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We don;t have term limits for Congress, so why do we have them for President? Is it all because of partisan envy of FDR and something that George Washington once said?
We don;t have term limits for Congress, so why do we have them for President? Is it all because of partisan envy of FDR and something that George Washington once said?
Republicans feared another FDR despite the fact only Dewey was truly a credible opponent to FDR. The use of Washington was because of the precedent that a president is in for two terms. For 150 years it was fine and nobody challenged it. The closest was Theodore Roosevelt for the 1912 election.
It's not necessarily the "career" politicians that skewers the American political scene, it's the scoundrel component of politics that really makes a mess of things. Politics the world over has long been the domain of the egotistical, the arrogant, the shrewd, and those of dubious moral character. How would imposing a limit on the time they spend in government change the basic truth about those who feel a calling to the political arena?
We see how few can even understand the notion of politics as unparalleled opportunity at its aggregate levels, government will always be a construct fraught with corruption, we only have the constitution and the court's standing in the way of a total criminal system passing for government. The most organized criminal enterprise today is woven into the fabric of government, the volume of money serving as the glue which holds it together, while simultaneously preventing any real change. I feel sorriest for those who think the fix lies in voting in the "right" people, but, very few deny the obvious, and that is that politics does draw from a pool of mostly undesirables who hire others to clean up their image in hopes of fooling the people.
And it works--in spite of all the talk of change which most of us have heard throughout our lifetime, politics continues as the most divisive aspect of the American social dynamic. It is that fact of us being divided that gets to the heart of the corruption and the failure to achieve any lasting change, we're too busy arguing to see the truth, politics is a dirty business best left to those with the stomach for it. In the meantime government, for all it's faults, still serves the citizenry and often the scams involve the unsuspecting citizens in the form of jobs, and who doesn't want jobs? So, we vote and hope, vote and hope, and vote some more, but we'll never rid ourselves of such a stellar opportunity for those Wolves in their fancy Sheepskins..
Many people, all over the political spectrum, say that a lot of things would be better if we had term limits, especially for Congress. While term limits would stop some guys from staying in over 40 years (I believe that we even have a guy in Congress who has been there over 50 years!!!!), I'm not sure they'd be as helpful as everyone thinks they'd be.
First off, if we term limit guys, we'd still have to be paying off all their pensions, etc, so if we term limit them to 12 years, that means that we'd just be paying out more pensions, benefits, etc. Also, we tried term limits on the President, and while that prevents a king (least a long term king), it does NOT stop Presidential abuse of power (As both the Bush bashers and Obama bashers will tell you.) Also, California enacted term limits for their legislature and they are just as crazy as ever.
Term limits might get rid of repeat offenders, but I'm not sure if it would get rid of the offenses. They can still abuse their power, etc. It would seem that, barring any other changes, that it could just create rotating tyrants. Plus, they would get rid of the good guys along with the bad (meaning that guy who actually stands for the people would also have to leave at the end of his term, possibly leading to someone bad getting in next.)
I think we not only need term limits but the fact is lack of consequences for the congress or any government official. Who is stopping them from abusing their power?citizens? Of course not if we can make them be hold accountable for wrong doing then we can get somewhere. As for now people in the congress are unstoppable.
It's not necessarily the "career" politicians that skewers the American political scene, it's the scoundrel component of politics that really makes a mess of things. Politics the world over has long been the domain of the egotistical, the arrogant, the shrewd, and those of dubious moral character. How would imposing a limit on the time they spend in government change the basic truth about those who feel a calling to the political arena?
We see how few can even understand the notion of politics as unparalleled opportunity at its aggregate levels, government will always be a construct fraught with corruption, we only have the constitution and the court's standing in the way of a total criminal system passing for government. The most organized criminal enterprise today is woven into the fabric of government, the volume of money serving as the glue which holds it together, while simultaneously preventing any real change. I feel sorriest for those who think the fix lies in voting in the "right" people, but, very few deny the obvious, and that is that politics does draw from a pool of mostly undesirables who hire others to clean up their image in hopes of fooling the people.
And it works--in spite of all the talk of change which most of us have heard throughout our lifetime, politics continues as the most divisive aspect of the American social dynamic. It is that fact of us being divided that gets to the heart of the corruption and the failure to achieve any lasting change, we're too busy arguing to see the truth, politics is a dirty business best left to those with the stomach for it. In the meantime government, for all it's faults, still serves the citizenry and often the scams involve the unsuspecting citizens in the form of jobs, and who doesn't want jobs? So, we vote and hope, vote and hope, and vote some more, but we'll never rid ourselves of such a stellar opportunity for those Wolves in their fancy Sheepskins..
You make some good points, but term limits will limit the time "corrupt career scoundrels" can continue to use the U.S. treasury as their personal slush fund. Add Trump's requirement that cabinet members (and senators and congressmen) cannot then simply become 'special interest lobbyists' ... and we might get back to a semblance of 'citizen politicians' who can focus on serving America.
There is probably some truth in the saying: "power corrupts -- and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Some controls are therefore needed to better control the country's finances instead of continuing to leave the foxes in charge of the chicken coop. Of course, nothing will substitute for personal integrity, honor and a sense of accountability to something higher than one's self.
