Just a little epiphany.
I have never been for legal term limits. It's a kind of nannyism I don't like. We already have term limits: elections.
However, our election process has been bastardized by corrupt politicians for years. Gerrymandering has made elections less free and honest. It has almost guaranteed incumbent wins, and made it all but impossible for elections to function as term limits in the way the founders intended.
As a result of the criminals' manipulation of the system, I think I am now totally in favor of forced, legal term limits.
We have to fight back...we have to undermine their exploitation of the processes of freedom to institute tyranny.
The Gunslinger
(Zombie Killer, Vampyre Hunter)
Joebama American citizens 2024 print
2 months ago
Amen sister!
ReplyDeleteWe also have another form of term limits. Although it's seldom employed, I don't doubt it may come into favor soon.
ReplyDeleteYES!...the gerrymandering aspect you mentioned is the same reason I myself caved into regretfully supporting term limits.It's the perfect answer to the "but elections are term limits" arguments.(Also, I don't know if I mentioned it before,but Stalin reportedly once said or wrote "It's not whether every vote counts,but WHO counts the votes"). BTW,check out "Crimes Against Liberty" book by David Limbaugh. Succintly lays out the grounds to impeach the rectal apperture known as "President Obama"...
ReplyDeleteTJ<
ReplyDeleteI've seen plenty of evidence of treason, high crimes and misdemeanors committed by our current resident, but without the House initiating proceedings, it's all irrelevant. Does Limbaugh's book layout the legal precedent for circumventing the House? I would like to know, Washington being such a target rich environment of traitorous bastards. Also, I'd very much like to find a legal way to bring down the fraudulent algore (short of posing as a masseuse) whose deceit dwarfs that of Bernie Madoff.
In the end,it's all about restoring the rule of Law,not Men.Some may say that's a bit pollyannish,perhaps,but I believe we should restore the Republic first(thru changing the House and other insruments).Shortcuts to solutions are dramatic and attractive,but in the end would most likely end in anarchy and unintended consequences. The corruption of the Republic has taken decades,the restoration may take the same. I do believe in keeping my powder dry,in the event that the shit hits the fan sooner than expected.The original American Revolution was made up of both eager "hotheads" and those with "cooler heads". Both are necessary.The "Washington,DC" power structure has become similar to the British Parliament of the the 1770s...most were corrupted whores,but some,like Edmund Burke,tried to awaken their brethren that their arrogance would end in unnecessary deaths in their greedy search for political power,and they would lose more than they tried to gain.sad that they lost that argument,but we must try the "civilized" way. Up to when it no longer works...
ReplyDeleteI won't chew up the html again on this one, I've done so a bit tartly with,
ReplyDelete"A sincere message to Reboot Congress and Term Limit supporters - THINK!", and a bit more reasonably with "Reboot revisited: To Think Or Not To Think - That is the Term Limit Question", but the gist of them is that right now, our legislators, partly due to the 'election reform' measures such as the 17th amendment, and the establishment of regulatory agencies, our legislators are already so dependent upon their aides to get a handle on the mind bogglingly convoluted laws and regulations and lay of the political landscape, that the aides themselves are most responsible for writing and reading legislation, many legislators being little better than mouth pieces for what their aides tell them it means, what should be voted for, and who's hand to shake and what their name is.
Term limits would remove what little there is of legislators already feeble attention from their current office and getting reelected to them, to angling for higher office, or into the various sorts of influence and lobbying fields (don't bother - those fields have been created by laws meant to prevent them), and their aids will have even more power and permanence than they do now.
And of course it would ensure that those few legislators who do take their responsibilities seriously, would be quickly removed from the political scene.
As tjones said,
"In the end,it's all about restoring the rule of Law,not Men."
Without that - fuhgedaboudit.
If you want to make real change, push for the repeal of the 17th amendment - don't laugh, with 40+ states preparing for various forms of MO's Prop C Healthcare Freedom Act, there hasn't been such a realistic prospect for passing or repealing an amendment since the the repeal of prohibition.
"Repeal. Reduce. Restore."
(Well... for me, that's short)
Agreed. The Progressives pushed the 17th precisely to get the Senators out from under the thumb of the States...and "nationalize" them for their own nefarious ends.
ReplyDeleteVan, here's the dirty little secret: We have to make government small enough and simple enough, and POWERLESS enough that all the vultures that circle it hungry for a share of the booty and the power wander away to more lucrative arenas.
ReplyDeleteAmong the things we need is new people who will REPEAL the "mind-bogglingly convoluted laws and regulations" that we find ourself with BECAUSE we allowed the bastards to make a CAREER out of government "service" and allowed them to grow government beyond all reason.
First thing we do is get fresh, new blood in there dedicated to reducing the power and size of government, who who won't be tempted to get sucked into the system, and make a career out of government, and sell-out their original intentions...because they CAN'T!
Gunslinger said "We have to make government small enough and simple enough, and POWERLESS enough that all the vultures that circle it hungry for a share of the booty and the power wander away to more lucrative arenas."
ReplyDeleteI completely agree.
