Many of our state legislators have followed the path to D.C. or stayed a lifetime in the state legislating. Your point is valid. I know this has been cussed and discussed over and over again. What keeps these people in power? Is it simply our own laziness? I plead guilty, if this is the cause of career politicians we have not unelected or never remove. Another problem is each of us is only one.
There’s not one single problem, it’s just something that has built over time. Yes, ultimately a lot of it lies with the people. How many times do we hear that they love their member of Congress, but all the rest are lousy ?
Even the issue of term limits, which sounds good, wouldn’t solve much of the problem, either. Look at California where it was implemented, and the state is worse than it has ever been and gets worse by the year. You’d then merely have a revolving door of puppet politicians whose strings are pulled by big government/big labor interests, while the real power would lay with the staffers and those rotating between said pols, the behind the scenes folks. They write up the laws, the talking points, push the agenda, and the pols are just a face/figurehead.
Unless you’re willing to implement term limits for EVERYONE related to government service (and btw, I am absolutely 100% in favor of getting rid of Civil Service and returning to strict patronage as it was in the 19th century — you come in with all your people and you leave office with all your people, no perpetual armies of lifetime leftist big government worker parasites), nothing is going to change.
Get rid of all the perks and benefits, too, no massive pensions, no public sector unions, and those that work for the government (save those in military or public safety) should not even be permitted to vote, since they vote for their own employment at the expense of taxpayers (a big reason why the Founders didn’t want DC residents voting). DC itself never suffers recessions because they’re perpetually growing themselves, completely insulated from the rest of America.
Same goes for so many state capitals, which I’ve noticed many have alarmingly moved leftwards in their voting habits since the 1980s. Even in Republican states, the government centers lurch left. Of the 24 states that the GOP carried for President, half of those capital/counties voted for Zero. In 1984, of those same 24, just 1 capital/county, yup, 1, that being Atlanta/Fulton County, voted Democrat. Federal and state big government and their supporters is an epidemic that threatens all of us.