Sunday, October 21, 2018

Term Limits

Term limits shouldn't be necessary. We have regular elections where we can impose term limits on any elected officials at the ballot box. Unfortunately, we as voters haven't been doing a very good job of this. Elected officials, especially in Congress, have made lifelong careers of their positions. This was never the intent. It leads to excessive power, and abuse of it. We as voters can't take all the blame. Democrats and Republicans have done all they can to protect their power. Voting districts are gerrymandered to favor one party or the other. Ballot access laws make it difficult for independents or third parties to get a seat at the table and offer real choices to the electorate. Primaries are designed to provide taxpayer funding for the two major parties. Debates and even the media tend to leave out or completely ignore anyone not a member of one of the two ruling parties. The end result is election after election where voters are forced to choose between the lesser of two evils. No surprise most voters are so disgusted they stay home. All too often it appears there is no one worth voting for, as both major parties are equally corrupt.  This is why Congress has an approval rating that perpetually hovers around a pitiful 10%.
Term limits shouldn't be necessary, but they are popular. They will remain popular as long as the system is corrupt, because at this point it is the only limit on power the people have over their government. The vote has lost this power as two parties have taken away the choice of who to vote for. Until we break the grip of corruption and power the Republican and Democrat parties exercise over our elections, I will support term limits. It will not be an easy struggle. The two parties will not willingly accept such limits to their power, and will work quite hard to defeat any measure we attempt to impose on them. If elected to office, I will self-impose a two term limit on myself for any public office, and push for legislation or an amendment to make term limits law. In the meantime, we need to do everything to keep the pressure on. Pursue ballot initiatives to impose term limits until they are successful. Or even better, run and vote for independent and 3rd party candidates to break the parties' grip on power and make term limits unnecessary.


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