Agree. It’s not as productive to blackmail people that are only going to be in place for a max of ten years.
On the other side of the coin, building relationships to solve problems across ideologies takes time to build. Term limits are a great idea - but if the first years are learning the system, would two terms for a representative be enough time to accomplish anything?
I get the sentiment - but given that the Presidential election disrupts our lives every four years - would we want that every two years in our states, along with everything else?
Would term limits really solve the problem? Or is the problem the lack of ethics and the corruption of our elected representatives.
Would term limits solve that problem?
LOL - the constitution DID limit the scope of the federal government. The people gave that away through the representatives they elected. Every time there is a major catastrophe (think of 9/11 and the Patriot Act), people allow their representatives to erode the power of the people and the states just a little bit more. The Civil War, the Great Depression, and World War II all contributed to this as well.
Add in the interpretations by the Supreme court through the 14th Amendment expanding the federal governments power over the states, the Commerce Clause allowing the federal government to go beyond the original scope of the constitution in to regulate state commerce activities, and the expanded interpretation of the Necessary and Proper Clause which gave untold amounts of power to regulatory agencies are just a few things that have continued to expand the reach of the bureaucratic blob of the federal government into the ineffective clusterf***** that we have today.
Perhaps the problem is not the term limits. Perhaps it is we the people believing all the hogwash career politicians spew and not voting out those who have made these horrible decisions and lived beyond their usefulness.
In my opinion.
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Also need to have a Government Accountability Committee by citizens that will meet up to determine if the elected officials are keeping up with their campaign promises and to keep them in check with taking bribes or special interests groups money (and actually banning special interests groups and corporation meddling)!
Definitely Term limits ! Yes they should not have a career made out of government! Was not set up this way by our fore fathers
Four years may also be too short to become truly effective. It’s basically one Presidential term. While I fully support term limits, I also don’t believe it should be a revolving door.
Additionally, you do want talent elected into public office. No one with a lucrative career is going to sideline themselves at, let’s say, 40yo for a four-year gig.
Can we add that only small donors can contribute to campaigns. No more business donations and a cap on what can be donated per election cycle. We see politicians push agendas that ignore the will of the people because their donors purchased their vote
True, IF you rely on the Feds to pass the amendment. However, article V also allows for amendments to come from the states. Hence the proposal here:
https://forum.policiesforpeople.com/t/call-a-convention-of-the-states-to-limit-the-scope-power-and-jurisdiction-of-the-federal-government
The 17th amendment was the most destructive modification to our representative republic. The States lost their seat at the table and the National government was enabled to erode the power that the States were intended to hold in governing the lives of citizens. Repealing the 17th amendment and restoring the obligation of Senators to represent the interests of the State legislatures who placed them in that esteemed body will be a step change toward our original balances of power. Senators being seated by popular vote simply creates a redundant body to the House of Representatives, but without the urgency to govern well since their terms are 6 year terms. Imposing mandatory term limits will not achieve restoration and only create a higher number of lobbyists.
Term limits will mean nothing until people become more educated about policies and understand their role is to critically discuss them with others. The start is for all patriots to put pressure on conservative talk, the republican party, etc. to work towards and support the (re)creation of grass roots organizations. MAGA people are as just as much to blame as they put trust in a politician/person and did not see their role as convincing undecided/non voters to support Trump. Rather they ignored them expecting them to change their minds.
All senators should get a single 6 year term. No electioneering is allowed while in office. They may run for a higher level office only after leaving their current “public service” position. Only being able to run for higher level public offices will prevent abuse of previously percieved power.
The logic being that they are not supporting the publics best interest if anyone can sway them with power via re-election, funding, jobs, stock, etc…
This is specifically what is outlined in the Convention of States. As said by others, this has to be done by Congress, or by a Convention of States.
Congress is highly unlikely to ever limit their own power, so hoping for this from them is beyond idiotic.
A convention of states could pass constitutional amendments if more than half the states voted for it. Getting it ready for ratification is the easy part, since any changes require ratification by 2/3 of all State Legislatures. This means nothing radical would ever stand a chance, hence simple things are the only things likely to be proposed.
- Term Limits
- Balanced Budget
- Blind investment for members of Congress
- etc
There is a post calling for a Convention of states, so if you want term limits, go vote for that post.
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Random thought. Instead of a hard limit on the number of terms, let’s make every reelection require a higher percentage of the vote to win.
I would support raising Congressional seats to 4 years, and reducing Senate seats to 4 years, limiting them to maybe 2-3 terms (8-12 years in office) my initial thought is 2 terms for Congress, and 3 for Senate (so 8 year max terms for Congress and 12 years max for Senate). And maybe we vote on Senate seats along with the President, and congressional seats 2 years into the presidency. That way if the President and Senate are running amuck then we can vote in Congress members to oppose them 2 years into their agenda.
Of course once Congressmen’s term is up they could serve as Senators for 12 more years, and then could serve as President or Governors for another 8 after that.
I do think politics as a career can become a problem, but I think it’s Lobbying that is the REAL problem.
Not idiotic, but only if citizens elect representatives who appreciate how government was intended to work as established by those who authored article 5. Too much time is spent on the internet and not enough in engaging people. In my 50 yrs. of being “active” I’ve never seen people so divided and intimidated to talk to each other. I see patriot groups afraid of approaching anyone other than who they know agree agree with and are nothing more than grunts for candidates,
Yes! 
It will limit their time for self-enrichment. The only way to stop the money pipeline is to BAN lobbying.
My sentiments EXACTLY.
Of course as we were relied less upon to rule ourselves and have control of ourselves, we set ourselves up to accept less of a role as time went on. Nothing matters now unless we change that. That is the problem is that people while giving a low approval to politicians are lazy and will allow themselves (emotions) to be manipulated by them. That goes for both parties, but clearly that is the MO of the democrat party because philosophically they believe more in a bigger government and thus more control. We HAVE gotten the government we deserve and we have to hold people more accountable by looking them in the eye and asking them politely to discuss what they think & believe.
Likewise you insist they hold you accountable. That’s what the founders told us we should do…
Grounded in truth