I Think We Need Term Limits

I agree with the Tea Party on one thing, some people in congress have been there too long, entrenched there. I’m glad they are leaving or gone, Dodd, Arlen Specter, Lieberman, Snowe, -- good riddance. I want more to leave: Rangel, Boehner, McConnell, Ron Paul, Bill Young, Conyers, McCain, etc. I hope we have a complete turn over in the next few election cycles. 

I don’t want Joe Biden to run in four years and hope he just ends his career at Vice Pres, if he and the president are re-elected. Joe has been in Washington DC since he was 29 and in four years he would have been there 45 years, he is a relic. I would go so far as saying that Obama should move Biden to the State Department, and take this opportunity to choose a different VP. I know many would say that replacing him would symbolize weakness, I disagree, I think if anyone can do it and get away with it--Obama can.

Americans might have elected Bill Clinton for a third time, but they couldn’t, he could have been president during 911. If there was the possibility of eight more years of George W. Bush during the 2004 election would he have won? We have another president that is young enough to serve a third term and cannot. The presidential term feels too short. I don’t think the founding fathers wanted anything limited or they would have written it in the original articles, but I don’t think they would mind. We are not coming of age, we have a documented past and it does appear if you are in DC too long, you might not be able to help becoming part of the gridlock. Thank goodness the founding fathers left a constitution that can be modified.

I am for term limits–the past fifty years is evidence we need it--but what should be the maximum? THREE; only three terms for everyone in every level of government. That means twelve years for the president. If you serve in both houses of congress and the presidency the longest you would be in DC is 36 years (what are the odds), unless you serve as both Vice and president in which case it would be 48. Let us assume you only serve House and Senate, the max is 24 years. You can still run on the city, county, and state levels as well, three terms per position.

Yes three it seems would be perfect, three for the Governor, Mayor, City Council, state senator, Ombudsman, Public Advocate, etc. The other thing term limits can do, stop people who always talk about dismantling government or how government does work, from spending their entire lives living off government. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if some of the ole timers had been gone after three terms? It’s time we give other voices a chance.