Wednesday, December 02, 2009
America needs citizen-lawmakers
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Donald A. Koop
Koop, of Roanoke, is a volunteer supporter with Roanoke Area FairTax and a retired engineer.
It's time: congressional term limits. Legislators can run for re-election as often as their constituents will vote them in, and that's the problem.
Elections do not provide the type of turnover that would serve us better. Massive debt, massive bills that we don't want being pushed toward passage by every trick that can be brought to bear, disdain regarding the public, an "I know best" attitude. How's that working for us? If the most powerful officer in the land is limited to eight years, why can't the rest of them be limited as well?
Repetitively elected legislators receive committee assignments almost exclusively as a result of their times in office. Better candidates with shorter service times need not apply. In this way, entrenched committee chairs become powerful, with access to huge sums of money, influence and favors. They use our own money to work against us.
If the generalities above aren't sufficient reason, let's look at a few specifics.
Rep. John Murtha has built a reputation of bringing home the bacon to his Pennsylvania district, including a little-used airport bearing his name. Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad received sweetheart mortgage rates from lenders they regulate. Ex-Rep. William Jefferson found $90,000 in his freezer.
Ex-Rep. Duke Cunningham enhanced his salary by selling influence. Rep. Barney Frank is still trying to control industries under his purview after contributing to the demise of some of them. Sen. Thad Cochran has earmarked millions for his state and for his donors. Rep. Charles Rangel doesn't follow the tax rules his own committee writes.
The spectacle of congressional leaders conspiring to pass massive, complicated, little-understood health and carbon bills against the will of the majority of the people has gone on for months. An estimated $100 million is being used to buy the vote of one senator -- call it "Louisiana Purchase II." Respect for Congress is very low; three out of four of us don't approve of what it's doing.
If respect is so low, why don't we do something about it? Mostly because of the huge advantage incumbents have against upstarts plus the fact that mostly we think that the problem is with all the legislators but our own. Or maybe our legislator is just bringing home too much bacon to want to vote him out.
Clearly, there is a problem that screams for a "clean house" revolt. Yes, some babies would be thrown out with the bath water, but just as clearly what we have is a mess.
How can we possibly do worse with a bunch of public-spirited short-timers? The sense of citizen-legislators is far more appealing to me than career politicians. Sen. Robert Byrd is too feeble to even get to his office in Washington. The health bill shenanigans are, for me, the last straw.
The answer is term limits. Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina thinks so too and has introduced legislation to get it done. His "term limits for all" constitutional amendment would limit representatives to six years (three terms) and senators to twelve years (two terms).
I would prefer six years for each (three terms and one term, respectively). Committee assignments could be given to legislators who have served the largest fractions of their limits.
DeMint's proposal has a long way to go. It must be approved by a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. We have to start somewhere and this is a good first step. In all probability only the people want this done so it is the people who must get behind it. Write to your representative and senators.