"Among the things we need is new people who will REPEAL the "mind-bogglingly convoluted laws and regulations" that we find ourself with BECAUSE we allowed the bastards to make a CAREER out of government "service" and allowed them to grow government beyond all reason."
YES!
"First thing we do is get fresh, new blood in there dedicated to reducing the power and size of government..."
Yep...
"... who who won't be tempted to get sucked into the system, and make a career out of government, and sell-out their original intentions...because they CAN'T!""
...but there's where we begin to diverge.
Men will always be tempted to not only get sucked into the system, but to create and enhance the system (even Washington, Adams & Jefferson trembled on being elected President, for fear of what they might become because of it). It is in our nature. When entering into the system to do good, people naturally begin to see the system as able to aid them in doing more of the good they would do.
Every regulation, every agency ever set up, was set up (supposedly) to limit, repeal and reduce, the amount of bad things people can do within the system.
Every damn one of those laws, rules, regulations and codes which sought to prevent (not punish, prevent) people from behaving as people, has not only failed and failed miserably, but inflamed, enhanced and engorged the very behavior they intended to curtail.
There is no free lunch and there is no free freedom - if We The People don't pay the price of eternal vigilance, if we don't actively, intrusively, unrelentingly remain engaged in the process, letting those we elect know that we are watching every goddamned thing they’re doing... it. will. go. bad.
(yeah... I'm bloviating again... break)
(cont)
ReplyDeleteWe can't blame politicians for being politicians, and neither can we blame regular people, on being thrust into a political atmosphere, for becoming politicians. The only ones we can, and should blame, is ourselves for not keeping a tight watch on them.
I’m not against term limits because I want politicians to be able to voluntarily choose to return to private life when ready, or because I don’t want the size of government to be reduced, I’m against term limits because I know damn well it is going to shrink not a god damned thing, it is not going to make a single damned thing more accountable or ‘transparent’, it will only create a vast number of new corners and shadows for power to scuttle to, hide within, and grow even further in ever more unexpected ways.
This is the frustrating part which the proregressives intrinsically grasped - that the Law, the Constitution, lives in We The People, or it lives not at all. From the beginning they've worked on dual fronts, legislatively and educationally, to erase it from our hearts and minds; first removing those things we needed to know in order to understand the Constitution, then slowly removing the Constitution itself from any and every school. At the same time they passed more and more laws and regulations which they claimed would 'fix' problems, fix what the Constitution hadn't thought of, fix people from doing bad things or from not doing what they should. The predictable result is we have a govt, a leviathan, which no has all the powers which we the people were foolish enough to hand over to it, seeking to escape the responsibility of having to pay attention to and exercise it ourselves.
We The People are the power of the Constitution, NOT the written words or laws - they have power only when we know them, and insist on their being followed, and when we raise bloody hell when they are violated.
If we are too feeble to do that, there is no substitute out there - at least not one that won't assume the powers we're too negligent to exercise ourselves.
There is no rule or amendment which will absolve us of our responsibility to the Constitution, the Law and our own Liberty, and every damned attempt to do so will nurture, feed and grow Leviathan beyond measure. If we shirk our responsibility, if we try and pass a 'law' to fix human nature, every law, even the good ones, will be turned against us. It is just the way it is.
The real beauty of the Tea Party movement, is not that people are insisting on new laws or the repeal of old laws, but that they are opening their eyes, seeing again, and getting involved – and that is why they are hated by Dem’s & Repub’s alike – and it is a Beautiful thing to behold!
Re:"vultures that circle...".Similar to the approach I've used with those who speak of "evil lobbyists",tho somewhat more scatalogically. "Hey,if all the shit wagons were scattered more locally rather than in DC,'we the people' could protect them easier from the buzzards". If the level of debate is on a higher level,I say "You want to increase the power of centralized Federal control,and then are amazed that those businesses affected by that power want to influence the law-makers.What else do you expect them to do".Simple as that..
ReplyDeleteTerm limits is nothing more than giving aspirin to a patient with terminal cancer. In fact, I'm all for repealing term limits on the presidency. If you have good leaders, why force them out? Term limits was a Republican knee-jerk reaction to FDR. If we could get a Thomas Jefferson for 20 years in the White House, would anyone be jumping up and down screaming term limits? Of course Jefferson would probably leave voluntarily after two terms, just as he did before.
ReplyDeleteThere has never been any government immune from aggregating power for its own benefit. Ours is no different. It has reached that stage in its life and development that office holders are oligarchs and most want to keep it that way. Their replacements will be no different because the vast bureaucratic empire is a prize filled with jobs, power and influence for friends, family and allies. Those who attempt to dismantle that empire find opposition at every turn by every person that even remotely benefits from the power of that empire.
I think term limits may actually exacerbate the problem. With so many forcibly unemployed professional politicians, is there any doubt their friends and successors wouldn't create more jobs for them at every level of government, or publicly fund their speaking engagements or "humanitarian" or "community" activities, or allow influence peddalng by ex-cronies turned lobbyists?
