Amid the chaos of the current on-again, off-again shutdown, President Trump appears willing to negotiate, but the Democrats are not interested.  They are content to wait for the Republicans to cave in to their demands to reopen the government without any concession to Trump.  Alas, there is no incentive for the Democrats to do anything.  Their constituents could hate them thoroughly, and it would make no difference.  What can we citizens do?

We could try recalling our congressmen.  The only problem is that the Supreme Court says we are not allowed.  You may argue that the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution says we can recall them, but the Supreme Court does not respect our opinions.

We could pass an amendment to the Constitution permitting recalling congressmen.  I suggest the following language:

State Government Congressional Impeachment Rights

The state legislatures will have the power to impeach their own congressional representatives under the following requirements:  The state Legislature can impeach U.S. legislators only from its own state.  Three fifths (3/5) of the state legislators must vote to impeach the person in question.  The governor must appoint jurors.  All jurors must reside in the congressional district.  The State Supreme Court chief justice will preside over the trial or appoint any state associate justice or state judge to preside.  At the trial, at least two thirds (2/3) of the jurors are needed to convict the impeached individual.

This amendment must be submitted through Congress or at a constitutional convention.  Unfortunately, the latter method is not available.  At least two thirds of the states must vote for such a convention.  So far, forty-nine states, all except Hawaii, have voted for it.  Congress has ignored these votes.

How can we get Congress to submit the above amendment when its members ignore our attempts to submit them ourselves?  By threatening to replace them with congressmen who will pass the amendment.  Imagine a power-hungry Democrat in a liberal district who would love to be a congressman but knows he is unlikely to oust an incumbent.  Our disenchantment with the current representative provides his chance.  He can campaign on the promise that he will vote to pass a recall-impeachment amendment.  Now the incumbent has a real threat.  To vanquish the threat, he must placate the voter.  He can do this either by pledging to pass the amendment or providing funds for President Trump's wall on the southern border.

When will the pressure on the Democrat congressmen start?  Probably not until this summer.  This is when primary opponents start declaring their intent to run for Congress.  Until then, we must (sometimes) endure a federal government without the EPA.  On the bright side, Washington, D.C. area traffic has improved.