How?
Term Limits could be combined with other limits on the federal leviathan and politicians as you suggest, such as campaign financing. The revolving door already happens and has been for decades. For example, who bailed out the banks in 2008 for the poor decisions and risk-taking? The former bankers working for the feds. Term Limits could include lobbying, federal employment, or other federal influence related positions. When the “good guys” run into “complex power structures that actually drive corruption”, who do you think is behind those? Career federal politicians & bureaucrats are at the heart of it. That’s why I’m a volunteer to call an Article V Convention of States to rein in the feds through term limits for federal politicians AND bureaucrats, budget & fiscal restraints to reduce spending and the debt-caused, money-printing-based inflation, and restrict the federal government’s scope & jurisdiction. That will return more power to We the People who are sovereign, and the States who are more aligned with our local interests. Check out conventionofstates.com and the related policy proposal here.
End lobbies and corporate donations. Corps are buying votes when they give to politicians. They serve for 4 yrs and get a pension, stop this. They also have very good insurance which is better then most. Let’s also end the checking account they get to use,they bounce checks then never repay. Some don’t pay taxs, and no one does anything. They use to also have access to way cheaper gas then we do. Get rid of all the perks, make them live like we do. Force them to have office hours that someone answers the phone.
I completely agree. I would advocate for reforms such as doubling the size of the House of Representatives to ultimately lower the number of people that an average representative represents.
This is gold. I was pro tr and this is making me change my mind
I think our complacency played a major role in bad career politicians.
Right, that’s what I’m saying…
How about terms limits (16-20) years max with limited retirement packages?
I would be more in favor of highlighting the policies and ideas these politicians run on. And force the politicians to provide proof on how and where they are pushing the ideas they ran on. Also make it way easier for states to repeal their representatives that are ineffective and failing to represent their constituents.
I completely agree, especially the part about losing the good with the bad. Without the time to gain experience and really learn the job, an honest hard working patriot likely would be kicked out just when he or she was catching on.
I think someone doing good works should be kept on as long as possible.
I think the recall referendum is the answer to bad actors whether elected or not. If caught doing something wrong, vote them out ASAP.
I think the answer to your great question remains the local voters. It is the total responsibility of the local voters to know the ones they are voting for but sadly, we have slipped into this partisan morass and can’t seem to get out of it. Going to a smaller number of public for each representative would be much closer to the ideal. We can build more buildings in Washington DC to hold the larger bodies of the congress. They could build a separate building for the senate too, if the government wishes to do so.
Getting back though to corruption, it is not only the elected officials who are corrupt because many of the departments and agencies and so forth are pretty rotten inside too. To me, one way to combat the corrupt would be to simply close more than half of the bureaus which write rules and directives which are not really approved by the congress. I remember the constitution says that congress must write the laws not som airhead DEI hire on K st.
Is it not clear that Voters would make that decision with their votes, this only forces Politicians to explicitly Focus on the people they represent, which is what the Distance to Power issue is, the further the distance and accountability, the less elected officials care for the local issues. That is why it is mostly a Campaign Financing Reform.
Actually, no it isn’t clear. That is the system we already have. People can vote politicians out at any time to limit their terms. The problem is people will always say “my guy is good so we have to keep them” and then we still get career politicians. I appreciate the other recommendations you have, especially getting the money out (PACs and special interests) but allowing the possibility of open-ended careers defeats the purpose. IMHO term limits is the best option to deter making politics your life. Serve your term(s), sever a term(s) in another position and then go back to the private sector, this should not be your life. If not, then you will have changed nothing.
Thank you so much for your contribution. It has made me rethink my desire for term limits in the traditional form. Perhaps a grading system and report card sent to their constituents with the option for a recall would suffice.
I came up with this a few years ago after more than a few brews.
- The Legislative Branch, abbreviated LB, is defined as: all Senate and Congress members. LB members get No Tenure / No Pension. A Legislative Branch member collects a salary while in office and receives no pay, pension or paid security services when they’re out of office.
- The Legislative Branch members (past, present & future) and their staffs participate in Social Security.
- All funds in the Senate and Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. The Legislative Branch and their staffs participate in Social Security with the American people. It remains as a trust fund and may not be borrowed against or used for any other purpose.
- The Legislative Branch members must purchase their own retirement plan, like the rest of us do.
- The Legislative Branch will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Legislative Branch members pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3% if approved by the LB member’s constituants.
- Legislative Branch members lose their current health care benefits and participate in the same health care system as American Veterans (TRICARE). ALL medically necessary and reconstructive procedures will be covered. The medical team providing the care will make the determination. NO ELECTIVE procedures will be covered, including Abortions or Sex Reassignment procedures. When this plan becomes fully vetted and functional, ALL Americans will be covered, replacing ObamaCare.
- Legislative Branch members must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
- All contracts with past and present Legislative Branch members are void effective upon ratification of this Constitutional Amendment. The American people did not make these contracts with the Legislative Branch. The Legislative Branch made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in the Legislative Branch is an honour, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work. Two words should never appear in the same English sentence: career and politician.
