Posted on 01/04/2017 9:42:30 AM PST by Michael van der Galien
This is an amendment every rational thinking conservative and libertarian can and must support:
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) today proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to impose term limits on members of Congress. The amendment would limit U.S. senators to two six-year terms and members of the U.S. House of Representatives to three two-year terms.
In other words, if the amendment is eventually added to the Constitution, congressmen can remain in office for a maximum of six years while senators can do so for 12 years. Presidents are already bound to two four-year terms.
As Senator Cruz explains, term limits are one of the most effective ways to break the Washington cartel -- the group of insiders who divvy up political power between themselves:
"The American people resoundingly agreed on Election Day, and President-elect Donald Trump has committed to putting government back to work for the American people. It is well past time to put an end to the cronyism and deceit that has transformed Washington into a graveyard of good intentions."
He adds:
"The time is now for Congress, with the overwhelming support of the American people, to submit this constitutional amendment to the states for speedy ratification. With control of a decisive majority of the states, the House of Representatives, and the Senate, we have a responsibility to answer the voters’ call-to-action. We must deliver."
This is an example that should be followed everywhere in the developed world. Many structural problems that Western countries face are caused by politicians who seem to have a lifetime position. No matter what they do, no matter how many times they betray their constituents, they're always reelected. The reason is simple...
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
If the 17th is repealed, I suspect the states would just eventually all cave in to letting their citizens vote anyway, as is done today. And once that happened, we’d never go back. In fact, the pressure would be on immediately because that’s the status quo now.
So, we repeal the 17th, and virtually every state government immediately caves to it’s voters and leaves the election of senators in their hands.
No, the better way to ensure that we don’t have lifetime senators and congressmen is term limits. They need to serve as a public service, not for personal enrichment, but once ensconced in office more or less permanently, personal enrichment becomes a priority for too many today.
Don't loose any sleep on this one, it has no chance of ever passing.
Don’t forget that the incumbents also have the benefit of a corrupt press. Too many people go by name recognition, & I’ve seen candidates who are terrific, well-qualified & not even out of the mainstream, who simply got no press attention & consequently were unknown to the electorate. They just push the button for the name they know, or go by party. And yes, that’s because people don’t make an effort to research candidates.
Personally, I’m about at the point of requiring poll-testing, so that the uninformed can no longer screw things up for the rest of us. Make each voter answer five randomly selected questions on the structure of our gov’t & five more on current events or candidates. If they can’t get 8 out of 10 correct, their vote goes into a black hole.
No, they aren't
So, you wouldn't mind a Louie Gohmert being thrown out of office for an inferior replacement or even a Democrat?
Of course it can work against us.
By the time of the 17th, almost all states had popular election of senators, indirectly if not directly. Repeal is a good idea, but the the quality of senators might not improve much, and the problem of entrenched Congressional staffers would probably get worse.
At least it would get senators like McCain and Reid off the stage.
What makes you think his replacement would be inferior? The graveyards are full of "irreplaceable" people.
I'm not fan of term limits. I think people should be free to vote for whomever they want to represent them, for as many terms as they want that representation.
That said, the solution in the Senate is not term limits, it is to eliminate the elections altogether and let the state legislatures decide whom to send to the Senate. The states should be free to choose anybody they want; the term is limited by how long the legislature feels the Senator is being effective.
Repeal the 17th amendment instead of placing term limits on Senators.
-PJ
Cut their salaries in half. Change all their benefits to those of the rest of us.
This proposal will never see the floor of the US House or Senate.
Agree.
We the voters of VA-7 showed the rest of the country how to deal with weasels.
Cantorize your weasel, take them out in the primary.
Repeal the 17th.
Grandstanding by Cruz, you’re right, no chance of passing.
Probably will not pass. But 70-75% of the American People WANT Term Limits.
First question for 2018 election cycle . . . WHY did you vote NO on Term Limits to every single Dem incumbent. Won’t matter in deep blue states but will matter in swing district.
Cruz is putting D’s on the defensive right out the gate in 2017.
Well, I suppose this has a better chance of passing than repealing the 17th Amendment.
Make the terms of employment for representatives and senators such that it is not financially attractive as a permanent career. Salaries and benefits should be more in line with the private sector. Let the electorate vote on proposed raises and/or benefit increases instead of allowing congress to vote themselves raises. In other words, create an environment wherein congress critters truly serve their country instead of enriching themselves from being elected.
Trump said he wanted term limits; Cruz and De Santi seem to be carrying the ball for what Trump has called for.
Mitch the Turtle: “We already have term limits. They’re called elections.”
Just what you’d expect a long term RINO never-trumper to say.
For me, the trick to term limits is don’t give these politicians time to build up a nest egg to be used at reelection time. That and reform election dollars laws.
So then when Trump says that he wants term limits, he's grandstanding?
Yeh, right! We all see how well that works.
You can’t get much better or conservative than Gohmert. Of course there are good people for replacements, but not many as good as Gohmert.
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