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LL... I mentioned that other point that you made:

> “Otherwise we’re asking to ALTER the Constitution while the Fourth Reich is in control of every aspect of our society, from the Oval Office down to Dog Catcher.”

I would submit to you that maybe the Constitution is ripe for a little altering, at the very least, some clarification of the Founders’ language to help keep the Supreme Court from running completely off the tracks every time a lower court asks it to interpret something the Framers wrote.

Frankly, the prospect of an amendment imposing lifetime term limits on all federal officials is the primary reason that I support this movement. Since the Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom ruled that the voters of a sovereign state don’t have the right to impose term limits on their own locally-elected federal delegation, I can see no other way for us ever to bring an end to the modern-day phenomenon of the “Career Politician,” including those who wear black robes.

Resolving that one issue, I believe, would go a very long way toward eliminating many of the most pressing issues that we face. Washington, DC, without a doubt, has become the most powerful city in the world, and no one who enters its enormous sphere of influence can help but be changed by it... and usually not for the better.

It’s almost become trite to say, but it bears repeating anyway: With very few exceptions, virtually every politician’s top priority, regardless of party, platform or principles, is to get re-elected. As soon as they arrive, they are surrounded by and steeped in the “Career Mentality” that pervades Washington, D.C. It is imposed on them, particularly by the old dogs, the veterans, the party leaders, and soon the urgency of remaining a part of that culture of power supersedes anything and everything they may have promised or aspired to during their campaign. The wants and needs of the people who sent them there – the folks back home – all take a back seat to the new imperative – raise money for re-election.

And as we all know, huge amounts of re-election money come from the major political parties, so in order to maintain the party’s financial support come election time, deals are made that have nothing to do with what’s in the best interest of the voters back in the home state. Legislation is passed at the direction of the party leadership, for instance, without a single legislator having read it. Does any of this sound anywhere near like what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they coined the term, “Citizen Legislator”?

We keep sending good people to Washington, only to see them disappear into the meat-grinder that is Congress, and come out the other side just so much baloney! If they go in knowing that their term is limited by constitutional edict, I firmly believe that they will think twice before casting a vote on legislation that could have a severe impact on the very communities to which they themselves will soon be returning… to live among the rest of us, to work at a job like a normal person again, outside of the Beltway Bubble, forced to bear the burden of whatever damned-fool laws that body might pass with little or no concern for the unintended consequences they might have on the daily lives of real people throughout this country.

And before anyone says that removing the “perks” of congressional service will cause a brain drain, and that no one of any consequence will want to run for an office that they can only hold for such a short amount of time, I would submit that if the folks up there running things right now are the best and the brightest that money, power and prestige can buy, then I think it’s time to give some of us poor, stupid people a chance… we couldn’t possibly screw it up any worse!

This may be our best and last chance… a Convention of States. I hate to say it, but I’m afraid it’s finally come to the point where it really doesn’t matter who we elect anymore, because sooner or later, once they become a member of an elite class that exists above the very laws they impose upon the rest of us, coupled with the realization that they can stay there forever if they just play by the rules, there’s no longer any incentive for them to exercise any discretion whatsoever. Eventually, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between any of them, and frankly… I’ve run out of dimes.