Posted on 03/18/2013 4:17:29 PM PDT by jazusamo
The main thing wrong with the term limits movement is the "s" at the end of the word "limit."
What are advocates of term limits trying to accomplish? If they are trying to keep government from being run by career politicians, whose top priority is getting themselves reelected, then term limits on given jobs fail to do that.
When someone reaches the limit of how long one can spend as a county supervisor, then it is just a question of finding another political office to run for, such as a member of the state legislature. And when the limit on terms there is reached, it is time to look around for another political job — perhaps as a mayor or a member of Congress.
Instead of always making reelection in an existing political post the top priority, in the last term in a given office the top priority will be doing things that will make it easier to get elected or appointed to the next political post. But in no term is doing what is right for the people likely to be the top priority.
Those who favor term limits are right to try to stop the same old politicians from staying in the same old offices for decades. But having the same career politicians circulating around in the same set of offices, like musical chairs, is not very different.
In either case, we can expect the same short-sighted policies, looking no further than the next election, and the same cynical arts of deception and log-rolling to get reelected at all costs.
There are undoubtedly some high-minded people who go into politics to serve their community or the nation. But, in the corrupting atmosphere of politics, there are too many who "came to do good and stayed to do well"...
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
I still think if people want to reelect a numbskull, it’s their right.
Same thing happened to cops. Now ALL they do is look for infractions to please their bosses! Revenue, revenue, and MORE revenue! All they are now is “Field Revenue Collectors”.
Does anyone know how I could meet Mr Sowell, how I could introduce him to my kids? Does he do book signings? He is a national treasure and I would love to have that opportunity!
Dr. Sowell is right again, and we need to get started if we truly want to eliminate career politicians, which I agree is a very good goal.
Amen to that, TOL!
A five-year limit would guarantee new faces' showing up on a regular and frequent basis. How to keep friends and relatives from filling in for people who've been term-limited out? I'm sure there's got to be a way.
I believe there are better ways to accomplish the goal of ridding our government of career politicians than to implement term limits. Our Founders did not consider it a need, and I believe there was a reason for that.
Then again, as I read this, the average person in the 18th and 19th century could read and perform mathematics at a level that most high school students don’t even achieve. Perhaps we need to look at education as the crux of the problem and start there? Basic civics aren’t even taught in K-12 schools anymore.
Simple, just outlaw re-election. Make it illegal to run for office while holding office. House 2 years, Senate 4 years and President 6 years.
Unless the electorate are themselves numbskulls.
That is where I draw the line.
With all due respect to Mr. Sowell, please consider the following concerning the questionable remedy, imo, of establishing term limits to help get the bad-apple politicians out of DC.
If patriots were to wise up to the federal government's constitutionally limited powers and force corrupt Congress to work within its constitutional Section 8, Article I-limited power cage, then the states would possibly have problems finding citizens willing to serve as federal Congressmen in contrast to resorting to term limits to get rid of crook politicians.
This is because, if the mountain of illegal federal taxes, taxes which according to Justice John Marshall Congress cannot justify under Section 8, but which corrupt lawmakers likely get elected to fill their pockets with was to dry up, the crooks would probably lose interest in getting themselves elected to DC altogether.
How much evidence do we need that “democracy” without term limit doesn’t work?!
I give you Teddy Kennedy, Chucky Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer,
Richard Durbin, Harry Reid, Patty Murray, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Tom Harkin, Barbara Mikulski, Carl Levin, Orrin Hatch, Patrick Leahy, Jay Rockefeller to name just a few of the corrupt bastards!
On reps, I could easily name a couple hundred!
No, the system as it is is broken and I believe as Sowell does and that is iit ain’t gonna happen this side of gunfire and lots of it!
That's because they didn't get paid for doing whatever they did and eventually had to go back to their profession in order to survive.
The opposite is now true.
For Dr. Sowell... a big swing, and a miss on this one.
The solution is to eliminate pensions for elected officials.
The purpose of getting re-elected has changed from doing good for the district...it is about qualifying for the pension and then feathering that nest for as long as you can.
An elective office is a contract” position. You are elected and serve for the specified duration. If you win re-election then good for you you serve until the contract expires. and so on. There is no obligation from the taxpayers to a pension for these people.
Let us examine S#!t for Brains Schumer, This POS has never worked a day in the real world in his entire life.
He has a pension from:
the NYS assembly
The NYS Senate
The US House of Representatives
The US Senate.
He will live like a king when he decides to retire.
Our Founders expected people to serve and then go home again to continue earning their living as they were before going to Washington or their state capitols.
You’re right. If we returned to what the Founders expected of our representatives, all of this corruption would blow away.
That’s a great point, but the corrupt money gleaning machine in Washington would never give up their gleaning and their pensions. We’d have to sweep them all from office somehow and start over, as the Founders mentioned so clearly about removing and replacing a tyrannical government.
It is becoming more and more obvious that we are living under a lawless tyranny.
I used to as well, fully and absolutely. That was until the low info voter took over our country.
You’re absolutely right. The question becomes, how do we get those worms back in the can?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.