Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a former U.S. secretary of labor who served in the Clinton administration, argues that cleaning up what he calls the mayhem created by Donald Trump and his regime — and preventing anything like it from happening again — requires 10 major structural reforms that every political candidate should support.

Reich frames the list as changes to how the political system itself works, rather than policies such as Medicare for All, affordable housing, childcare, or a $20 minimum wage. In his view, these structural reforms are necessary prerequisites to getting good policies enacted, and they must be passed by Congress in order for anything else to get done.

The 10 reforms he outlines are:

1. Enact Supreme Court term limits. Reich proposes limiting justices to 18-year terms, after which they would return to lower federal courts. Justices currently hold lifetime appointments under Article III of the Constitution.

2. Crack down on conflicts of interest. He calls for applying federal conflict-of-interest laws to the president and vice president, who are currently exempt from them; banning all elected officials and Cabinet members from trading individual shares of stock, which members of Congress must disclose but are not barred from doing under the STOCK Act of 2012; and requiring their financial holdings to be placed in a blind trust.

3. Stop political interference in criminal prosecutions. He would prohibit presidents from influencing Justice Department prosecutions and require congressional review of pardons and commutations, a clemency power the Constitution grants without built-in congressional oversight.

4. End the gerrymandering wars. He proposes requiring all states to create independent commissions that draw congressional district maps, replacing a system in which state legislatures typically control the process.

5. Restore the Voting Rights Act. He calls for reinstating protections against racially discriminatory voting maps and restoring federal oversight of states with a history of voter discrimination — a safeguard weakened in 2013, when the Supreme Court invalidated the law's coverage formula in Shelby County v. Holder.

6. Protect the freedom of the press. He proposes preventing media monopolies by stopping large corporations and major media owners from buying up more news outlets.

7. Eliminate political litmus tests for federal funding. He argues the president should be held in contempt for impounding funds appropriated by Congress — a practice Congress curtailed through the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 — including funding for academic and scientific research, which he says should be free from political influence.

8. Tax extreme wealth. He calls for enacting a wealth tax on multimillionaires and billionaires, a levy the federal government has never imposed, and ending the stepped-up basis loophole that allows huge fortunes to be inherited without capital gains taxes being paid.

9. Elect presidents by the popular vote. He proposes replacing the Electoral College, either through a constitutional amendment or through a compact among states to award their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner — an agreement that would take effect only once states holding a majority of electoral votes join.

10. Get big money out of politics. He calls for expanding public financing to match small-dollar campaign donations and passing a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling that lifted restrictions on independent campaign spending by corporations and unions. Such an amendment would require approval by two-thirds of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Reich writes that Trump has revealed how easily the American system can be abused, but that opposing him is not enough. He argues that lasting structural reforms are needed to make it harder for anyone — a president, speaker of the House, Supreme Court justice, or other officials — to abuse their power in the future.

He closes by urging readers to send the list to any candidate they would like to win on November 3. The essay is accompanied by a video on YouTube.

Reich's writings can be found at robertreich.substack.com.