Term Limits

I am so tired and disgusted with the politics of Congress. We can't vote on immigration reform or entitlement reform now because an election is coming up. No better than Obama telling Putin "we can work it out after the election". Both parties are to blame and both party Representative and senate seats are at stake.

Voting on the same failed amendment 40 plus times to show your base where you stand is a waste of taxpayer time and money and then saying you know it won't do any good. What? You are only trying to impress you voters. I am sick of it. From to president to both houses of congress. The power and money rules.

I had a person running for state representative show up at my door and said he was for term limits. I said that is good until you get voted in then it goes out the door. He said nothing in response.

I don't have to go on about this. It is in the news daily so you know. Question is...how to get term limits?

There are pac's for republicans and democrats but not for independents. We need a nonpartisan pac for the people.

How the heck do we get any congressional members to vote for term limits? Especially when after 6 years they all get 100K plus a year after retirement. So what? they vote for 3 term limits for representatives and 1 for senate. Everyone gets the retirement.

With the pay they get and retirement pay plus multiple speaking engagements after serving...this is not public service, it is self service.

So, I am a simple person and have no answers, just anger and frustration.

I am on my way to bed now but good folks of ATS I know you must have ideas. Please give them. My only idea is to not vote for the career politician again and if the say they are for term limits and don't push...don't vote for them. Would take many years and I would not live to see it.

How did we get to this place?

I have something to say about term limits. They are no good..
You get somebody that knows what they are doing and people like, you want them termed out?

Term limits isnt the answer, getting rid of the lobbyist and the way they skirt the laws is the answer.

reply to post by liveandlearn


so long as the current is it 535 people who are in place in washington, and the lobbyist and other people with money and power in their respective fields, are allowed to meet with politicians, behind closed doors, on the golf courses, in fancy restaurants or any where else that shady deals can be made including the oval office remain in place. it will never change.

the slate has to wiped clean first. not so much the constitution, but the people that interpret it.

ETA: also i should have included the hundreds if not thousands of bureaucrats , that head all the alphabet agencies.

reply to post by liveandlearn


Doesn't a term end when not voted back in?

reply to post by tinner07


why not, they passed term limits for the president, remember FDR and people loved him. why shouldn't offices the senators and representatives be held to the same standard.

remember that the senators and representatives are the voice of the people, from their state and districts. the more people that have a chance to hold that office, the more chances the the voices of the people will be heard. not just the select few that seem to be talking now.

reply to post by liveandlearn


We got to this place by apathy, inaction and indifference. People only seem to want term limits when its on people they don't like but when its someone they do like they don't want them limited. Term limits unfortunately are not the entirety of the solution but a portion of it. We need major campaign finance reform including serious limits on how candidates are funded by companies and large well-funded groups who subvert our place as the mitigating factor for the government. There also needs to be well defined (and strictly enforced) rules and punishments for subverting the processes in place to discourage people from using their power to only enrich themselves and their corporate paymasters while robbing the rest of us blind. Most politicians now have next to no fear of being caught because even if they do get caught up in a scandal they always seem to walk away with bulging pockets of OUR money. Until we make them well and truly afraid of being caught because it will render them financially destitute and unable to work a decent job ever again (like their laws often do to the people who have to follow them) then nothing will ever change; odds of them ever voting for ANY of these types of changes is next to non-existent so perhaps their hand will eventually require some 'guidance' to make the necessary changes.

Term limits are a bad idea that wouldn't even be needed if voters weren't morons.

Maybe Obama would have done less damage if he still had to worry about re-election.

You are assuming that the people do actually vote. Oh yes they go through the motions but fraud in the process is a very big player. For many seats, the number of votes needed to fraud the system are very tiny. After every election there are stories that are not investigated. IMHO it is not the citizens that decide who gets elected.

As one clear example just look at the shenanigans that went on with Paul. If that does not tell you who picks the winners, nothing will.

P

liveandlearn
So, I am a simple person and have no answers, just anger and frustration.

How did we get to this place?

You, and everyone else, got there by the powerfull few manipulating, using and abusing their influence and instruments of the elite to first of all think of you, and then treat you, as sheep and unfortunately far too many of us have been exactly that.

I think we do need term limits. In every level of government.

America is working as intended. The Founders wanted it to be hard to change our laws. Only when American voters unite do things change and that is rare. Unfortunately with modern communication the wealthiest Americans can pay to convince the less informed to vote for horrible law changes and we are now stuck with many horrid laws that are anti democracy.

voting is not an act that is suppose to be made more efficient, it has to be designed to be the most accurate....restrict any political donation to a $1,000 per "registered" voter, eliminate computerized voting, and vote counting. all votes are counted by 2 people in each precinct, count results are sealed in a container with the actual written votes, the containers are taken to a public place in the capital of each state where each "count result sheet" is tallied up and verbally announced in front of the media, and in a large enough room to accommodate an open-to-the-public viewing area.