CFP:How many times over the years have you seen one group or another with a proposal to get Term Limits for Congress enacted? I’d say there were more of those than suggestions for Obama’s Impeachment which should be a slam-dunk. Well, more or not, this one initiated by Americans for Constitutional Liberty is the latest one to cross my desk and while I would like to see a realistic one put out there for a change.
All the ones I have seen just don’t cut the mustard and actually just won’t work; not because they’re not deserved, but they just don’t go to the heart of the matter. Most are presented by a person or group that are too timid and hesitant to go for the bull’s eye. This latest one that I comment on below is that way. MORE
Doesn’t Krapifornia have term limits?
Swapping out the old set of worthless corporate whores for a new set of worthless corporate whores every few years isn’t going to solve anything, based on Krapifornia.
So, buyer beware, I guess.
He’s got a real good point.
Can anybody give me an example of a place that has term limits that worked to solve the problem?
I doubt it could ever be done, but selecting legislators like we do juries could solve this problem.
Your called for duty, If you can’t come up with a reasonable excuse as to why you can’t serve for 2 years for $174K/ year, and have a spotless criminal record, you go and serve.
Thoughts?
Having congress critters serve in their home districts or state capitals might help. It would make the lives of lobbyists more difficult, what with all the traveling to bribe people, but voice-recognition software could be used to verify each critter’s vote since we’re so hackable these days.
Term limits seem pretty straight-forward to me. 8 years, and done. No matter what office you’re talking about holding, you get 8 years in office. That’s it.
2 presidential terms, 4 House terms, 1 Senate term + 1 House term…whatever combination you like.
But 8 years is it. We can also make it illegal for former members of congress (and their family members) to ever become lobbyists.
How about this one: when you’re elected to public office, you get a full audit, which lists your every asset. When you leave office, you get the same thing. Then, any money you’ve made while in office that is above your salary is taxed at 100%.
I also think that all members of congress, their staff, and their family members should be required to do their own tax returns. Personally. No legal or financial assistance of any kind. No help, no secretary, not even software. They get a pencil and a simple 4-function calculator. And 100% of members of Congress gets their return audited, every year. I bet we’d see the tax code get simplified pretty fucking quick.
I’m in favor of an absolute limit of ten years working for the government in any capacity. In other words if you spend 8 years cleaning toilets in Yellowstone Park and decide now you have the qualifications to be a senator fine, but if you’re elected your times is up in two years and you can never again work in the government.
Well, I can’t remember who said it, but some comedian remarked that if he was ever on trial, it would make him very uncomfortable to be judged by 12 people who were too dumb to get out of jury duty.
Ya know…?
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So if you’re a really fantastic Senator or Representative for 8 or 9 years, then run for President and get elected, you’re automatically a lame duck, right?
“Mr. President, what do you expect to get accomplished during your time in office?”
“Not much.”
😛
Instead of a term limits, how about a money limits? As the original founding fathers considered Kongress, it was supposed to be an honor to serve your term, and then return home to continue running your own business and earning your own money. You were supposed to pay your OWN way during your time in Kongress.
This would get rid of the professional politician, who has never worked an honest job in his life.
Term limits.
Congress is not exempt from laws they pass.
Congress works 4-6 months only then they must leave DC for their home state for the remainder of the year.
The audit idea is great because they should never be able to accept any money other than their wages..
No more lobbyists – they must write their own bills.
Term limits in California have, in my opinion, tended to minimize the damage state Democrats have done or are able to do. What you are referring to is the gerrymandering of districts so that each party keeps an assembly member or state senator in Sacramento. So yes, California replaces one useless set of legislators with another useless bunch of legislators, but the answer to this is to reform how districts are drawn – not get rid of term limits.
One knows term limits work because almost every election year, some legislator or group of legislators attempts to do away with the term limit laws.
I can think of a few good senators and representatives in my lifetime but I can’t think of one that I would rate as fantastic. If you’re willing to put up Nancy Pelosis and Charley Rangles and Harry Reids on the chance that one will appear, I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Term limits in California are an inconvenience for our elected clown parade. They just play a new game. Rotate positions with their pals. Also when one takes office it’s like moving in a small corporation. Lot’s of staff. Quite often they groom a staff member to take their place when they term out. I’m sure the corrupt money trail still makes its way back to the original office holder.
4 to 6 months every year? I’ll take it but it still seems high.
Texas is every two years for 140 days.
Sure cuts a lot of BS out.
P.S. Not only write their own bills but read them out loud in congress on C-Span.
This.
lockquote>I also think that all members of congress, their staff, and their family members should be required to do their own tax returns. Personally. No legal or financial assistance of any kind. No help, no secretary, not even software. They get a pencil and a simple 4-function calculator. And 100% of members of Congress gets their return audited, every year. …
Otherwise known as the “La Brea Tar Pit Plan” for reducing bad legislation.
So, they would be too dumb to write Obamacare? How is that bad?
I don’t know if you would consider any of them as fantastic, but actually I was thinking more of guys like John Quincy Adams, James Madison, James Monroe, Abraham Lincoln, Harry S Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and many others who served in Congress before becoming President. Not so much the losers you named.
🙂
Are you saying that there is a level of dumb that is dumber than Obamacare? Really?
😛
Great concept, but you have to remember that at the time there was a definite class structure where the elites controlled the government rather than the common man (just like today, right?). They were the only people who could afford to serve their country without pay. So you have to at least offer a living wage, in order to encourage the hoi polloi to seek the office; otherwise you only get the rich. But you don’t have to have the remuneration that Congresspeople get today.
Once you get the changes in place, though, you have to do one more thing: enact a Constitutional Amendment that forbids Congress from taking any action for their own benefit. No salary increases, no lifetime pensions, no special medical plans, none of that stuff.
Yeah, I know – Two chances: Slim and none.
🙂
The tax return thing: The idea is wonderful. Enforcing it? Well, that could be a problem…
😛
Whoops – reply should have been to “harbqll”, below. Sorry.
(What the hell happened to the “Reply” buttons, anyway?)
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I said I didn’t consider anyone in my life time fantastic. Apparently you do.
Harry Truman: Made the decision end WWII by dropping the bomb. Tough decision and one I’m glad he made as he did. Went for a tie in Korea, a decision that haunts the world to this day. Rating; fair to good
John F Kennedy: Rumored to have a fantastic sex life; May also have been the first man to steal a presidential election. Rating; mediocre to fair
Lyndon (I’ll have those niggers voting for us for the next 200 years) Johnson: Micromanaged Vietnam and gave us the War on Poverty. Was also as corrupt as any guttersnipe mentioned in my earlier post. I’ll let you rate him.
Richard Nixon: Resigned in disgrace but at least had more honor than a couple more recent presidents.
George H W Bush: “Read My Lips” and also quit in Iraq with the job half done so that his son had to finish the job ten years later.
I don’t see any argument against term limits in these examples.
First of all, we’re not arguing about term limits here. We’re talking about YOUR VERSION of term limits.
I notice that, again, you are only focusing on whom you consider to be losers. Or more correctly, on the people whom you think made some poor decisions as President. Well, who hasn’t? I don’t think you or I could have done any better, and would very likely have done much worse. No comment on Lincoln, I notice, so you’re probably not from the South. (That’s a joke, by the way, before you get upset about it.) Anyway, my point was not to say that the current system produces perfect Presidents – there is no such thing. However, your plan could potentially deny us the talent of many otherwise qualified people, simply because they had worked for the Government for more than ten years.
Can you say “Dwight D. Eisenhower”, kiddies?
🙂
ANd ALL bills must be on a single subject. No riders and amendments on totally or even partially unrelated matters.