Term Limits

I don't know about you, but I am so tired of career politicians. Elected service should be a privilege not a career. What this country needs from the local level to the federal level is strict term limits. Two terms is all that should be allowed. After all it's what the president gets, so why not everyone else? This might be enough to get them to do something a little more substantial than just trying to get re-elected.

I was just looking at the seniority list for the US Senate. The top 39 in seniority have been there for more than two terms (or 12 years) with the top 25 having at least 20 years and the top six have no less than 30 years. What really got me are the top three, Daniel Inouye (D-HI) 46 years, Ted Kennedy (D-MA) 47 years and Robert Bird (D-WV) 50 years! That's three Senators with 143 years between them. All three of these people were elected before I was born! Also of these top 39, nine of them also served in the House of Representatives. To me all these folks need to go.

I realize that this us only 40% of the makeup if the Senate, but 21 of the remaining 60 Senators have also served in the House. Several others were listed as having served as Governors. I'm sure that some of these Senators have also served at the state level in some other capacity as well. Where does it end? It appears to me that the thought of being an elected official is all they think about. I call that megalomania. But then again with these guys making $165,000 a year I can also see why they don't want to give it up.

Since I can recall all the government has done is grown. It didn't matter which political party was in power either. The budget has gotten bigger along with the debt and the deficit. The entitlements, welfare and of course the ever popular earmarks, just to name a few things, have gotten completely out of control. Isn't it the job of the people that we send to Washington to keep a lid on things? Maybe I'm crazy, but I thought the US Senate was supposed to be there for the entire country not just their individual states.

It's time that we remind those we elect who they work for. I think at the next election we vote all incumbents who have served two terms out of office. Do you think that those remaining would get the message? I would hope so. These guys wont support legislation that limits their ability to get elected time and again so it's up to us.

So if you don't think that 12 years is enough, but you want a say in what is happening, I strongly suggest that you write, e-mail or call your local, state and federal representatives and let them know what concerns you. If you don't tell them or you don't vote, then you can't complain about what is happening.