www.tenurecorrupts.com
Today I would like to introduce my website (www.tenurecorrupts.com), and to start a series of conversations with any and all who would like to explore the single objective of that website, which is to enact an amendment to the U.S.Constitution for Term Limits in the US Congress..
I am fully aware that there is a universal feeling that this is a fool’s errand, since it is necessary to first get two-thirds of each house of Congress to agree to end their ‘gravy train’. This is not a job for the faint of heart !
It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it ! And I’m volunteering !
My name is Nelson Lee Walker, an ordinary citizen who strongly believes that we need Congressional Term Limits.
Until now this idea has had a lukewarm reception even by those who have been pushing it steadily for many years. Many reasonable, logical, and sometimes powerful arguments have been put forth by several think tanks and organizations, such as Cato, US Term Limits, etc, and in spite of the fact that almost half the states now have statewide term limits enacted by large majorities, the idea of a Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA) doesn’t seem to get much respect.
So I decided to join the 21st century’s blog world and try to put together a comprehensive effort which would focus on the strategies needed to move this idea forward more effectively.
As the links bar of the site shows, we will include focus on:
•Amendment wording choices (some wordings may be more saleable than others).
•A list of all arguments pro and con, fully explored, including possible unintended consequences.
•Discussions of how best to go about organizing real actions to make it happen.
•The site will sign up people all over the country who will, when alerted, simply cooperate in simultaneous CTLA blasts of emails to Congress, and the media.
•We’ll enlist lots of blogs and other media (pro and con) to generate a drumbeat of background noise about a Congressional Term Limits Amendment.(CTLA).
•We will intensify this campaign every two years in each Congressional election.
You can help to start the ball rolling ! Go to tenurecorrupts.com and SignUp !
1/27/2005
#1 INTRODUCTION TO TENURECORRUPTS.COM
www.tenurecorrupts.com
I guess my first blog ought to explain how I got started on this Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA) kick.
I am a retired manufacturing engineer who always enjoyed my job so much that I spent too much time at work (just ask my wife!), and am now enjoying my retirement, looking for ways to do something useful.
As I settled in and started paying more attention to current events and politics, I noticed that politicians in Congress seem to be developing the ability to get reelected almost 100% of the time, while across the country statewide term limits are becoming more and more popular, and getting enacted with very large majorities. Almost half the states now have term limits, and most of them got it thru the ‘Initiative’ process, whereby the voters put it on the ballot and then passed it, thus by-passing their legislatures who would never have voted for limiting their own terms.
Almost all the states which have an Initiative process have enacted statewide term limits. Doesn’t that tell you something ?
At the Federal level, we have a term limited President, and a Judiciary appointed for life, but in between, we have a Congress which the Founders expected would have a reasonable turnover as voters reassessed their Representatives every two years, and their Senators every six years. That’s the way it worked for our first 150 years. Successful reelections ran about 55-60 %. Nowadays, successful reelections run about 98 %. Like college professors, Congress has tenure !
Commonsense tells us that this is NOT because legislators have become more endearingly popular.
No. It is because politicians have learned many tricks to control the system in their favor. And because a significant fraction of the electorate do not pay enough attention to politics to vote on the merits of the issues or of the candidates. Instead, in the voting booth, they vote on the ballot names they recognize, rather than for a name they do not recognize, and who they might have preferred it they knew the issues.
This ‘significant fraction’ of the voters, in closely balanced elections such as we have had lately, unwittingly maintains a ‘status quo drag’ on the outcome of elections, which resists change and favors incumbents in both parties.
That’s why we need a Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA)
I guess my first blog ought to explain how I got started on this Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA) kick.
I am a retired manufacturing engineer who always enjoyed my job so much that I spent too much time at work (just ask my wife!), and am now enjoying my retirement, looking for ways to do something useful.
As I settled in and started paying more attention to current events and politics, I noticed that politicians in Congress seem to be developing the ability to get reelected almost 100% of the time, while across the country statewide term limits are becoming more and more popular, and getting enacted with very large majorities. Almost half the states now have term limits, and most of them got it thru the ‘Initiative’ process, whereby the voters put it on the ballot and then passed it, thus by-passing their legislatures who would never have voted for limiting their own terms.
Almost all the states which have an Initiative process have enacted statewide term limits. Doesn’t that tell you something ?
At the Federal level, we have a term limited President, and a Judiciary appointed for life, but in between, we have a Congress which the Founders expected would have a reasonable turnover as voters reassessed their Representatives every two years, and their Senators every six years. That’s the way it worked for our first 150 years. Successful reelections ran about 55-60 %. Nowadays, successful reelections run about 98 %. Like college professors, Congress has tenure !
Commonsense tells us that this is NOT because legislators have become more endearingly popular.
No. It is because politicians have learned many tricks to control the system in their favor. And because a significant fraction of the electorate do not pay enough attention to politics to vote on the merits of the issues or of the candidates. Instead, in the voting booth, they vote on the ballot names they recognize, rather than for a name they do not recognize, and who they might have preferred it they knew the issues.
This ‘significant fraction’ of the voters, in closely balanced elections such as we have had lately, unwittingly maintains a ‘status quo drag’ on the outcome of elections, which resists change and favors incumbents in both parties.
That’s why we need a Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA)
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