federal government could be wiped out all at once.

If it did actually happen, then I think the onus of determining who would replace said leaders would fall to the governors of the fifty states. Make every governor a senator, choose one or two representatives from the state governing bodies to fill up the House of Representatives, then the two can, hopefully, wrangle out who is best suited among them to take on the responsibility of the President. A similar process could be used to determine the members of the Supreme Court.

According to my recollection, the State of the Union Address is actually a duty of the President described in the Constitution. Hence, implementing any of the above changes would require an amendment. Given the times we live in, I think we should do so, as soon as possible.