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Should Term Limits be implemented for Congress?

Should Term Limits be implemented for Congress?

  • Yes

    Votes: 42 57.5%

  • No

    Votes: 25 34.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 6 8.2%
  • Total voters
    73
Cephus said:
I agree, but amending the Constitution today is virtually impossible, the nation has become completely ideologically deadlocked. I think the Supreme Court, for the most part, is completely and totally useless and the chances of fixing this, when the courts can just override the will of the people, are somewhere between slim and none.
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sadly, but true.
 
They already are. 2 years for representatives and 6 years for senators. Now...I agree the 2 year term should change to 4...but other than that...
 
justabubba said:
no need
we have the right every two/six years to shake things up
and we do elect those politicians we deserve
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Exactly!!! I have practiced voting for term limits for years when I vote. We don't need no stinking law. If the People truly want term limits they'll vote against the incumbent. It's not difficult.
 
AlabamaPaul said:
I'm not sure inanimate objects have learned how to donate yet. There are living, breathing humans behind those contributions. Good afternoon pero...
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Howdy AP
That is not exactly how I meant it. Citicorp for example donate 2 million to one of the candidates. It is money the board of directors and the financial planners or the chairman, CEO or whatever takes out of Citicorp bank accounts and donates it. Sure the CEo or board of directors are living individuals, but the donation is above and beyond what each individual can give if giving as individuals. This is not like a bunch of Citicorp employees got together and decided to donate. It is the company itself. This is what I mean by only individual's, not corporations or firms etc.
 
Cephus said:
Even if we have term limits and throw the crooks out, there are more crooks standing behind them waiting to get in. We have to end the big money influence first, then talk about term limits, which if we could just elect worthwhile, honest candidates that are working to represent the American people instead of their own personal and political interests, we wouldn't need term limits.
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If we have term limits, we are expecting the job to be done for us... again. Hence, yes, the scenario you paint will most likely occur.

If we start paying attention, and kick them out ourselves (and reward the ones who get a sudden flash of honor), what you fear will happen in the short-term, but would lessen over the course of a few elections as we weed out the unqualified replacements. But no, it wouldn't be instantaneous.
 
I'd be willing to bet that if the re-election rate dropped from 90% to even just 50%, a lot of Congresspeople would sit up and take notice.
 
radcen said:
If we have term limits, we are expecting the job to be done for us... again. Hence, yes, the scenario you paint will most likely occur.

If we start paying attention, and kick them out ourselves (and reward the ones who get a sudden flash of honor), what you fear will happen in the short-term, but would lessen over the course of a few elections as we weed out the unqualified replacements. But no, it wouldn't be instantaneous.
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But it doesn't matter, the parties are the ones who put these people up for election, if you have a selection of 5 crooks, one of them is getting put in power unless you can somehow convince the entire nation to write in someone else.
 
Perotista said:
Howdy AP
That is not exactly how I meant it. Citicorp for example donate 2 million to one of the candidates. It is money the board of directors and the financial planners or the chairman, CEO or whatever takes out of Citicorp bank accounts and donates it. Sure the CEo or board of directors are living individuals, but the donation is above and beyond what each individual can give if giving as individuals. This is not like a bunch of Citicorp employees got together and decided to donate. It is the company itself. This is what I mean by only individual's, not corporations or firms etc.
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Corporations cannot give any more to a candidate than an individual that I'm aware. What they can do is give unlimited amounts to PACs and other supporting groups, or simply spend it in support, just like anyone else is able to do...
 
radcen said:
I'd be willing to bet that if the re-election rate dropped from 90% to even just 50%, a lot of Congresspeople would sit up and take notice.
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85-95% incumbent re-election rates in the USA this past century
i remember when we would laugh at the election results in the USSR ... when in truth they were like our own
 
AlabamaPaul said:
Corporations cannot give any more to a candidate than an individual that I'm aware. What they can do is give unlimited amounts to PACs and other supporting groups, or simply spend it in support, just like anyone else is able to do...
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I am not sure, I was looking over the Wall Street donor list for 2008, I haven't seen one for 2012. Here are a few examples
University of California gave 1,648,685 to Obama
Goldman Sachs gave 1,013,019 to Obama and 240,295 to McCain
Harvard University gave 864,654 to Obama
Mcrosoft gave 852,167
Google gave 814,540
JP Morgan Chase gave 808,799 to Obama and 343,505 to McCain
Citigroup gave 736,771 to Obama and 338, 202 to McCain.

