Dear Neal
posted by robert - November 15th, 2005 at 3:39 PMSo I sent the Talkmaster a note today, via his website:
This may seem like an out-of-left-field sort of topic, but as I think more about it I’m struck by just how relevant it might be.
The idea is straightforward: stipulate a two-term limit for Senators and a three-term limit for Reps, with an exception allowing individual states the ability to vote to raise those limits to a max of 4 and 6, respectively. It’s certainly not a new idea; there are several groups with websites advocating term limits (just ask google). The movement could use some polish and pizazz, but what are bloggers for? ;)
What’s striking to me is that the more I consider the problems being created and perpetuated in Washington, the more I think term limits could be the long term answer. Politicians in bed with K Street? Poltiticans catering to large voting blocs at the expense of everyone else’s long term well-being? Be they environuts, UN-ites, or corporate tax loophole lobbyists, the goal is to sugar-daddy the right groups so as to secure enough support to get re-elected. Congress and the associated trappings of government comprise the new (or, really, not-so-new) aristocracy.
I believe congressional term limits could do wonders to reign these things in. Imagine: instead of every decision a Senator or Rep makes being tainted by the omnipresent “will this help my re-election” question, they’ll have to consider how it will affect them once they re-enter public life as a normal citizen. They’ll have to consider the ramifications on their constitutents …because in the near future they will become one again! Presently, every politician seems to operate under the concept that if they play all their cards right and jump through all the right hoops, then they’ll get to stay in Wonderland forever. There are other intangible benefits as well: bringing these politicians back “down to earth” might serve to eventually change the public’s point of view of government, when they see these officials leaving “normal” life, serving for several years, and then returning to normal life — it could establish a better sense of identity overall between the country and our government, a sense that those people in D.C. really are “like us”.
The problem of pork spending is stickier, but quite possibly fixed by term limits as well: with no possibility of a guaranteed aristocratic membership card, Congressional reps might not be as prone to the deal-making and bill-padding pork trading that is currently business-as-usual in D.C. A more realistic “common man” attitude would (hopefully) evolve. This is, of course, more of a stretch, but just about anything seems better than what’s going on on the Hill right now.
Anyway, just my thoughts. Given the depth and breadth of topics you cover, I imagine this one is nothing new — but as a 27-year-old, it’s a refreshing concept. A most-likely stillborn concept, but refreshing all the same.
Sincerely, Robert Morris Member-at-large, Church of the Painful Truth