Senator, Choose Your Weapon!

I am reading a book about Abraham Lincoln (look for a review in a future blog). While reading it the other day, I was struck by an interesting idea. I thought I would post it on here to discuss. It is an idea that will never come to pass, and probably shouldn’t, but I thought it would make an interesting departure from current events for one post. My idea is this: What if dueling was suddenly allowed for Senators and Representatives?

It would have to be very controlled. We couldn’t allow any ringers, so only the elected officials themselves would be allowed to duel. No aids that were only hired to stand in. And only other elected representatives would be allowed to stand as seconds for anyone. The Judicial and Executive branches would not be allowed to participate, the same as any private citizen. There would be no other significant rules, and we would resort to the traditional code of conduct used in the early years of our nation.

I think if nothing else, this would give many of our Senators and Representatives a sense of accountability. If a Democrat or Republican were to say something on the floor just to get a few media pictures, the offended party could quickly challenge that politician to a duel. It would surely change the tone of debate in Washington. I think many of the elected congressmen would suddenly focus more on the issues and less on insulting each other. The new dueling law would surely make confirmation hearings a bit more interesting. No more grandstanding, unless of course you think you are a better shot than the nominee.

Who knows, it might even force our Senators and Representatives to actually get some work done.