Remember the sound of an old record player when the vinyl record’s needle gets stuck and replays a note over and over? Or as the great Yankee baseball star Yogi Berra said, “It is deja vu all over again.” This comes to mind as we stare down the prospect of another federal government shutdown.

Yet the people who should suffer when they do not do their jobs should be the people who are not doing their jobs. We should make members of Congress face consequences for their failure as they are causing pain and putting the nation at risk.

So, what can we start to do now (though it could take some time to adopt) to hold Congress and the White House accountable? We need to embark upon having a constitutional convention or at least push for a constitutional amendment to address the crisis such as the following:

The federal incompetency fine amendment.

The amendment would state the following: “Congress and the White House must achieve the basics of their job, which includes: passing a budget on time, passing all appropriations/spending bills on time, and raising the national debt ceiling. If they fail to do these basic functions, they would be subject to a federal incompetence fine. This would put an end to continuing resolutions per spending bills and an end to the continuous fear of a government shutdown. Members of Congress, the president, and vice president would be subject to a personal fine of up to 25% of their adjusted gross income if they fail to do so.”

Alter a person’s behavior, using carrots and sticks, and the carrot part is simple. Members of Congress should be paid more. First-year associates at major law firms, fresh out of law school, make more money than members of Congress. Members of Congress should also be eligible for a yearly bonus.

Their state officials could decide on the amount of bonus payments based on achieving the objectives in which each person campaigned on. That is how they got elected, so why not hold their feet to the fire?

The good, sincere members would flourish and the charlatans, the folks who over-promise to their constituents, would not. It would make everyone more focused and realistic in their approach to government. But the bonus could be substantial if achieved, and partial bonuses would be in play as well.

Unless somebody “does the obvious” and gives us a permanent solution to the constant federal government shutdowns, partial or full, we will leave our country vulnerable to dreadful things happening. These “shutdown” episodes are distracting.

Proof? The world has become less safe during the eight months of Trump’s second term in office. Just ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Poland and Estonia (both countries have seen Russian drones enter their airspace), Qatar (an ally and nation giving Trump a new plane) which was recently bombed by Israel, the leader of Venezuela where U.S. military activity has increased, North Korea (because they are North Korea), and Iran (recently bombed by America). Or ask all the third-world countries who lost U.S. foreign aid and ask all the countries that are working around the U.S.-imposed tariff war. All of the above have served to make China’s footprint bigger around the world as evidenced by the recent summit hosted by China with nearly all the non-Western countries in attendance. All the above are immensely disconcerting events.

It begs the question – “Is America becoming more and more politically and economically isolated from the world?”

Yes, all this while American leaders are playing the “shut the government down game.” Maybe Yogi got it right.

Heck, Yogi also knew that “it ain’t over till it is over.”