by Kerry Thomas
March 6, 2010
On March 5, Wisconsin 8th District Congressional
candidate Reid Ribble published an editorial decrying
“careerism” in Washington. According to
Ribble, “career politicians apparently no longer care”
about taxpayers.
“It’s
time to vote them out and not send just another carbon copy to replace them.”
I
agree.
Ribble
promises to limit his tenure in Congress to just four terms. It’s a good step, but it doesn’t go far enough.
Simply
relying on the hollow promise of a politician is not enough. Even the best of politicians become immersed
in the process over time. Power
corrupts. Politicians come to believe
their own propaganda. They lose sight
of such ideals as Liberty, Honor, and Justice.
They forget that every dollar they spend is first taken from a taxpayer
who works hard to earn hat dollar.
Thousands and millions of dollars become little more than a rounding
error to a career politician.
Currently, the only thing limiting the number of
terms a Member of Congress may be elected is his or her natural lifespan. Today we routinely see people holding Congressional
office for 20 years or more.
Wisconsin’s own Dave Obey has been in Congress for more than 40 years. Jim Sensenbrenner and Tom Petri have been in
Congress more than 30 years. Ron Kind
is now in his 7th term in Congress.
Even young Paul Ryan and Tammy Baldwin are now in their 6th terms
in Congress. Herb Kohl has been in the
U.S. Senate since 1989. Russ Feingold
has been there since 1993.
Reid
Ribble is right. “It’s time to vote
them out and not send just another carbon copy to replace them.”
The result of repeated re-election of incumbent
legislators is a gradual lack of ability to think creatively, outside the box,
when problems arise. All too often,
Congress’ only solution is to spend more and more of your money for you – and
then spend more of your money to tell you what a good job they’re doing for
you.
The
Constitution allows
voters to replace every Member of Congress every two years, every Senator every
six years. The problem is the
entrenched political class has so rigged the system that virtually every incumbent
politician who seeks re-election is re-elected. From drawing “safe” Congressional district
boundaries to their franking privilege on “official” correspondence, the deck
is hopelessly stacked in the incumbents’ favor.
The
Constitution was written so as to limit the power of government. The time has come to limit the power of
those in our government. The time has
come to put Congressional term limits in the Constitution.
In 1951, America amended the U.S. Constitution
for the 22nd time, limiting to two the number of times a person can
be elected to serve as President of the United States.
Up until the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt,
following the custom and tradition established by America’s first President,
George Washington, no President had been elected more than twice. Franklin Roosevelt was elected President
four times, and died shortly after the beginning of his fourth term in office.
Term limits work pretty well when it comes to
keeping the President accountable to the voters. It’s time for Congress to live under the same rules.
To that end, the following Amendment to the
United States Constitution is (again) proposed:
SECTION 1: No person shall be elected to the House of
Representatives more than three times, and no person who has served as a Representative
in the House of Representatives more than one year of a term to which some
other person was elected to serve as a Representative in the House of
Representatives shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than
twice.
SECTION 2: No person shall be elected to the Senate
more than twice, and no person who has served as a Senator more than three
years of a term to which some other person was elected to serve as a Senator
shall be elected to the Senate more than once.
SECTION 3: No person who is prevented from being
elected to the House of Representatives under Section 1 of this Article or to
the Senate under Section 2 of this article may serve the remainder of a term to
which some other person was elected to serve as a Representative in the House
of Representatives or as a Senator in the Senate.
SECTION
4: This article shall not prevent any
person serving as a Repreesentative in the House of Representatives or as a
Senator in the Senate during the term within which this article is ratified as
part of the Constiutution from continuing to serve as a Repreesentative in the
House of Representatives or as a Senator in the Senate until the current term
expires.
If Reid Ribble is seriouis about battling “careerism” in Washington, I call
upon him and every candidate for federal office, including our current
incumbants, to endorse such a Constitutional amendment, and to vow to sponsor
and fight for such legislation at their earliest opportunity.