What would be the best way to implement term limits in the Senate and the House?

Question

What would be the best way to start a grass roots movement to get term limits for the U.S. Senate and the House of Reps. There is no leadership in Washington and we the people need to sound the alarm and wake these people up. How can they focus if your contantly worried about posturing for the next for the next election. What happened to being a Civil SERVANT?

Answer 1

It would take a Constitutional Amendment.

For the naive that think term limits are bad - think again. The general electorate are too lazy to get out and vote out a bad politician. They simply will moan and complain.

That's why there are so many irresponsible politicians taking advantage of that fact and staying in office.

We need to ensure a new supply of ideas and blood in Congress - people willing to serve their constituents, not their own pockets.

Term limits will ensure that - and get rid of morons like Kennedy and Spectre that have outstayed their effectiveness.

We also need to abolish the pension program for senators and congressman, and put that money into education and healthcare.

One final caveat - we need to repeal the 16th and 17th amendments in order to take back control of the Senate and have them obligated to the states they hail from, rather than special interests.

Answer 2

There should be no term limits for Senators or Reps. Think about this, 1/3 of the senate is elected every 2 years.

So lets say we limit it to 2 terms or 12 years. Lets also assume they get re-elected 2/3rds of the time. So in 2008, 2010, and 2012 all the senators elected are in their first term (even current senators would start the 2 terms next election)
In 2014 the first 1/3 are up for relection and of the 33 elected 22 are re-elected and the same in 2016 and 2018. From 2018-2020 we have 66 members of the senate who can no longer be elected what incentive do they have to make their constituants happy and not just do what they want? Nothing. Right now they need to keep their consituants happy. Did all the senators who voted for the minimum wage bill agree with it? No, some did it because they knew they would get re-elected not because they agree. They serve for us, not for themselves. Why do senators from border states care more about illegal immigration? Because the people who vote for them are from those states. Do you think South Dakota cares as much as Texas?

Now as time goes on those lame ducks will be a smaller percentage, but usually 20-40% will be lame ducks and have no incentive to do what their state wants, just what they want. We need to not have term-limits for congress. Just look at the last election? The people didn't like the way congress was going, so they made changes. So far the changes seem equally bad or maybe worse, but term limits wouldn't change that.

Answer 3

Yea I agree 2 words for a senator 3 maybe 4 for a rep. incredibly they could desire to make the rep term longer. tremendously complicated to get anythign finished in 2 years on an identical time as your spending an considerable factor to that element campaigning. maybe that could desire to desire to be 4 yrs with a 2 term cut back. i comprehend a senator who ran on the platform of that the incumbent he became working against have been in for over 2 some years and there could desire to desire to be limits. the nice and comfortable senator gained and now hes been in there in easy terms as long or longer.

Answer 4

VOTE!! The most effective way to hold elected officials accountable is to vote. If you do not like the way someone is doing his job, fire him. Oh, but my vote doesn't make a difference, you say. Then get off your rear, find others who don't like the politician's job performance and work against him. If you cannot defeat him, you might be in a minority, or people just don't care. If it's the latter, ths country is in a world of hurt.

Please remember a civil servant is a member of the bureaucracy who has life tenure.

Answer 5

You already have that ability. It is called an election.Use elections to force term limits by voting out those you feel have served too long and deserve to leave.

Answer 6

Great question:) Vote for third parties and/or independent candidates unless you can find compelling evidence that your "representative" actually is a public servant. For example: Congressman Ron Paul actually uses the United States Constitution as the basis for each of his votes.

If the bill being presented fails to be in accordance (un-constitutional) with the Constitution Paul votes NO! All Members of Congress, Senate included, and the President when sworn into office "swear to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Then they go about raping and pillaging that document and dreaming up all sorts of insane in the membrane programs to tax us more and regulate us into a robotic state where our rights are derived (not from God) but from Man (government)! I understand you may be an anti-christian and that's okay. I use the analogy so you can see the distinction.

The Democrats and Republicans (save for folks like Ron Paul) are in bed together which explains a number of things. For example: NAFTA was presented to Congress but Bush (89-83) failed to get it passed through Congress. The same document was presented by Clinton and passed.

That example is merely one of thousands that have changed the face of American society. I can show you examples all the way back to 1913 of that same thing occuring. Again, there is very little difference between the Democrats and the Republicans because they are, for the most part (aside from people like Ron Paul), puppets to the owners of the Federal Reserve.

I absolutely agree with you that we need to throw the bastards out. Thomas Jefferson said something about a Revolution every 200 years or so. Maybe that's Bush's justification for NSPD#51. We wouldn't want to be able to redress our government for grievances as is stated in the Constitution!

However, I firmly disagree with you on the issue of term limits. It's a stupid idea and I'll show you why. Would you limit the amount of time a teacher is allowed to teach children? Would you limit then amount of time a Doctor is allowed to serve patients? Would you put term limits on the experience and wisdom that people gather by being allowed to serve?

That's insane in the membrane! Limiting terms does one thing. It takes people who have gathered experience and wisdom and tosses them out like garbage. It sounds good to be certain. Throw the bastards out!

But in reality, it does very little to insure that quality candidates are selected through a democratic process. In other words term limits focuses on the wrong end of the stick. Instead of kicking out wisdom and experience, and giving lobbyists ultimate power to consult elected leaders, why not improve your (citizens) imput into the process of who gets elected in the first place?

People who support term limits are essentially saying that they would say that a student who underperforms on a single test should be taken out of consideration for higher education and be relegated to a life of menial labor below a liveable working wage. I can show you specifically how to take a person that is diagnosed as bipolar or ADD or ADHD and transform that person into a stellar performer beyond most people's reasonable expectations (without medication).

The point is that term limits (like medication) is a misperception in regard to results. The State of Pennsylvania tried term limits and found that all it accomplished was and power grab for lobbyists and special interests. They've since had the wisdom to reverse term limits.

We have term limits already. They're called elections. Don't like what they've done. Throw the bastards out. Don't like the system. Vote for an alternate system.

If the Democrats and Republicans are responsible for the way things are because they've been the only party's at the party then it's time to support, work for and vote for alternate candidates. Libertarian, Constitution, Green, Independent whatever...anything is better than the status quo.

Answer 7

It would require amending the U.S. Constitution. Check out Article V.

Answer 8

Term limits are a stupid idea so there is no good way to implement them. Term limits restrict the right of a person to run for office as well as the right of the electorate to vote for them. Term limits actually limit our political freedoms. If an officeholder is a no good bum, don't re-elect him, you don't need term limits to keep him out of office.

Answer 9

The best way to implement term limits is double pronged.Pay attention to what congress does,(as opposed to what it says,)And Vote!

Answer 10

We do not need term limits. We are a republic. If the citizens no longer want a Senator or Rep., they will vote them out.