Firstly, the issue we have Senators up every six years and all are in one of three classes every two years while the house is every two years. This causes some issues. Some people have been in congress wayyyy too long. I'm turning 30 in June. Today as Congress returns to Washington, John McCain enters his 6th term as a Senator to Arizona. He will be in some 36 years before the state can vote him out again. It's wrong that our current young voters have been born since someone started their tenure as their current position. NOTE: McCain previously was a Representative of Arizona to the US House.
Secondly, "the best term limit is the voting booth" doesn't work. I've lived in Arizona. I'm in a red district where the sitting Representative don't face legit challengers and then wins by 40% at the least. It is the same as Nancy Pelosi's district where she gets some 70% victories after some 10+ terms. My Representative hasn't been there as long (he actually moved districts to go not go against Ann Kirkpatrick during a close highly contested 2010 bid) but it is basically the voting base is set in their ways, barring some disaster. SO in a way we do need a term limit to truly shake things up.
My suggestion, You have 18 years in Congress. You can go 9 Representative terms, 3 Senatorial terms or a mixture of the two. If we have term limits for President, why not Congress?
This is a very good post. There's something to be said for maintaining a degree of institutional memory (in other words, not reinventing the wheel repetitively) and having a revolving door doesn't promote building a sense of trust among peers, but I think it was Harry Truman that said something about not having much faith in a person that hasn't been canned or lost their job at least a few times in their life.
I've seen how short term limits work in action and for the most part far too much time is wasted "learning where the bathrooms are" and without limits too much time is spent hanging out in the bathrooms not doing any work at all. 18 years seems as good a length of time as any.
This is a very good post. There's something to be said for maintaining a degree of institutional memory (in other words, not reinventing the wheel repetitively) and having a revolving door doesn't promote building a sense of trust among peers, but I think it was Harry Truman that said something about not having much faith in a person that hasn't been canned or lost their job at least a few times in their life.
I've seen how short term limits work in action and for the most part far too much time is wasted "learning where the bathrooms are" and without limits too much time is spent hanging out in the bathrooms not doing any work at all. 18 years seems as good a length of time as any.
Thanks. The only problem is that we NEED to have a constitutional convention to even suggest this 18 year term limit. It ISN'T going to last in Congress at all.
This idea has been floating around and the knee-jerk reaction is to impose term limits on everyone. There is nothing wrong with a career politician if they are capable and have the public interest at heart (they do exist...or did). How many members of the Senate or House of Representatives have demonstrated statesman-like qualities in only one term...or two terms. Seniority moves people into leadership positions and important committee posts. Term limits are not working well in places where we find them. State legislatures in general are looney-bins of one-trick-ponies who have been elected on some single issue or were bought by an interest group. I'd rather have people gain some experience in how to compromise and work out solutions than have them bounced out of the legislature only to run for Congress.
The limitations we need are on the unelected lobbyists who write the legislation that our clueless Reps propose and support in order to get money. We have a Congress full of lobby-owned agents who spend all their time catering to big money as an easy path to reelection.
I think we not only need term limits but the fact is lack of consequences for the congress or any government official. Who is stopping them from abusing their power?citizens? Of course not if we can make them be hold accountable for wrong doing then we can get somewhere. As for now people in the congress are unstoppable.
When the GOP has gotten away with gerrymandering safe districts in so many of the states, it really doesn't matter if there are "term limits" since the new clone clown will just replace the outgoing one...
The Supreme Court by allowing this gerrymandering to exist and actually aiding it by gutting the Voting Rights Act recently has shown ITS true colors---Alito, Thomas, Scalia in the past--and Trump's new appointees will undoubted continue this service to the GOP in the future...
This latest step by the GOP to gut the real power of the ethics committee and subsume its power to investigate under the current GOP controlled committee is just blatant in-your-face evidence that these guys want NO threat to their power---that they have no intention of being held accountable even to their own House oversight because under this new rule, any ethics complaint can be swept under the rug easier than Christmas cookie crumbs...
IF THEY WERE REALLY THE GUARDIANS OF DEMOCRACY---
They wouldn't be so afraid of being challenged as to their ethics...
They know what they did to HRC was wrong, politicized to the extreme, and totally groundless...
So they are afraid that something similar could be done to them, especially with all the special interests conflicts likely to unfold during this Trump fiasco of a presidency---
So this is a preventative strike at preserving power---especially if things go wrong in 2018 and more Dems are elected...
This is a very good post. There's something to be said for maintaining a degree of institutional memory (in other words, not reinventing the wheel repetitively) and having a revolving door doesn't promote building a sense of trust among peers, but I think it was Harry Truman that said something about not having much faith in a person that hasn't been canned or lost their job at least a few times in their life.
I've seen how short term limits work in action and for the most part far too much time is wasted "learning where the bathrooms are" and without limits too much time is spent hanging out in the bathrooms not doing any work at all. 18 years seems as good a length of time as any.
Term limits should be short of the time needed to qualify for a pension/continuing health benefits---
Meaning that whatever the max time a person can hold elected office on one level--Congress or Senate--
It falls short of obtaining a pension via that service...
Meaning the elected official would be held to the same standard of working w/o guarantee of company pension
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