The world has changed. Life has changed. Politics has changed. It’s time to change 20th Amendment of our constitution. January 20th is too long to wait for a new president.

Pursuant to the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office at noon on January 20, 2025. His successor will be sworn in at noon on January 20, 2029. (Related: Jenny Beth Martin: Doge must focus on the big picture to achieve big changes)

Presidents from George Washington to the first term of President Franklin Roosevelt were inaugurated. March 4th. Given the limited ability to travel, communicate, and trade, the long period between Election Day and Inauguration Day was necessary. Even in the 19th century, it took several weeks to conduct basic business. Improvements in modern transportation and communications, as well as the increasingly important role of the president and the United States in the world, prompted changes starting with FDR’s second inauguration, March 4 to January 20 It was done. in 1937. The change to January 20th made sense at the time.

But it’s not 1937 anymore. Now, information moves in seconds. A new president can travel and arrive at the White House within hours. Election day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the presidential transition period is 73 to 79 days. That’s too long.

Our current situation involves the departure of an aging and incapacitated President Joe Biden, as well as a crisis at the U.S. border and major global tensions, from Ukraine to Israel and Syria to the South China Sea. . Throwing a drone into the skies over New Jersey reveals the dangers of a prolonged transition. America and the American people are at risk.

The White House’s actions since November 5 are troubling at best.

Since Election Day, Biden has advised federal employees that they do not need to return to the federal government. work face-to-face;sent billions more to ukraine; promised up to 1 billion in aid to Syria;shrugged in dire straits Number of Americans made homeless by natural disasters in Western North Carolina. He has rescinded the temporary pretense of “securing the border” issued solely to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign (the border remains porous). was silent About Anti-Semitic demonstrations on university campuses. I ignored the SUV-sized drone flying over New Jersey. traveled to africa He promised billions of dollars and then fell asleep in leadership meetings. And last but certainly not least, although he pardoned his own son, he was reportedly considering granting dozens of other similar benefits before leaving office. It is said that there is.

Obviously, my call to revise the 20th Amendment to shorten the transition period makes no difference today. This time I will have to wait until January 20th. But the events of the past 40 days demonstrate why we must make this change going forward. The world is a dangerous place. Our economy is huge and fragile. And the president’s influence at home and abroad is more evident than ever.

Outgoing presidents should not have up to 79 days to spend our money on remaining “pet projects” and promoting their pet ideologies. Nor should they be given 79 days to tie their successor’s hands to force compliance with bad laws or executive orders, so that a new president spends the first few weeks of his term untying these knots. must be spent on.

An outgoing president should not be given 79 days to hire tax-funded strategists and lawyers to prepare hundreds of pardons for family, friends, and allies.

And from the other side of the ledger, the president-elect doesn’t need 79 days to select key staff and cabinet members or set priorities. Of course, these are important tasks and require some time, but 79 days is not a magic number.

As a conservative, I hesitate to amend the Constitution. However, this is a practical and necessary change to prevent various abuses and inefficiencies while allowing a reasonable period of time for the transition. This would be a conservative modification.

In the UK, the transfer of power takes place in one day. To be sure, America is a much larger country with three branches of government and a non-parliamentary system of government with members of Congress serving as ministers. But if our British cousins ​​can do it in one day, Americans don’t need 79 days.

Reasonable people may disagree about the exact number of days. And yes, I know about Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s, and that the same 20th Amendment sets January 3rd for the establishment of a new Congress. And yes, other dates for certification also need to be adjusted as follows: good. But for all the reasons mentioned above, this can and should be done.

I hereby propose the 28th Amendment. “The 20th Amendment would amend the terms of the president and vice president to end at noon on December 17, when their successors’ terms begin. and the terms of office of senators and members of the House of Representatives shall end at noon on December 1st, when the term of their successors begins. ”

The world is a dangerous place. The United States needs a swift and orderly transition of power that reflects contemporary conditions. The 20th Amendment is “broken.” Let’s fix that.

Guy Ciarrocki is a senior fellow at the Commonwealth Foundation. He previously served as chief of staff for federal and state agencies. He writes for RealClear Pennsylvania and Broad+Liberty. @pasuburbsguy

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