www.tenurecorrupts.com
Back in 1770 a cynical historian wrote: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over lousy fiscal policy, and is always followed by a dictatorship.”
Of course there is a certain amount of wisdom in that gloomy forecast, but I don't believe that the outcome is a foregone conclusion. However, it does illustrate that the reason we need Congressional Term Limits today is precisely that careerist politicians are driving us in the direction the cynic predicted.
When politicians are primarily focussed on reelection, they don’t think about the best policies for the country, but rather on the ways to get reelected. And one of the principle ways is to vote for ‘pork’ for their constituencies. And they will vote for this pork even when the country is staggering under huge debt burdens, and in spite of large current deficits. And they do it reciprocally (“You vote for my pork,and I’ll vote for yours”) so that the evil is compounded. And to hell with attempts to balance the budget.
Much, if not all of this pork is sneaked into enormous, complex appropriation bills, hidden from public scrutiny. If any are exposed, the pols can always fabricate plausible reasons why the item is vital to his district, and besides, “It is really such a miniscule fraction of the multi-trillion dollar budget, that it needn’t concern anyone!”
Multiply this position by 535 lying, hypocritical politicians, and you’re talking about real money!
Commonsense tells us that term limited politicians, or a citizen Congress, who expect to return to the private sector, would be far less inclined to say “to hell with the budget”. Maybe not all of them, but a large majority of them. And that’s all we would need to create a fresh mindset in the Congress to turn the country around.
Most of these ordinary citizen legislators will have come to Congress to do a job, do it right, and then leave. Because that’s what ordinary citizens do! And many of them would, during their tenure, educate their constituencies on the proper and ethical use of political power.
It seems to me that all the political organizations out there who are pushing truly legitimate and worthwhile political issues, and spending lots of money to get their points across to the public (and to bribe their Congresspeople), would find it a lot easier to succeed if we had a ’citizen congress’ by FIRST getting a Congressional Term Limits Amendment (CTLA) enacted.
There is no doubt in my mind that a Congress made up of relatively new people, untainted by excessive tenure, would have a remarkably fresh outlook on the issues of the day, and be inclined to use much more commonsense in resolving those issues. And let's not kid ourselves, being a Congressperson is NOT brain surgery or rocket science!
On the other hand, it appears that many of the most vigorous opponents of term limits, other than careerist professsional polticians, are precisely those organizations which are called ‘special interests’, and it is those organizations who have the most intimately corrupt relationships with the entrenched "tenured' politicians of the modern day Congress. These are the people we have to beat.
Our wonderfully diverse and free political system is made up of all kinds of people who are tugging at ‘the powers that be’ in Congress for good laws and bad ones (increasing or decreasing the size of government, balancing or unbalancing the budget, raising or lowering taxes, etc.). We need a Congress that is responsive to the voters in a thoughtful and responsible way, consistent with what is best for the country longterm, not with an eye to the next election. A term limited citizen Congress will do that.
So I say “Let’s do first things first! Let’s establish Congressional Term Limits!”
Nelson Lee Walker, Saratoga, CA
www.tenurecorrupts.com
5/20/2005
5/15/2005
#17 HOW TO START THE DRIVE ?
www.tenurecorrupts.com
Given the well documented fact that, whenever term limits is on a ballot, for city or statewide offices, it wins with overwhelming majorities, such as a 70 to 30 ratio, why hasn’t a ‘deep pockets’ individual or organization come forth with the resources to fund a nationwide petition drive to promote a Congressional Term Limits Amendment ? I am sure some such exist. How can we identify them?
Is it because it is only the lowly voters who believe in it, and not any of the rich high and mighty ? I absolutely refuse to believe that.
Of course, it doesn’t take just money and advertising. It also takes dedicated volunteers to spread the word and do the grunt work. How best to identify them and gain their cooperation?
I am certain that there are many of the wealthy, and many who would volunteer, who have just as much commonsense as all those voters around the country who believe in term limits. I think it is only necessary to create a scenario that will convince them that such a drive will succeed.
Consider the following idea:
Rather than sending a barrage of email to Congress (which will be spam-blocked), let’s do it the old-fashioned way...chain snailmail. It could be started relatively economically by a steady, persistent program of small ads, placed in all kinds of media, all over the country.
These ads would make a brief sensible pitch for a Congressional Term Limits Amendment, and urge readers to write a snailmail to all their friends (with a copy to Congress and the media), to urge them to write to their friends (again with a copy to Congress and the media), and so on, and so on.
At the same time, a number of websites would be prepared to support the ads with the snailmail addresses of Congresspeople, newspapers, radio/TV stations, thinktanks, and bloggers’ email. The site could include samples of particularly effective letters for the writers to use for best results.
