By Jim O’Neal The Catholic Church has a simple process for selecting a new Pope that seems to be working fine (to me). Whenever a Pope dies or resigns, the responsibility for governance shifts to the College of Cardinals. “Cardinals” are bishops and Vatican officials from all over the world who had been chosen earlier by a Pope. I think these are the guys (only?) who wear the red vestments and their primary responsibility includes electing a new Pope … as needed. Whenever there is a vacancy, the Vatican convenes a papal conclave, discusses their priorities globally and then elects their best candidate to be the leader (a conclave). Only 120 Cardinals (under age 80) get to vote. Someone tallies this, burns the secret ballots (which produces a white smoke signal) and announces the winner – “Habemus Papam.” Since the Republicans are struggling to just pick a candidate – using an odd, unwieldy series of debates – I have a suggestion: Why not put all GOP candidates in one large room and require THEM to not only pick their best candidate, but also the VP and Secretary of State, Defense, Treasury, Transportation from this group. All the candidates get a new job … mandatory. Since they represent (collectively) the best and brightest the Republicans have to offer, they could offer voters an entire Administration to choose versus a single, lonely Democratic presidential candidate. Companies do this every year with the owners (shareholders) affirming the Chairman, CEO and a full slate of Directors. It only takes about 30 minutes and costs are minimal. I think we actually did this in the beginning with George Washington (who warned us about the divisiveness of “parties”) and it may be time to reconsider … again. After all, it is “our government” and we should be able to do it if we choose. Just a thought. 
Intelligent Collector blogger JIM O’NEAL is an avid collector and history buff. He is President and CEO of Frito-Lay International [retired] and earlier served as Chairman and CEO of PepsiCo Restaurants International [KFC Pizza Hut and Taco Bell].