TERM LIMITS

I’ve been thinking about term limits. My conservative leanings tell me they are bad. They are bad because it’s BIG GOVERNMENT, once again, butting into something that it doesn’t belong in, particularly my ability to control BIG GOVERNMENT. People should be able to vote for who they want, right? If that person is really good, why not let him keep his post, huh? If he’s a bum, I’ll throw him out first chance I get (“Phone call for Gov. Davis…”).

Now, that’s all well and good, but… We do have limits on voting, don’t we? There is a voting age minimum for the voters, right? You have to be 35, born and lived in the U.S. for fifteen years to be President. He can’t serve more than two consecutive terms, either. Most people would say these are reasonable and not offensive, so why not term limits?

Look, when the Constitution was written, most of the power in government was given to the House of Representatives because it seemed most democratic. The check on that power was two year terms, thereby giving the people the opportunity to “throw the bums out” relatively quickly. The Senate was designed to make all states equal and Senators were given six year terms. But why such long terms? How about “throwing the bums out”? The Senate was meant to be a more "professional” group that would deal with “big issues” (treaties, judges, etc) without fear of having to run again next week. What most people don’t know or forget is that Senators were originally elected by the State Legislatures, not the people directly. This allowed the people to register their dissatisfaction by throwing out the State Rep. who voted for the bum. The Seventeenth Amendment botched this up.

But, what’s happened to “throw the bums out”? In general, what we have is an impregnable fortress of government elites with jobs for life. The blessed campaign finance reform has now made it even harder for an incumbent to loose. These 535 “Lords of the Dance” are nearly guaranteed to hold onto their seats forever, especially in the Senate. Look at Strom Thurmond(1956-2002), Robert Byrd(1958-current), Ted Kennedy(1962-current), Dan Rostenkowski(1958-1994), Silvio Conte(1959-1991), etc. They just show up and they are reelected. Why in the world would they fear their constituents? Because of that, we get things like the filibuster circus in the Senate we have now because they have no fear.

So, I’m starting to lean towards term limits. With only six years in the House and twelve in the Senate, maybe we wouldn’t get morons looking for a job for life. Can you imagine what Ted Kennedy would be doing now after being forced out of the Senate after two terms? What about Bob Byrd? He’d have the title of Imperial Grand Dragon of the West Virginia KKK or something like that. Of course, those who couldn’t run again may turn into tyrants, but I doubt it. After their term was up, they would still have to earn a living and hopefully, a history of being a crook would impede that.

So, I’m beginning to feel that term limits might be a good thing. It might lead to more responsive representatives and more reasonable Government; I’m not sure, I’m going to still think about it. What do you think?