Posted by
Charlie on Thursday, January 25, 2007 6:01:07 PM
One of the proposals put forth by the Republican Party before the 1994 Congressional election was the “Contract With America.” This contract contained a proposal for term limitations for elected officials. Generally, the limitation would be two terms of six years for senators and six terms of two years for members of the House of Representatives. This proposal was inspired by the fact that the Democrats had dominated the House and Senate for most of the preceding sixty years. Naturally, as soon as the Republicans assumed majority status this was abandoned, much to the detriment of true representative government.
Now the nation is saddled with career politicians who are captive to monied special interest groups. Career politicians who generally pay little attention to their constituents wishes instead kowtow to their big campaign contributors. Faith and confidence in government by the average American has never been lower. Seldom do these career political hacks take into account what is good for the country. Instead they are looking forward to the next election and what actions to take so they are assured of re-election and a continued ride on the gravy train.
In order to alleviate this horrendous situation and bring back true representative government I would like to suggest a constitutional amendment. I would like to propose a one term limitation for all elected government officials. One term of six years for senators. One term of two years for members of the House. And especially one term of four years for presidents. No exceptions. No senators running for president. No members of the House running for the Senate. No ex-Presidents running for anything on the Federal level. An examination of second presidential terms shows the wisdom, with few exceptions, of having one term presidents. Serve one term and go home–for good.
Those who think we need experienced people running the government should look at the record of experienced politicians. We are trillions of dollars in debt with no end of the red ink in sight. We are bogged down in a war in the Middle East with no end in sight at least partly because some lily-livered politicians were afraid of putting a bullet hole in a mosque. The amount of government waste is scandalous largely because of pork barrel projects which career politicians must bring home to assure re-election and the influence of lobbyists seeking tax breaks and subsidies for their clients.
Limiting politicians to one term would eliminate most of these temptations. No longer would they have to depend on the monied interests for campaign contributions (known to me as bribes). No longer would they have to propose wasteful pork barrel spending such as the $200 million dollar “Bridge to No-Where.”
As a concession to those who want some experienced members in the House I suggest that the Amendment contain a provision for half the members of the House be elected in odd years and half in even years. This would give freshman members time to learn the ropes (hopefully, not too well) before taking leadership positions in their second and last year in Washington.
Of course, this doesn’t have a chance of seeing the light of day.
And this makes me FURIOUS!!!!