The founding fathers set out a plan for government in the young United States that suggested people got their power and rights from God and then the people loaned some of that power to their "republican style" of government. Even though our first Constitution didn't include term limits for Congress, the Executive or Judicial branches, the Constitutional Convention in 1787 considered them. It was thought at the time to be unnecessary because the common practice was to offer your services in Congress for 6 years or less, a citizen-legislator. Congress was not meant to be a career, but a brief service for your state and country and then you returned to your real job.

We need to change our loan agreement with those who choose to serve and are elected to Congress. Tougher safeguards need to be added to bring back better governing and close down the loophole on careerism in Washington D.C.

Limited term limits that reduce the number of consecutive years someone can serve in Congress and the number of years someone can serve during a specified time period should be added to our Constitution. A member of Congress should not serve more than 12 consecutive years nor more than 12 years in any 18 year period, thus bringing back the citizen-legislator who must return home and experience the life of their area before returning to represent people again in Washington D.C.

The phrase "term limits" increases some heartbeats because it blocks "we the people" from having the choice of electing someone for an unlimited number of years. I suggest limited term limits as a mechanism to offer people the opportunity to serve, return to where they came from, and then if desired and chosen again, return to Congress after a minimum number of years intervening.

I don't like restricting how many times I can vote for someone, but the effects of our current careerism Congress over the last 40 years is very clear. Extended stays in Congress produce less leadership, too much power in the hands of a few committee chairman for too many years, a higher percentage of our income being taxed and spent by the federal government, too many unfunded long term social programs, and too much interest in bringing home the pork by members of Congress because Congress has become a good gig.

We've allowed this to happen and we can fix it by changing our Constitution to reflect the challenges of the 21st century and beyond. Getting Congress to approve these changes is very doubtful, so we should utilize Article V of the Constitution that allows for 2/3 of all states to recommend a Constitutional Convention for the sole purpose of agreeing on the wording for amendments to then be agreed upon by 3/4 of the state legislatures. Congress and the President have no say in the changing of the Constitution under these guidelines of Article V. We the people can do it!

Visit www.leadersreport.com to get the website address and email address for your state legislator. Technology gives us the opportunity to make change faster in our country than ever before. Your help is needed.


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Moderate & conservative political discourse