- Anytime there is a deficit greater than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of the Legislative Branch, both House and Senate are ineligible for re-election for life. The Legislative Branch members were derelict in their duties to the American people and will be relieved of duty when their current term expires.
- Add a “None of the Above” box on ballots for each federal office, both Legislative and Executive Branches. If 30% or more voters select None of the Above, the election for that office is suspended while new candidates are selected and put forth by the parties. The current candidates are ineligible to run again for high public office at the state or federal level for life.
I agree, I think campaign finance reform is the better angle of attack. If nothing else, it’s certainly worth a try because it would be easier to get through.
I have changed EVERYTHING, by simply changing who the Politicians are allowed to receive money and financing from, which forces them to be accountable to their Constituents. Right now, my Congressman, is financed by Coastal Elites, which drowns out the 30 small towns that live in his district, but all of these small towns will often vote for who has the best advertising, and marketing, and where do Politicians get the Finances to do so?
As I said, we need to end PACs and Super PACS, this will also end the terrible ads, as every ad must now be from the Campaign, and explicitly endorsed by the Campaign.
The Management Class and Bureaucratic State is a plague to the advancement of Society!!!
We should collaborate! My ideas by themselves are not comprehensive and robust enough to likely take ground. With that being said, I am pretty sure Warren Buffet came up with the 3% GDP idea! Lol.
Please don’t misunderstand me, as I said, I completely agree with getting money out of politics (PACs/SuperPACs) and think that would be the first step in the right direction.
@KyleDeVita -While not the only fix, there are multiple reasons for term limits. The founders intended Congress to be citizen legislators. Jefferson said they would tend to make better laws if they knew they would soon return home and live under them. The knowledge the build is not about serving and making law it is about gaming the system for their friends and family.
- Eliminates seniority on committee chairs who control flow of legislation mainly for their own party or personal agenda. 2) New ideas can be proposed and debated 3) Less influence from Lobbyists who must now make new friends 4) Ensures and instills independent judgement rather than “loyalty” 5) Reduces the concern for fund raising and re-election so they focus on their job instead 6) 87% of the American people want them to restore some trust 7) Gives more the opportunity to serve 8) If a given politician has not accomplished what was originally promised a few terms, they are not likely to do so 9) Lawmakers are obsessed with staying in office, and one of the easiest ways to keep getting re-elected is by avoiding hard decisions and accountability so they delegate their authority to regulators who are unconstitutionally making law via regulations There is no such revolving door culture. And no facts show what you suggest. You forget that congressional staffers also are as big a problem as the lobbyists and the two work together. Power grows with stability and tenure and term limits interrupt that. And lastly you did not include those appointed to the federal government-which is another reason to have term limits. The “Deep State” needs to be term limited so they don’t corrupt the new members of the Congress that come in by teaching them how to game the system as they do now. There is so much more to this than you are aware of as to what is wrong with Congress that term limits would help to eliminate.
Term Limits are not the fix, but it is a part of the fix. Lobbyists are not the problem with representation. They are a symptom of it. The problem is interpretation by the federal government to lawyer around the limits of authority granted by the Constitution. They make law they are not authorized to make on matters not granted control over by twisting what the Commerce Clause and the General Welfare Clause say. Words mean things, but the use today is not what they meant in 1787. Article I sec 8 only gives Congress control of 18 areas and it is because they have unconstitutionally assumed healthcare, education, the environment, social programs, energy production, control over waterways on private property, and land grab that the role of the lobbyist exists. Return them to original intent and few lobbyists would exist because they could not help write laws favorable to the industry they represent because Congress would be unable to enact them.
You also are vague about “cushy benefits” and then you complain the politics should be a duty not a career, but you cannot have it both ways. Term limits make it not a career. It is not a duty, but a privilege to serve and if you ask someone to give of his time and talent there have to be some benefits. People just have no clue what they are because they have not researched it. They do not get their salary for life. The aren’t eligible for pension unless they serve at least 5 years. The amount is by a formula of years in office, leadership role if any, age and they pay into that pension as well as social security. Their kids pay back their college loans and they have the same choices for health you do. Buy your own policy, buy one on the exchange or be on your spouse’s insurance. And as federal employees, you cannot pay them all differently. That idea would set off a storm with minority and female members as it sets up a class system where same work, same pay applied to business but not them??? That would need a constitutional amendment to remove them from the federal employment and would be very impractical. Plus you would have to then provide housing and other things that negates that. DC is not an inexpensive place to be. If the other actual problems were not solved, a low income representative would be far more susceptible to bribery which is why they are paid a salary commensurate with their responsibility.
If we reset those two clauses and remove the authority never granted to Congress you won’t need campaign finance either-that is just another distraction. The only reason they spend so much to “win at all cost” is the power they wield that is not theirs. Take it from them and they are left with the 18 duties granted, only defense would have lobbyists for contracts and Congress would have just the military, post office, coining money, bankruptcy law, piracy on the seas, defense, patents, trademarks & copywrite laws, treaties, foreign trade, punish counterfeiting, establish uniform weights and measures, borrow money, set rules for Naturalization, regulate shipment of goods across state lines and establish the courts inferior to the Supreme Court. The power they seek is not those, but control over the people and that would end and so would the lust for power that drives campaigns.