Term Limits: a false solution to a serious problem
Posted by americana83 on June 17, 2010
There has been much clamor for “term limits” to “throw the bums out” who are ruining our country. Did you know that we already have term limits? After FDR (definitely a “bum”!) passed away in the midst of his forth term in office, the constitution was amended to provide that presidents could only serve 2 terms:
Amendment 22 – Presidential Term Limits.
1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President, when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
2. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.
Has this resulted in Presidents willing to “uphold and defend” the constitution of the United States?
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
Barack Obama
The answer, of course, is a resounding NO! Bums get thrown out and replaced by bums, and the net result is new bums continue to pillage the constitution, and there are MORE retired bums on the federal retirement account! Term limiting out such people as Nancy Pelosi (who’s district is San Francisco) will only result in a near identical progressive clone to take her place. And we get to pay the salary for the new pelosi and the retired one! Double the waste for the same toxic ideology.
If anything, one could hypothesize that term limits result in even worse and less accountable politicians. Consider if Obama by some grave misfortune were to win a second term of office. That would be it. He would have no vested interest in even PRETENDING to care what the people said or thought (though he really doesn’t do that now). Now imagine a congress full of the people in there now with NOTHING to lose. It would create the truly perfect storm. They would have every reason to aid and abet the subversion of the law without fear of repercussions.
Even as we speak Harry Reid is getting closer to feeling the power of citizen induced term limits, aka the VOTE! Every 2 years for representatives and every 6 years for senators we ALREADY hold the power to THROW OUT those bums who are not representing us. We just fail to exercise it, voting in the same people and expecting different results. It is electoral insanity.
The heritage foundation, which does a lot of good, has come down on the wrong side of this matter, evident in the title of this article: “Term Limits: The Only Way to Clean Up Congress.” Term limits will only force old dirt out, while doing nothing to stop new dirt from coming in.
In short, term limits did not stop Obama from seizing the White House, nor will it stop progressives from continuing to stink up congress. Only an educated electorate can do that. The only thing they will give us is ever more retired politicians on the public’s tab…
Nelson Lee Walker said
Here’s a practical Tea Party type strategy to create a “Citizen Congress”
A Congress of career politicians will never represent “We the People”, because their highest priority is getting reelected with the help of Big Money.
But “We the People” have more votes than “Big Money” has, and thus can end Congress as a career for professional politicians by never reelecting incumbents.
We can impose single terms every two years, by never reelecting Congress.
Always vote, but only for challengers. Never reelect incumbents.
Keep this up until Congress is mostly “one-termers”, a citizen Congress.
Then keep it up every election, to make a citizen Congress a permanent reality.
Every American’s only intelligent choice is to never reelect anyone in Congress!
The only infallible, unstoppable, guaranteed way to get a truly new Congress,
and a cleaned up new politics is
NEVER REELECT ANY INCUMBENT! DO IT EVERY ELECTION
Nelson Lee Walker of tenurecorrupts.com
Black Order said
Not until the people figure a way to throw the bums out mid-term are things going to change.
Until there are more immediate consequences to their treasonous actions, they will continue.
bringhomethepoliticians.com said
Agreed that term limits have as many pitfalls as they do benefits.
Consider eCongress as a solution it has a lot of advantages including being totally doable under the current US Constitutional framework (from the website):
MISSION: TO ESTABLISH AN eCONGRESS TO RELOCATE US REPRESENTATIVES TO OUR LOCAL DISTRICTS, US SENATORS TO OUR STATE CAPITALS, AND STATE REPRESENTATIVES & STATE SENATORS TO OUR CITY HALLS/COURTHOUSES TO SECURELY TELECOMMUTE FOR NO LESS THAN 75% OF THEIR TERMS TO INCREASE VOTER ACCESS AND REDUCE LOBBYIST INFLUENCE
http://bringhomethepoliticians.com/