TERM LIMITS, WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

What do you think? Should there be term limits for our members of Congress? I’ve spent a lot of time researching this concept and, quite frankly, opinions vary. There are countless articles on the internet telling us why term limits will not work; aren’t needed; would hurt the American people; etc and, for the most part, they are written by political advocates; politicians or someone with something to loose if term limits are introduced into the constitution. Personally, I think all of the articles are misleading and extremely one-sided.

Fact, more than 70% of the American public are strongly in favor of a constitutional amendment which imposes term limits and not just for members of Congress but also for Supreme Court Justices. Term limits aren’t a new concept, they have a very long, rich history dating back too ancient Greece and ancient Rome. the ancient Romans knew that term limits was a very effective way to control and curb corruption and imposed a “one term and you’re out”. After a ten year hiatus from office you were allowed to run again for second term. In 1776 Pennsylvania’s plural executive was composed of twelve citizens elected for the term of three years, followed by a mandatory vacation of four years. Term limits were included in The Articles of Confederation (1781-89). The fifth Article stated that “no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six years”.

When the states ratified the Constitution (1787-88) several leading statesmen thought that the lack of term limits in the constitution was a very dangerous defect. Richard Henry Lee viewed the absents of term limits in the Constitution as “most highly and dangerously oligarchic”. Mercy Otis Warren, the historian, warned that “there is no provision for a rotation, nor anything to prevent the perpetuity of office in the same hands for life; which by a little well-timed bribery, will probably be done”. He certainly hit the nail on the head! By the turn of the 20th century the era of incumbency had came into full swing.

Now We The People find our self faced with a Federal Government where, once elected to Congress, the members dig in and try to make it a lifelong career. OK, I admit that there are a FEW good politicians (very few!) and that term limits would put them out of office, so what! For every good and decent politician there are hundreds of good, decent, worthy individuals who never get a chance to serve. Without proper rotation of our elected officials we limit the introduction on new, forward thinking ideas, fresh concepts and innovating outlooks. Our government becomes stale, statemented and corruption runs rampart. Incumbents become more concerned with reelection and less concerned with doing the will of the people, what they were put in office to do in the first place.

I recently read an article by Jon Green underplaying the merits of term limits. The article was so full of false and misleading statements that I could not believe he would actually put his name on it. Based on what’s in his article I can only believe that he’s a Government troll dedicated to misinformation and deceiving the general public. In his article he states “Almost nobody runs for Congress for the money – they’re independently wealthy before they seek office.” Jon, please don’t insult my intelligence like that! Fact is that very few who run for office are “independently wealthy” before seeking office, they make their fortune while in office! He states “The average US congressman has a net worth upwards of $6.5 million dollars; the average Senator is worth nearly $12 million” OK, I buy that but considering that their salary is $174,000 per yer (with a VERY generous benefit package and perks out the rear end) how did they achieve that net worth while in office? Nobody runs for Congress for the money ….BULLSHIT!

He also states “Institutional memory is crucial in Congress. Why would we want to throw everyone out just when they were starting to find their footing and get the hang of the legislative process” The answer to that is simple, if they are incapable of finding “their footing and getting the hang of the legislative process” in the first year they are in office, then they really should not be there in the first place. If they are that slow to learn we really need some new blood in D.C.

Of those who support term limits the number of years imposed are all over the board. In my humble opinion I believe that, for members of Congress, six is the magic number. One term for Senators and three terms for Representatives. I think that for Supreme Court Justices ten years is a good number. This would insure a good, proper rotation of personnel and the introduction of fresh, new ideas on a regular basics.. Now that’s something we really need in Washington!

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me but I do know that until we break the cycle and impose term limits it’s going to be “business as usual” in D.C.. and things are going to continue to get worse for We The People. The ancient Greeks knew it; the ancient Romans knew it; the writers of the Articles of Confederation knew it and I know it …term limits work!