October 10, 2010
Term Limits….why only for our Presidents?
Since our very first President, George Washington, and with the sole exception of FDR, every other President who had the opportunity to be re-elected has served a maximum of two terms. The situation with FDR was unique due to the overlapping of the Great Depression and WW II. Following FDR’s death our congress passed and the states ratified the 22nd amendment to our constitution which formally restricted the total term limit for presidents to two four year periods.
Why don’t we have these same mandated term limits for all other federally elected officials?
The power of incumbency is just amazing! With term after term re-election rates around 90%, it is easy to see how tempting it can be to seek one of these powerful positions. It is also easy to see how this power attracts the support of the political party leaders and lobbyists. If they can control these elected officials…they jointly control the laws. If that is at odds for what is best for our country and citizens over the short or long term…too bad. The sad reality is that too many voters simply vote for the names they best recognize, or vote the straight party ticket for their registered party. We continue to do this in spite of a recent congressional approval rating in the very low teens.
I think of these folks as elected royalty. They are extremely powerful since individually and collectively they make the laws, policies and regulations that affect all of the 300+ million citizens of this country.
The last serious attempt to set term limits came was in the mid-1990’s when a term limit initiative came forth that limited terms of members of the Congress or Senate to a maximum term of 12 years. This initiative was placed on the ballots of 23 states and was passed in all of them by an average margin of 2 to 1. In fact, if I remember correctly, it was partly the Republican Party’s promise to instill term limits that helped them to take control of both houses. The Supreme Court then ruled that the states could not set term limits for a federally elected office, and the Republicans failed to generate enough votes to pass this law themselves (surprise, surprise), and the initiative died.
To me, it seems clear that we have to find a way to make certain that these officials who are elected by us are simply not allowed to serve beyond the 12 year limit that was attempted in the 90’s. It also seems clear that to expect our elected officials to self-regulate by passing term limits legislation is laughable. Another option would require a Constitutional Convention. That can work, but it has only been successfully done one time (21st amendment). Can you even imagine any special interest groups out there that might want to fund this?
Personally, I think “we the people” need to set the term limits ourselves.
We can begin by eliminating candidates who have served for 12 years or longer during the next round of primaries. In that way we can still support the party whose principals we most believe in by nominating a fresh candidate. If we had the fortitude to stay with the “twelve year” limit for all future primaries, the impact we as voters could have would be enormous.
I honestly believe that our nation would be better served if we kicked all of the current long-term officials out right now and just started over. That won’t happen until enough voters become so frustrated at the abuse of power from our leaders that they finally take action.
Is their some risk in hiring new leadership? Maybe…but how could we do worse than to continue to re-elect officials who’s actions reflect rigid party loyalty, the funding from the special interest groups, and the delusion that power actually confers wisdom.
Ask yourself if we can likely do worse than to keep re-electing these largely power-hungry and self-serving incumbents’ term after term. I have heard many people say that they truly believe that most of our elected officials start out trying to do the right things for the right reasons…then become corrupted by the system and the grand feel of power. Let’s at least shorten the time-frame allowed by saying…we the people hereby fire you!
Please remember the famous quote that is attributed to a fellow from Great Britain
One final opinion: I intend to vote for Jeff Miller. If you support this caring and compassionate local businessman to be our new representative in Washington
What do you think?
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