Term Limits

[QUINNSCOMMENTARY]

When Congress first convened the members of the original few sessions gave little thought to making a career of serving in that body. It was an obligation, a duty and honor and when that obligation was completed, they moved on. That meant that incoming members were frequent and came with knowledge of the real world fresh in their mind.

That didn’t last long as the idea of power and influence caught on quickly and along with temptation and corruption, favoritism, influence and of course in our current vernacular ear marks.

In the 21st century and indeed for some time, we have a Congress made up of career politicians who routinely run and are re-elected. The longer they are in Congress the more ingrained they become in the system, the more they are tempted, the more they convince themselves they are special and in some cases so special they can ignore the law. They become easy targets of the influence peddlers and they become more dependent on money for reelection and hence a job. In short, power corrupts and the temptation to retain power as a member of Congress is great. When you go to Washington, you can almost feel it in the air.

Human nature being what it is, this is never going to change, so, is now the time for term limits. I think so.

There is a price to pay for term limits in that some good people will have to leave office (when you find that person let us commission a statute). However, it seems to me there is a greater price to pay with the system we have. Some would argue that there is no need for limits as the people can vote a Congressman or Senator out every few years. Of course, that is true, but the reality is that the electorate generally has no idea who they are voting for, has no idea of his or her voting record or who is giving that person money for influence. The electorate is generally uninformed and ignorant and votes along party lines. Sorry if you are offended but that is the way it is.

Here is what I propose. Each member of the House of Representatives is elected for five years and each member of the Senate for seven. Why so long you may ask? Well because for a new member of Congress it takes at least a year for them to find their caucus rooms and washrooms, let alone a committee room. Seriously, it’s a big job getting oriented to the Washington scene.

Now there is an admitted risk in all this. Removing the specter of not being re-elected means that some dodo will do even dumber things than he would now simply because there is no possible repercussion, but if the odds are with us, more members will do the right thing because there is no possible repercussion. In effect, we will have an entire Congress made up of lame ducks, what could be greater? It also means that the mix among Democrats and Republicans will change more frequently and that any president will be forced to deal with new people who are not ingrained in their powerbases. This is getting better all the time.

Sadly, there is a flaw in this scheme. To make this work we have to get the current class of lifers to vote for a constitutional amendment, and then we have to get the states to approve it, states where those voting may be in their “jobs for the last 30 years.

As they say in the corporate world when a high-level person leaves unexpectedly, they left to “pursue other interests (code for you is outta here). Members of Congress need other pursuits every few years too. :-5

[Kindle]

In recent years it has been my fantasy that we would have a government where good men would step forward to do all the good they could do for a set number of years and then go back to their normal lives, thus allowing other good men to follow and do the same. This way no one in power would be worrying about offending anyone or campaigning for the next term. Everyone who would leave their life on hold for this period would be truely moved to do their best for our country and its citizens.

[QUINNSCOMMENTARY]

Kindle;1160019 wrote: In recent years it has been my fantasy that we would have a government where good men would step forward to do all the good they could do for a set number of years and then go back to their normal lives, thus allowing other good men to follow and do the same. This way no one in power would be worrying about offending anyone or campaigning for the next term. Everyone who would leave their life on hold for this period would be truly moved to do their best for our country and its citizens.


Alas a fantasy it is.

[Kindle]

QUINNSCOMMENTARY;1160071 wrote: Alas a fantasy it is.


Ah, but we can all dream..............................

[Nomad]

Sadly, there is a flaw in this scheme. To make this work we have to get the current class of lifers to vote for a constitutional amendment, and then we have to get the states to approve it, states where those voting may be in their “jobs for the last 30 years.




They vote their own pay scale. Theyre not stupid enough to willingly give that up.

Maybe the public should vote on pay raises based on performance.

A little incentive for them.

[Accountable]

Nomad;1160174 wrote: They vote their own pay scale. Theyre not stupid enough to willingly give that up.

Maybe the public should vote on pay raises based on performance.

A little incentive for them.
They perform too damn much already.

[Patsy Warnick]

When you go to Washington the aroma is GREED. I miss the Cherry Blossoms..Oh, what am I thinking - dreaming like Kindle

the good 'ole day's...

Patsy

[Kindle]

Patsy Warnick;1160270 wrote: When you go to Washington the aroma is GREED. I miss the Cherry Blossoms..Oh, what am I thinking - dreaming like Kindle

the good 'ole day's...

Patsy


Like Martin Luther King's dream, it has/is taking a long time, but eventually................. maybe, perhaps..........