Term Limits Advocate rationally explains to con-gress why they deserve term limits
Posted by freedomforall 4 years, 8 months ago to Politics
Term limits advocate compares Congress to lice and root canals! He tells this senate committee that 60% of Americans say that they would fire every single member of Congress if they could. And that the people have lost confidence in this Congress because career politicians routinely abuse power.
SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnwGdl1YrQ8
I as 1of 300 million say 60% of con-gress should be tried for treason and corruption.
They keep thinking and acting like they are the boss.
Supposed to anyway. The current socialist movement is like a next devolving step.
https://youtu.be/5skIcMzlq6s
I think we also have to limit their time in each level as well, not to mention that they need not address every idiotic concern of the public and we need to across to them that; they need, NOT TO MAKE MORE LAWS...just make the basic one's we have work better...most of which mainly apply to THEM!
Representatives and Senators frequently join or are appointed to committees, which in turn study various issues and make recommendations to the full chamber as to whether various bills should be approved or defeated. Because typically, the R's and S's don't review bills and their implications in detail for every bill, the committee members acquire considerable power, in practice if not in theory.
If someone's Representative or Senator is on one or more important committees, then voters may rationally prefer such a person even one who is corrupt and arrogant due to having the capacity to obtain pork-barrel projects instead of a freshman honest politician who will be unable to demand such pork. If every committee is forced to disband and reconvene anew with each biennial election, and the committee members' selection and promotion processes are explicitly forbidden from relating to seniority, then a motive for retaining R's and S's will disappear.
What used to be a left leaning government with an effective opposition has turned into a totally democrat controlled fiefdom where the opposition doesn't even have enough votes to stop anything.
The first, and I think the most serious, is that it further disengages voters from the process of overseeing their government. Yes, officials who serve poorly are removed, eventually, though voters would feel less motivated to recall any but the very worst, but by the same token those who serve well, even the most exemplary, would be cut down with no regard to performance, and the voters would be powerless to change that.
Second, under term limits every elected official has a mandated final term after which they cannot be re-elected. The poor performers have that entire last term to do more or less as they please, lining their own pockets, setting up favors, or just relaxing. We all remember one of our Presidents telling the leaders of a historically rival nation that he'd "have more flexibility after [his] re-election," widely understood to mean he would no longer have to worry about how voters judged his actions. In fact, both good and bad elected officials would have to spend their last term-limited years in office, not in demonstrating to voters why they deserved another term, but making preparations for life after leaving office. The bad ones, as noted, would likely spend that time with little concern for the public, but even the good ones (yes, there have been a few over the years) would have to take time from their public service to make arrangements for their future.
What we need is not term limits, but educated voters who hold those they elect to high standards. The study of civics has fallen almost entirely out of favor, and the very concept of citizenship as a responsibility has been almost entirely replaced with an attitude of entitlement, perhaps the philosophical underpinning of JFK's "Ask not" exhortation.
But the real problem is the MONEY from the lobbyists.
Nothing gets done until a lobbyist writes a check to the DNC or the RNC. Which then distribute the money to keep the campaigns going, and the corruption starts there.
First off, everyone knows term limits must be implemented but since it would be Congress to pass the bill, there is no way in hell they ever will do that.
Is there any example to indicate they will vote against their own interest? Where would you find a job that pays full pension after only a few years of service? Do you remember what they did when their salary increase was up to vote? They did not vote against it, but let it pass by default. Did they accept ACA for themselves? Of course not.
It is an issue which is DOA.
I would bring up an other abuse by Congress: lobbying. When a member of congress loses an election, he/she opens a lobbying practice and lives happily ever after selling government secrets.
As the video noted the con-gress should recuse itself from the issue because they have a vested interest and can't make an unbiased decision. Without congressional approval a constitutional amendment can't be proposed. I would have also stated that in the likely event that the con-gress doesn't act ethically and restrict their own power, the people have the right and responsibility to do so for them. I'd have quoted Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
I doubt that the problems in the federal government can be solved peacefully.