By CHRISTOPHER R. BISHOP
Contributing Writer
Look, the problem isn’t always the President. Yes, we’ve had some great Presidents and we’ve had some mediocre ones. Currently, we have one that is widely considered as terrible, if not the worst. Nixon is starting to look pretty good. Keep those weather reports coming, Donald. All you’re doing is feeding the late night comics, whom you disdain so much.
But the real problem isn’t always the president. More often than not, it’s Congress (both House and Senate). This author found a number of variations of a similar quote, but Libertarian candidate John Walner said in 1992, “Politicians and diapers should be changed often, and often for the same reason.”
But now a-days, how do we change our political representatives? Vote them out?
Sen. Mitch McConnell seems virtually untouchable. Many of the senior (citizen) members of Congress actually run unopposed. Why? Because they have such money and clout behind them that it becomes impossible for the opposition to mount a reasonable challenge. Even with scandals, they have name recognition. And some voters would rather go with the devil they know.
So how do we get them out? Do we wait for good old father time to remove them? Strom Thurmond (the third longest serving Senator) was in the U.S. Senate from 1954 until 2003. Prior to that, he was elected in 1933 to state office. So, in essence, he was in public service for nearly 70 years. In his final years, he slept during debates and I’m pretty sure someone else voted in his mental absence. So what do we do?
An easy solution is term limits, but with a catch. What are term limits? A term limit is the idea that someone can only run for the same political office so many times before they are deemed ineligible to run. Currently, the only elected national office that has a term limit is the Presidency. The twenty-second amendment, which became law in 1951, limited the President to two terms. Maybe it’s time for an amendment to that amendment requiring term limits for members of Congress. On that same note, maybe we should impose a time frame for a term for a Supreme Court Justice. Currently, once a Justice has been nominated and gone through a hearing and been installed as a Justice, they are in until they decide to leave. It is a lifelong position of one term. Maybe we should limit them to one eighteen or twenty-five year term.
But back to the Congress — since Congress will never take up an issue that limits their ability to serve in office (in essence cutting them off from their job), we grandfather the current members in. Grandfathering is the idea that if something has been in existence for a given period of time, it is not obligated to fall under a new law or code. A perfect example of grandfathering would be in housing code enforcement. A house built prior to a certain year is allowed to have a specific amount of lead paint on it’s walls. In this case, the grandfathering clause would allow members of Congress to continue to run without term limits until they lose. So let me show you how this would work.
Let’s say Mitch McConnell loses his next election, he goes into the private sector for five years then decides he wants to run again. He gets the nomination and he runs. He wins. He is now considered a “new” member of Congress and he can only be elected to two terms. And his opponent, who defeated him, would also be eligible for one additional term.
This way, the people in power are not limiting their own power, just ensuring a healthy change of the guard.
You may not agree with me. That’s fine. If you disagree, write an opinion and submit it. I’d welcome your differing opinions. That’s what makes our country so great. We can discuss our differences without resulting in arguments. Sometimes, we just need to lower our voices and listen to each other until we find some common ground. I hope my opinion has opened your heart, mind or eyes. Thank you so much for reading.
