We've called more than once for the imposition of term limits on members of Congress. Lord Acton had it exactly right when he said: "All power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority."
The longer a politician stays in office, the greater the power and authority he will exert, which then all but assures "the certainty of corruption." The only way to protect the American people from that corruption is to make certain that no member of Congress can be in office long enough to become totally corrupted.
Here in the United States, Congressional efforts to limit the terms of members of the House and Senate lost their air in 1997, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be resuscitated. The Republican majority in Congress, in their 1994 “Contract With America,” initially declared term limits a priority, but that Congress failed to get the necessary votes for a constitutional amendment – which would be needed to mandate the limits.
As of May 2009, our House of Representatives had 62 members who had “served” for more than 20 years. Nineteen of them had “served” for over 30 years, and two (both Democrats) for more than 40 years. Almost 58 percent of the Members had been there for 10 years. Does that sound good?
James Madison wrote: legislators should be “called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short term of office.” Surely Madison would not have considered 40 years, 30 years, or even 20 years a “short term of office.”
We are now being governed by professional legislators - some of whom have never held a real job - and the only jobs they have ever created have been government jobs. This is not what our Founding Fathers intended, and we can do something about it.
Term limits is the answer, and not just term limits. Herewith some of our previously posted recommendations (call them modest proposals), along with term limits, to bring our elected officials back down off the perches we never put them on, and maybe even make them understand the meaning of "public service."
1. Members of the U. S. House of Representatives may serve only two (two year) terms in their lifetime, and those terms need not be served consecutively. They may thereafter serve in the U. S. Senate, but not in the term immediately succeeding their final term in the House.
2. Members of the U. S. Senate may serve only one six year term in their lifetime. They may thereafter serve two terms in the House of representatives but not in the term immediately succeeding their term in the Senate.
3. The House and the Senate will be modeled after the U. S. Military Reserve Force. Both Houses will meet in Washington D. C. one weekend each month, and for two weeks each summer. The weekend meetings, when possible, will be accomplished by way of telephone or video conferencing.
4. Each member of the House and Senate will have a full-time staff made up of two members in Washington D. C., and one in the home district. The Senate staff member may serve anywhere in the state, at the discretion of the Senator.
5. In order to be a candidate for either the House of Representatives or the Senate, the individual must have served in the U. S. Military. Those not eligible for active combat service must have served in some ancillary military capacity.
6. All candidates for seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate must pass an intelligence measuring test that demonstrates, at a minimum, competency in reading, writing, and balancing a checkbook. They will also be required to pass a rigid and thorough background investigation by the FBI before winning a place on the ballot.
7. All travel and living expenses of members of Congress in connection with their official duties will be reimbursed by the U. S. Treasury. Retirement and health insurance will not be provided, but a modest sum will be paid to each member, while serving, which can be used to contribute to any personal retirement or health insurance plan set up by the member.
Adoption of these modest proposals will, hopefully, lead to a new kind of legislator: one who will be motivated by service to country rather than by self aggrandizement. Their knowledge of the real world will serve them well as they legislate, and their legislative experience will make them even better citizens when they return to private life.
The only argument advanced against term limits, is that members of a term limited Congress would not have enough time to become experienced legislators. Is that a bad thing?
One more thing: every new member of Congress should be required to sign an oath affirming that every morning upon awakening he or she will look into a mirror and declare: "I work for the people; the people do not work for me."