Whaddaya think? I'm Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe our country needs Congressional Term Limits
www.tenurecorrupts.com
Given the well documented fact that, whenever term limits is on a ballot, for city or statewide offices, it wins with overwhelming majorities, such as a 70 to 30 ratio, why hasn’t a ‘deep pockets’ individual or organization come forth with the resources to fund a nationwide petition drive to promote a Congressional Term Limits Amendment ? I am sure some such exist. How can we identify them?
Is it because it is only the lowly voters who believe in it, and not any of the rich high and mighty ? I absolutely refuse to believe that.
Of course, it doesn’t take just money and advertising. It also takes dedicated volunteers to spread the word and do the grunt work. How best to identify them and gain their cooperation?
I am certain that there are many of the wealthy, and many who would volunteer, who have just as much commonsense as all those voters around the country who believe in term limits. I think it is only necessary to create a scenario that will convince them that such a drive will succeed.
Consider the following idea:
Rather than sending a barrage of email to Congress (which will be spam-blocked), let’s do it the old-fashioned way...chain snailmail. It could be started relatively economically by a steady, persistent program of small ads, placed in all kinds of media, all over the country.
These ads would make a brief sensible pitch for a Congressional Term Limits Amendment, and urge readers to write a snailmail to all their friends (with a copy to Congress and the media), to urge them to write to their friends (again with a copy to Congress and the media), and so on, and so on.
At the same time, a number of websites would be prepared to support the ads with the snailmail addresses of Congresspeople, newspapers, radio/TV stations, thinktanks, and bloggers’ email. The site could include samples of particularly effective letters for the writers to use for best results.
Whaddaya think? I'm Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe our country needs Congressional Term Limits
www.tenurecorrupts.com
#16 WHY IS THE MEDIA SILENT ON TERM LIMITS?
www.tenurecorrupts.com
i have been thinking seriously about Congressional Term Limits for a couple of years now, and the more I think about it, the more I am flabbergasted that the issue has not become more central to the national dialog.
I am surprised that more of the national media, on both the right and the left, donot editorialize even occasionally about the fact that both political parties have been taken over by careerist politicians who are solely guided by what will best serve their reelection efforts, and their lust to hold on to power, perks, and prestige.
More and more often they seem to pursue purely partisan objectives, seeking primarily to block the other party’s progress, to build a case for the next election, rather than to achieve some kind of reasonably constructive solution for some aspect of America’s business.
Of course you might say “The pursuit of purely partisan objectives IS the business of politics!”. I would agree, but wouldn’t you also agree that they should draw the line at inventing new and unprecedented ways to foil each other, regardless of merit of the issue, while loudly proclaiming that the other party is shredding the fabric of democracy?
In fact, this gives me the occasion to review and renew my belief that term limits is essential to the longterm political health of our country, whereas no one else in the media seems to be concerned. Why is it that there is so little interest in Term Limits by the editorial media ?
Currently, it is the Democrats who are the minority party of aggressive obstructionists ‘saving the country’ from the ‘fascist’ Republicans, who seem to be the majority party of inept tyrannical dominance. But it could very well be the other way around. I am convinced that the ‘citizen congress’ produced by term limits would end much of the stonewalling and posturing which prevails in our modern Congress.
Remember that, as far as voters are concerned, when term limits are on the ballot, they always win overwhelmingly. Voters seem to be the last refuge of common sense in the country.
I am Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe that our country needs Congressional Term Limits
www.tenurecorrupts.com
i have been thinking seriously about Congressional Term Limits for a couple of years now, and the more I think about it, the more I am flabbergasted that the issue has not become more central to the national dialog.
I am surprised that more of the national media, on both the right and the left, donot editorialize even occasionally about the fact that both political parties have been taken over by careerist politicians who are solely guided by what will best serve their reelection efforts, and their lust to hold on to power, perks, and prestige.
More and more often they seem to pursue purely partisan objectives, seeking primarily to block the other party’s progress, to build a case for the next election, rather than to achieve some kind of reasonably constructive solution for some aspect of America’s business.
Of course you might say “The pursuit of purely partisan objectives IS the business of politics!”. I would agree, but wouldn’t you also agree that they should draw the line at inventing new and unprecedented ways to foil each other, regardless of merit of the issue, while loudly proclaiming that the other party is shredding the fabric of democracy?
In fact, this gives me the occasion to review and renew my belief that term limits is essential to the longterm political health of our country, whereas no one else in the media seems to be concerned. Why is it that there is so little interest in Term Limits by the editorial media ?
Currently, it is the Democrats who are the minority party of aggressive obstructionists ‘saving the country’ from the ‘fascist’ Republicans, who seem to be the majority party of inept tyrannical dominance. But it could very well be the other way around. I am convinced that the ‘citizen congress’ produced by term limits would end much of the stonewalling and posturing which prevails in our modern Congress.
Remember that, as far as voters are concerned, when term limits are on the ballot, they always win overwhelmingly. Voters seem to be the last refuge of common sense in the country.
I am Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe that our country needs Congressional Term Limits
www.tenurecorrupts.com
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