The thing is these were not individual donations, but donations from as you put it, an in-animate object.
 
Yep. I'm tired of the same ole fogies in there election after election after election.
 
Dragonfly said:
I think we do need term limits.

The overwhelming majority of Americans are dissatisfied with every single person in Washington, yet "we" continue to re-elect the same dim-bulb nitwits decade after decade after decade.

There's no need for career politicians and every reason to prevent just such a thing from happening.

I'm all for term limits.
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Most people say they like their representative, they just don't like the others. Me included. I think my senators are excellent and so is my representative. The guys that ran against them? No so much.

Forcibly turning out them out of their seats would be a detriment. A great many of them bring skill and talent to the position. Experience only burnishes that. Do I think that of all of them, no. There are definitely shysters and exploiters in the congress. It's up to their constituents to boot them.
 
Gina said:
Most people say they like their representative, they just don't like the others. Me included. I think my senators are excellent and so is my representative. The guys that ran against them? No so much.
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I'm the opposite, I can't stand either my senators or representative, they're party hacks who have worked to control the districts so they're virtually untouchable.
 
Agreed, I very much like Ron Wyden our senator. He's served many terms (since 96 in the Senate and since 80 in the House) and shows no sign yet of turning into one of the corrupt ones.
 
Josie said:
Yep. I'm tired of the same ole fogies in there election after election after election.
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Me too. I want some new ole fogies in there. And maybe a Filipino, but an old one. Can't have too much excitement all at once.
 
humbolt said:
Me too. I want some new ole fogies in there. And maybe a Filipino, but an old one. Can't have too much excitement all at once.
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I'd prefer Americans only be serving in our congress.
 
Gina said:
Most people say they like their representative, they just don't like the others. Me included. I think my senators are excellent and so is my representative. The guys that ran against them? No so much.

Forcibly turning out them out of their seats would be a detriment. A great many of them bring skill and talent to the position. Experience only burnishes that. Do I think that of all of them, no. There are definitely shysters and exploiters in the congress. It's up to their constituents to boot them.
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Good afternoon, Gina.

But their constituents evidently feel the same way about their shysters and exploiters...that's the problem!

I am restraining myself, with great effort, NOT to name names! :lamo
 
Helix said:
no. outlaw gerrymandering nationwide instead. plug the census data into a computer, and let the software draw the districts. if we did this, districts would only change to reflect census data.
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Like Iowa does.
 
Goshin said:
Bubba, part of the problem is that Senators or reps from other states, that I do not get to vote for or against, can stay in office for decades and accumulate seniority power, giving them a disproportionate amount of power over things that directly affect me and my life, and I can't do anything about them.

Term limits would mitigate that to some degree.
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The problem with term limits is that every new representive or senator would spend most of his time trying to figure out how politics on the hill works.
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
The problem with term limits is that every new representive or senator would spend most of his time trying to figure out how politics on the hill works.
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Only because politics on the hill is currently inherently crooked. Now, they're so busy figuring out which ass to kiss, they don't have enough time to do their job.
 
Cephus said:
Only because politics on the hill is currently inherently crooked. Now, they're so busy figuring out which ass to kiss, they don't have enough time to do their job.
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And by the time they do, they would be forced out by term limits. Term limits would ensure only the lobbyists know the mechinism of politics.
 
Unitedwestand13 said:
And by the time they do, they would be forced out by term limits. Term limits would ensure only the lobbyists know the mechinism of politics.
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Or that we need to clean up Washington so the mechanism of politics isn't inherently corrupt.
 
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