Term limits: A threat or a cure

To submit that widespread dissatisfaction exists with the U.S. Congress is akin to calling an antique tea kettle black. Recent polls indicate as much as 87 percent of American voters deem the U.S. congressional performance unfavorable. Why is this dissatisfaction so pervasive? It's more what they are not doing than what they have promised. They've done so little this past year in behalf of the American people ... this dissatisfaction has contaminated both chambers.

If the polls split the House from the Senate, I suspect our Representatives might be in the single-digit percentile. And don't for a moment conclude this is merely the messing around of the Democrats. Republicans had their turn at bat and failed miserably to do right rather than what benefitted them in the reelection process.

We can guess why this is happening, but incredibly the American people aren't given the opportunity to convince the denizens of Capitol Hill as to what we see as their problem. They are bankrupting the once richest nation in history. They cannot seem to identify the gist of this assailable contradiction in the minds of independents, some Democrats and even more Republicans. At this point, I'm not going to cite our Congressional preoccupation with federal control of the people, our money, our livelihoods, our health, our education and in some instances... even our religious expressions. That would constitute piling on.

Permit me to focus on a single and overbearing example. At a time when unemployment has surpassed 10 percent, Congress, by federal legislation, entitled themselves to a cost-of-living raise for 2010. These systemic pay raises have been ongoing for several years. Our members have the right to reject these increases, but don't hold your breath on the premise even a handful have or will. Mr. and Ms. Congresspersons now are paid $174,000 annually. Not bad, but hardly on a par with Nancy Pelosi's $223,500. This doesn't include the perks and the health benefits. At the same time, people who depend on payments such as Social Security are not going to get any increase for this year or next. Please don't gripe. The belt must be tightened somewhere other than "inside the Beltway."

This example serves as an attitudinal summary of elected persons who represent a majority in our federal legislative branch. It seems their primary goal in service is to be reelected. This has become increasingly expensive. So much so, if one is not a multi, multimillionaire, one must seek campaign financial assistance. Ahh, enter the special and vested interests. Their money spearhead powerful competition, despite the ever repeated denials from the Hill, to us American peons. How many wins has our side managed in competitive contests for positive action? Name two!

This has degenerated into acceptable standard operating procedure. Favoritism can be hidden in any number of dodges in riders, amendments or the multitude of pork barreling which curries local bragging rights for the so disposed Senator or Representative. Did any of you read the current yet-to-be embalmed health care legislation? Not likely, I would guess. Its transparency never gelled. If it did, 95 percent of us nonlawyers would not have survived page 3's Section B, with the exception noted in subparagraph 2's line 7 pertaining to ... You get the idea. The purpose of this mumbo-jumbo is to deny us understanding the consequences of what is being done to us.

OK, so this is a problem. What can be done about it? Article V of our Constitution has the answer! Why am I citing this particular article? It provides a means by which term limits could be applied to those who manage to serve in near aristocratic assurance of continued reelection until such time as they "kick ole Buddha's gong."

To name a few of too many such successes is easy. Strom Thurman served in the Senate as has Robert Byrd ad infinitum. Nancy Pelosi, our Speaker of the House and second heiress to the presidency is in her 12th term of legislative authority. Two horrific realities come to mind by which her seat in California's 8th District could be jeopardized. Both are acts of nature, as in: an earthquake registering 9+ magnitude on the Richter scale. or a tsunami towering in excess of 100 fathoms above Nob Hill.

Even if the Congress had a notion involving term limits, they couldn't initiate it. Only the individual state legislatures can bring such an event into convocation. One has never passed the threshold of 34 states which are required for the Convention to take place. Senator Everett Dirksen came close when in the 1960s, the gentleman from Illinois helped enlist 33 states to press for such a Convention. It was diverted when legislation was passed to correct an existing law declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

There are scholarly disputes as to the advantages and disadvantages of Article V, but interestingly our Founding Fathers presented this to the express power of the states. They ignored the federal government in this Article. It wasn't a mistake. Our forefathers were considerably more concerned by the inherent probabilities of the federal government's muscling aside states' rights. Given the mood of today's Americans, a Constitutional Convention might attract sufficient state legislatures into action. And should enough support occur, perhaps in it rampant ways the Congress might accept the will of the American people before they were forced.

What would the term limits solve? It could discourage a lot of the campaign financial steering of reelections term upon term. This, in turn, might assist in attracting more people to seek public office at the federal level. Additionally, while lobbying interests would be attracted, perhaps, to the party level, it would diminish the benefits of singling out the leadership which would be in constant change.

Our politicians don't have to be of Mensa level intelligence. If you have nothing to obscure in a straightforward presentation, legislative efforts don't have to be so complex as to take years of experience on the Hill before you could be productive. If you are honest and serve the people, the rest can be easy and productive.

Many people around the nation are demanding term limits. Let's add to the din and lend sanity on the Hill as a chance to win.