We got here because of bad ideas like the 17th Amendment, the law limiting the number of seats in Congress, "commerce clause" abuse and similar mischief. We are going to stay here because most people are sheep. We need many more rams to fight the wolves (elected and unelected) and it would be a shame to limit their time in office.
To what Trubolotta said - Yep. And with,
ReplyDelete"I think term limits may actually exacerbate the problem. With so many forcibly unemployed professional politicians, is there any doubt their friends and successors wouldn't create more jobs for them at every level of government, or publicly fund their speaking engagements or "humanitarian" or "community" activities, or allow influence peddalng by ex-cronies turned lobbyists?"
Which is exactly what we've experience here in Missouri, with our state term limits - those few who entered govt to try and right things, are turned out with the limits - and they have zero interest in moving into the muck filled realm of lobbying & various other patronage jobs.
But the worst sort, the now typical politician, has his eyes all agleam at the thought of moving up in the power system and reaping the bene's which the newest law to 'reform and fix the system!' has plopped into their greedy laps.
Personally,I'm a bit ambivalent about Jefferson,and the imaginary prospect of him in office for "20 years".He was a brilliant thinker sometimes,but "not so much" on "Reality".He thought the French Revolution was a good thing,ignoring like a typical academic the deadly cost to "the little people" (methinks he was a bit of an aristocrat with a noblesse oblige attitude,after all).I am more of a John Adams fan,who tho prickly,actually worked his way up,and tried to balance his appetite for intellectual theories with his natural conservativism as a son of a farmer. ANYHOO...re:term limits...I believe it shows an inert distrust of the People to think that NO ONE can replace that Special Talented Person With Wondrous Credentials in office,whomever you decide is "special".(Altho I concede some limited agreement to the canard "Better to go with someone who knows where the bodies are buried than someone who will dig up the whole yard".But still...bottom line,I agree with Saint Buckley's statement that "I would rather be governed by the first 465 names in the NYC phonebook than those we have now" (or whatever...).ADDENDUM: remember how "Stretch" Pelosi said in 2008 that "We're ready to RULE",rather than ""We're ready to govern"? There's a difference...
ReplyDeleteTjones said "He was a brilliant thinker sometimes,but "not so much" on "Reality".He thought the French Revolution was a good thing,ignoring like a typical academic the deadly cost to "the little people" (methinks he was a bit of an aristocrat with a noblesse oblige attitude,after all).I am more of a John Adams fan,who tho prickly,actually worked his way up,and tried to balance his appetite for intellectual theories with his natural conservativism as a son of a farmer."
ReplyDeleteJefferson definitely had his faults, and his initial response to the French Revolution was one of them, though he did finally realize it. Adams as well, his grasp of the ideas necessary to constitutionalism were equal and maybe even greater than Madison's, but he also had his faults, the sedition acts for instance.
I waffle back and forth on which is my 'favorite', and it depends a lot on what subject is on my mind at the moment.
Jefferson/Madison & Washington/Adams each had qualities, strengths & weaknesses, which we vitally need, they form what should be the substance of Democrat & Republican, and in swaying back in forth between their two visions we have the best chance of keeping to a straight course. But that requires that We The People are paying attention and make the course corrections needed, and any law which attempts to do our thinking for us, will impose stupidity and ineffectiveness on us all.
"I believe it shows an inert distrust of the People to think that NO ONE can replace that Special Talented Person With Wondrous Credentials in office,whomever you decide is "special"."
I distrust anyone's pride in their own ignorant ability to pass a law that says they know better, at this point in time, what will be the better decision for all people to make in all situations in the future - that you know better now about coming situations you can't possibly foresee, than my neighbor could possibly know tomorrow in those actual situations.
The self important vanity of that hubristic belief dwarf's any sense of elitism which Jefferson ever dreamed of having in his most self preening moments.
I do not believe anyone is so special that they can't be done without, but I also don't believe that I can, or should, attempt to impose my decisions on those who have a right, and responsibility, to make their own decision - even if they choose what I think would be clearly wrong.
It is not only stupid in the manner I've already noted above, it. will. expand. government. and. corruption. As it has where it's already been tried. Look for yourself. But it is wrong, and is an example of the exact same progressive notions which has put us where we are now.
Sorry, but it is focusing on the effects and take the easy, lazy, reaction, striking out at the effects, instead of doing the difficult work of dealing with the real issue that gives rise to it.
You can't cut of the head of the hydra, without two more growing back in their place - good God, wasn't Prohibition and the 17th Amendment proof enough of that?!
Sorry, but term limits are nothing but well meaning, lazy actions, attempting to legislate away your own responsibilities.
It will fail. If it ever passes, that's one I don't think we'll be able to recover from.
You can't cut off the head of the Hydra, you have to crush it, and if we want to end big govt, we have to crush it where it grows, repeal the 17th amendment, entitlements, regulator agencies. Crushing such things will be the most difficult work we've ever done, but there is no short cut, no easy way out, no magic bullet of legislation that will do it for us.
ReplyDeleteThe easy way out, the quick slice at the head, will only grow it back twice as large. It's folly, and we have no more room for that.
I'll try to let it go at that. No guarantee, but I'll try.