#21 TERM LIMITS IS NOT DEMOCRATIC ?

www.tenurecorrupts.com

One of my anti-term limits correspondents maintains that term limits do not belong in a democracy. She claims that candidates should be given free air time to get their messages out, and that the media should focus more on issues like the economy, the war, etc, and not on trivia like accidents and hurricanes.

On the last item, I could not agree with her more. However, the media live in a democracy, and we have to live with their choices.

But as far as free TV air time is concerned, that would be an unmitigated disaster. It is already bad enough when all sides have plenty of money to use to spread their many lies, distortions, and false allegations. (more of democracy’s blemishes). What do you think would happen if their air time was free? Every nut job in all creation would seek and get their allotted time to harangue us with junk propaganda, drowning out the messages of the few sane candidates out there. But yes, it would be more democratic.

But her contention that term limits is anti-democratic is nonsense, for several reasons:

Firstly, term limits only happens by a vote of the people, and a large majority at that.
It takes 2/3rds of each house of Congress, and 3/4ths of the states to pass it. How much more democratic can you get?

Secondly, in spite of the low regard that most people hold for politicians in general, why is it that the reelection of incumbents has reached the 99% level? Certainly not because their voters think that they are doing such a sterling job. No, it is more likely that most voters unthinkingly go along with the guy who is in office now, unless he has done something to anger them.

Thirdly, does it not seem that the 99% reelection rate is undemocratic on its face? It defies commonsense that 99% of challengers are inferior to the incumbents they run against.

Fourthly, I strongly disagree that a Congress full of term-limitted ‘citizen legislators’, fresh from the private sector, where they have gained a lot more real world experience than career professional politicians who have spent their life in government, would be 'led around by the nose’ by the staffs or the bureaucracy. No way!

I’m Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe our country needs Congressional Term Limits

www.tenurecorrupts.com