If you own a PC, you understand what the title of this post means. The "three-fingered salute" as my friend Joe calls it is what you do when your computer isn't working correctly.
What if we did the same thing for our federal government?
What if we passed a Constitutional Amendment saying that every so often (say, every 20 years), all incumbent federal office holders are forced to leave office. From the President down to every Congressperson and Senator, we just hit "Ctrl-Alt-Del" and replace them all?
I've never been a big fan of term limits because I believe that they already exist...they're called elections. Unfortunately the American people have not proven to be very attentive to making good choices for their elected officials. It's just too easy to vote for the incumbent. So I've come around on my thinking and believe that, at least on the federal level, it's a damn good idea. We've been limiting presidents to two terms for 40 years. What if we did that for senators and congresspersons?
But I'm not sure that's enough. I think we need to start the process of enacting term limits with a clean slate. The atmosphere in Washington is so poison that it takes much more than an injection of new blood to change it (as has been proven by the past two elections...2008 with Obama and the Democrats, 2010 with the Tea Party and the Republicans). Instead, we need a complete transfusion.
So, here's my proposal. Let's pick a date in the not-too-distant future. Perhaps 2020 since that's a presidential election year and would give a Republican a chance to serve two full presidential terms if elected this year (the world should NOT be denied a full 8 years of Newt, Rick, or Mitt). All persons serving in federal office in 2020 would be forced to leave office at the end of the year. EVERY federal office would be open to a newcomer (100 Senate seats, 435 House seats, President and Vice President). Let's also say that the people who leave office that year cannot work for any company that lobbies in Washington. Throw the bums a bone and tell them they could run for federal office again after at least a four year absence. But let's not only make them leave office...let's make them leave Washington altogether.
I know what you're saying..."We'll lose some good people". Indeed, we would. Some excellent public servants would be forced to retire before they would have liked. But guess what...they can continue to serve our nation in other ways! Let them come home and run for school board, city council, county supervisors, or even state offices. If they are good, bright, well-intentioned people, we could use them closer to home.
Who's with me???
To coin an oft used phrase of Dan Aykroyd in his Point-Counterpoint broadcasts during Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live; Curtis, you ignorant slut!
ReplyDeleteDo you honestly believe elections are term limits? Sure, elections give use the opportunity to throw the bums out who are not doing a good job, but that task is virtually impossible now because too many un-informed bums vote to retain them in office. No sir, we should not rely on elections to clean house in Washington, we should use term limits. As you pointed out, we've had a 8 year term limitation for the President, but absolutely nothing for the legislative branch. If term limits are good for one branch, which I believe they have been, then they would be good for another.
I also believe 20 years is too long, and would personally recommend 12. The notion of a clean slate, while appealing in some aspects, isn't really a practical one. The continuity of informed elected officials needs to be in place, and I fell that is you clean the slate and start over fresh, the the first year or two learning curve of the new job for the elected official would be unbearable and detrimental to the citizens of the United States.
Many of your other ideas are spot on and I agree with, but a total overall ever 20 years would cause serious issues.
By the way, you're not really ignorant, I just wanted some way to get the SNL quote in there.
You are a slut though.