Posted on 08/21/2007 5:34:13 AM PDT by BigAlPro
The U.S. Congress is doing a real crappy job of serving the citizens of this country.
According to Real Clear Politics, the latest poll average puts the job approval rating of Congress at just 24.7 percent. Americans are obviously not happy with the current performance of our so-called leaders in Washington, D.C.
Among other things, the left is upset with the Democrats for failing to end the war in Iraq. Liberals actually believed last year's campaign promises and have been once again duped by those who simply tell them what they want to hear in order to get elected or re-elected.
Meanwhile, the right is still ticked off about the repeated attempts to grant citizenship to illegal aliens. Not only did a number of Republican senators spit in the face of their base, but the president himself went out of his way to belittle and berate the most loyal of his supporters.
Let's not forget about the independents. Those in the middle would give just about anything to see something positive get done on Capitol Hill for a change. Their No. 1 question has got to be, "Whatever happened to common sense?"
It is obvious that our senators and representatives have forgotten just who they work for and what their job is. Maybe they all need to go on a leaders' retreat to re-evaluate their pitiful existence and re-educate themselves about the U.S. Constitution. They all seem to know what the document is, but they are obviously not living up to what it says.
The biggest problem I see today with our Capitol Hill cronies is power. There are those who have it, those who think they have it, those who want it and those who will do anything to get it. Having and wielding power has become more important than doing what is right for the sake of this nation.
I must have missed the paragraph in the U.S. Constitution that places an emphasis on attaining power while in office. Silly me, I thought these leaders were in Washington to serve their constituency. Somewhere in my twisted past I learned that our government was supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people.
One of the fixable keys to attaining power is longevity. The longer we leave elected officials in office, the more they strive for and typically acquire power.
If you had to name the five most powerful people on Capitol Hill, would they not be those with the most tenure? How much better would your life be if those five individuals were no longer eligible to serve in the U.S. Congress?
The ultimate solution to the power problem is term limits. The absence of term limits has created a false sense of invincibility and immortality in too many of our legislators. If we would simply restrict our elected officials to 20 years on the Hill, we would not have to deal with the insanity that seems to settle in on our career politicians.
Once the term limits are in place and the toilet of corruption has been flushed, the American Congress can get down to business and get back to work for the American people. Then and only then will the congressional approval ratings get back above 50 percent. Then and only then will our national legislature be truly effective.
Then and only then will Congress be what it was originally intended to be.
But with term limits, amnesty would have passed.
The ONLY leverage we had was threatening to vote them out.
Those up for re-election next year cracked first.
We’re on Earth, they’re on Uranus. Esp. Barney Frank.
When some states attempted to impose term limits by setting their own criteria for eligibility, the Supreme Court eventually ruled that Congress has that sole power. That means that the ONLY way to establish term limits is a Constitutional Amendment. All current amendments were approved by the necessary majorities in each house of Congress, then passed according to state rules by the legislatures of three-fourths (39) of the states.
But the Constitution provides another method, and it scares our current congresscritters half to death. Article V specifies that a National Convention MUST be called when two-thirds of the states (34) legislatures have called for such a Convention. Some scholars insist that such a convention could consider only the subject specified in the Convention call, but many believe that the power of such a convention is unlimited. The National Convention coulde then specify that ratification be performed by three-fourths (39) of either the state legislatures OR state conventions called for the purpose of ratification. These state conventions could ratify on a simple majority vote, instead of any special rules established by the state for legislative ratification of Constitutional amendments.
Call your State legislators, if you really want to fix this!
i believe each state can impose it’s own laws ( including term limits ) on it’s representitives. If the states will not pass the laws, the citizens can take up a petition drive and put the issue on the ballot, bypassing them completely. The individual reps and senators do not work for the us government. they work for the individual states ( that is how and why they are elected ). The citizens can redress the government with their greivences, and the petition and ballot drives are one way to redress the government...if i am wrong, please correct me so that I can think of another way to do it...
“The ONLY leverage we had was threatening to vote them out.”
I agree.
A congressman will be totally unresponsive to voters if he knows that he’s done anyway. But he may be responsive to those interests that can promise him a cushy high paid job after he’s out if he votes the way they want him to.
I actually think that 2 year terms for the Senate, just like the House, would be better. The House knows that they have to face the voters every two years, so they tend to pay attention.
Term limits are a must, but they cannot be too short. We have 6-8 year term limits here in Michigan for our State Legislature. They are too short. The ones in power in Lansing are the bureaucrats and the lobbyists. Washington would suffer the same fate, if the limits were too low.
In order to get rid of the Ted Kennedys and Carl Levins, we must force Congress to implement term limits. While we are at it, we need to do away with life appointments for judges and justices.
See post 23 - they tried it and failed.
Our elected thieves are only interested in one thing, THEMSELVES.
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