Is the Problem Career Politicians?

Honestly, have you ever seen so much grass roots discontent with our career politicians? Especially with the Congress…

Second question: Would it be better for the nation (and the basic democratic ideal) if we had term limits for all of congress…Senators and Representatives. It could be just like the constitutional prohibition of no more than two terms for the president?

Question three: Would the change to term limits noticeably upgrade the quality of legislation coming out of Washington? Would term limits increase the statesmanship of the whole congress (and through them the whole federal government) by changing the motivation for holding an elective office?

If you answered “NO” to any of the three questions, you probably should skip the rest of this dissertation. Sorry and goodbye.

I answered “YES” to all three questions and here are my reasons, right or wrong:

Reason One: The current system almost forces someone who wants to serve the nation to become a “career politician.” Realistically, how else would a politician get nominated, elected and accepted in the Washington political scene? Second Reason: We force the poor congressmen to start running for another term the morning after he wins each election And where does he turn for the necessary money he must have to get re-elected? The answer is: to people/organizations that want “ear time”, people with an ax to grind and it may not always be in the national interest. In short, by providing the wrong motivation, we have created a legalized and highly-sophisticated system of graft/corruption that is robbing our country of its full potential.

O.K. “ Mr.-Know It-All” you might well say, “ be fair and tell us the negatives.” Well, one is that you won’t always attract the best talent because being a statesman ( vs a career politician) shouldn’t provide any real wealth, just salary. My answer is, I would rather have properly motivated people than the most talented. Our prisons are full of brilliant people who were wrongly motivated. Think—Madoff.

Second negative: Placing term limits and adjusting the length of the term is an extremely complicated constitutional procedure. I agree. …Asking the congress to instigate such a change would be like asking the fox to voluntarily leave the hen house.

But it is not all frustration. I have had many suggestions.

One suggestion was for voters to agree not to support any candidate running for a third term. The disadvantage would be that it would be hard to organize and publicize. And you may penalize the very party you want to help.

A second suggestion was to write in a name like “ Two Terms” instead of voting for any candidate in the next election. Again the problem is organization but also you likewise might hurt a canidate you would like to support.

But the best suggestion has been to exercise the democratic principle of “the right to petition”. Suppose thousands and thousands of people each got 10 signatures with addresses on a genuine flood of grass roots petitions urging a constitutional amendmentlimiting congressional terms to no more than two. (This could be achieved if every signer would agree to get 10 other signatures on a separate petition)

A suggestion is the petitions be sent to The Heritage Foundation,

214 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002, fax it to them at (202) 879-6333 or through the internet (www.myheritage.org). If you want to call them their phone number is # 800-546-2843

The Heritage Foundation is very moxie about how to get things done politically in Washington and they may find ways, if so motivated, to make sure the petitioners are heard.

But to help the Heritage people along, have copies of the petitions sent or e-mailed to the local newspapers plus, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

If there is an honest groundswell out there in the grassroots, this whole idea should catch fire and spread on its own with such speed that “even the foxes in the hen houses” will have to pay attention. That would be a giant step for all of mankind and additional proof that the basic idea of a democracy is alive and well, because it can update itself to meet the ever-changing challenges of our society.

If you want wording for your petition it can be as simple as

We the undersigned, think that the problem with our country is Congress, and support career limits on Congressmen.