Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Imagine !

As this is the start of a new decade, I want everybody to close their eyes and concentrate. Imagine what the House of Representatives would look like without the 55 members who have been in the House for over 20 years.

 Forty-two of these would be Democrats, including Steny Hoyer, John Lewis, Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters, Jerrold Nadler, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Barbara Lee. Of the 13 Republicans, the only name that I recognize is Jim Sensenbrenner..The first thing that jumps out at me is this difference in the name recognition of the Democrats and the name recognition of the Republicans on the above list. Even though there are many many more Democrats on this list, it also appears that the Democrats have distinct advantage in the “big mouth” derby, as their name recognition is because they appear in front of the cameras so often. (FYI, Adam Schiff has been in the House since only 2001.)

Things are not similar in the Senate which has 15% (15/100) of its members who have been in the Senate since before 2000. Think of McConnell, Feinstein, Durban, Collins, and Schumer, as examples.
The question that is being discussed by some is whether or not having over 50 members of the House, entrenched in the House, and 15% of the Senate, entrenched in the Senate is good for the country? Certainly our Founding Father’s did not envision that our government representatives be career politicians. They imagined “ordinary people” in Congress, but this is far from what we have now. As Nick Tombuilides recently said at a Senate hearing, “the main problem with the system as it is now has to do with the power of incumbency, as 98% of incumbents get re-elected!! Once in office they have a huge advantage in future elections.
82% of Americans want term limits. This includes 89% of Republicans, 76% of Democrats, and 83% of Independents. And, to boot, both President Obama and President Trump think that term limits would be a good thing! If 82% of Americans agree with both Barack Obama and Donald Trump on this issue, we should just do it. . . make term limits the law of the land. Why not?
The answer, unfortunately is intuitively obvious . . . it is those in Congress who would have to change the law. Can you imagine them voting to cut themselves off from the gravy train? No, I too am having a hard time imagining this. The argument from the “no term limit” side is that experience is absolutely necessary for the government to work. To me at this time, “ a well working government” is an oxymoron!
If the Congress ever decides to implement term limits, then perhaps we should go even further and make having a law degree an automatic exclusion from elected office. (Think, Barack & Michelle, lawyers; Bill & Hillary, lawyers; Chuck Schumer & Harry Reid, lawyers. Think Bush 1 & Bush 2, not lawyers; Ronald Reagan & Donald Trump, not lawyers.)  Imagine just how well our government in Washington would work without lawyers!

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