Posted on 12/10/2016 6:57:32 AM PST by COUNTrecount
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) have revealed their plans to introduce a constitutional amendment that will impose term limits for both congressmen and senators.
In a joint op-ed for The Washington Post, the two Republican firebrands said that term limits would be an effective way for the new Republican administration to “drain the swamp.”
“We believe that the rise of political careerism in modern Washington is a drastic departure from what the founders intended of our federal governing bodies. To effectively “drain the swamp,” we believe it is past time to enact term limits for Congress.”
A policy of congressional term limits was repeatedly advocated for by President-elect Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan also voicing his support for the idea.
The amendment would impose a three term limit for members of congress and a two term limit for senators.
Both Cruz and DeSantis also point to the “broad support” for congressional term limits, citing a Ramussen survey conducted in October that showed 74% of likely voters supported the idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
I tend to agree. At the present time Republicans hold, I believe, 33 state legislatures which would give us 66 Senators under the original constitution. The 10th Amendment would come alive again!
And yet at state and local levels, term limits have been established. Difficult, very difficult, but not impossible.
AHEM! Flying pig here.....
More grandstanding by the Senates very own Mr Congeniality: Ted Cruz
All hat, no cattle
but bravely leading the U.S. congress to vote themselves out of lucrative careerism - once he builds a consensus - for the first time in his political life of course
Green eggs and ham, anyone?
I prefer 5 or 6 terms for the House so they won’t feel slighted in comparison to the Senate.
Also since we will always have “career politicians”, people who are so certain that only they can can make “hoi polloi” lives better. (That previous sentence is dripping with sarcasm if you didn’t notice!)
I say let the career politician who wants to make the Senate or House his “home away from home”. You can return but you have to sit out one full Senate term (6 years) & 3 House terms(6 years). Meanwhile “Mr. Career Politician” go home (Leave the DC area!) and run for mayor, county commissioner, governor, etc. Maybe even get a job in the private sector. Go find out what’s like to live under your past “political wisdom”. Who knows “Mr. Career Politician” you might learn something
“Repealing the 17th Amendment would be a far better solution.”
Absolutely correct. There was no need for term limits until the 17th was passed during the “good times roaring 1920s.” Everyone was sleeping it off from the nite before and didn’t see what was happening. The Progs pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes by citing a few cases of Senator seats being bought.
Its will never happen. We need to work on voter picture ID will help much more than trying to do term limits. It take 2/3 of both houses to get that done and then goes to States and will need 38 0f 50 States to pass it. The State part I think could be done but not 2/3 of each house of Congress i.e. only when pigs fly. If we had picture ID it would stop lots of cheating and dead people voting, voting 2 time maybe and lots of illegals from voting. Convention of States will never got off ground either I done think. All Cruz is doing it fooling people as he has done before. Its called grand standing folks nothing else.
The last I read, the only article Levin was pushing had to do with trade/deficit spending.
“When they can no longer enrich themselves at the taxpayers ( citizens ) expense they will not stay in DC long.”
But you have the same problem here as you do with term limits. The Congress will NEVER vote themselves “off the island” or vote to cut their elegant perks. The are, in reality, no different than the Russian elites under Communism. They all have their “dachas” paid for by us serfs.
I disagree...they will support it or they know they will term limited by their constituents...
Right. Too many will be retiring and getting all these perks. They will not have served enough to be entitled to these things.
A recorded vote is about all that can come of this. At least we’ll have the worms on record.
The career politician is the root of much of the evil to which our system has devolved.
What is needed are disincentives for people to spend their entire lives in Congress. Fer instance:
A) Congress does not get to vote on its own pay raises. The people vote on it.
B) Congress cannot exempt itself from laws it passes.
C) No federally funded pensions for Congresscritters. They must provide for their own retirements.
Both Cruz and DeSantis also point to the “broad support”
*****************
Whom dem ‘broads’?
About as likely as getting rid of the IRS and the income tax.
They will NEVER relinquish that power without a civil war. Ever.
Increase the house term to three years and cut the senate term to five. Maximum two terms of each. That's a total of sixteen years for the successful ones. Remove all pensions and benefits not available to ordinary citizens who do equivalent work; let them pay for what they want like the rest of us do. Make them subject to all laws to which other citizens are subject (e.g. Obamacare).
And for the final blow to the self-seeking, require that all political contributions be ANONYMOUS. They can't sell influence if they don't know who is buying. Americans should be permitted to donate to any candidate or party, in any amount they choose; that's FREEDOM. But being able to purchase an outcome with a donation is BRIBERY, a CRIME.
Those steps will result in people who are willing to forego ruling and SERVE predominating in congress.
Put the COUNTRY first, not your state. It must be for ALL!
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