Term Limits and Corruption in Politics

As I have watched the political landscape over my adult life, I have seen more and more of the ineffectiveness of the legislative branch. I am convinced that many of the problems which we all see regularly playing out on the evening news and the twenty-four hours news outlets could be avoided by term limits. I have written earlier on how the US Constitution was purposely developed in the way that is was to make the passing of new law and the changing of existing law difficult so as to not be subject to whim and short term fads and trends. What we see now is not what the founders intended.

The founding fathers embraced the concept of the citizen-legislator. This is when a person becomes successful in some private endeavor and then voluntarily leaves his vocation to temporarily serve in the government to try to better the state for all. The citizen-legislator does not join the government to advance his/her own interests but serves to improve the lot for the people. After a period of service, the citizen-legislator leaves government voluntarily to return to their vocation, content in the knowledge that they have served their country and that others will carry on in their stead. It is a way to pay back the country for the opportunities which allowed the person to become successful in the first place. It is not done for personal enrichment or glory, it is altruistic.

We have devolved to the lowest political scum, the career politician. The only goal of the career politician is to remain attached to the public teat for as long as possible. Those who are career politicians may have the public good at heart as a coincidence, but their primary goal is always to maintain their office and to consolidate their power. Let us examine some of the problems with the career politician.

Anyone who spends their entire life in public jobs has no idea how the overwhelming majority of people in the United States earn their living. I will use some examples throughout this discussion. How a very wealthy Senator who never held a job of consequence in his life (e.g., Edward Kennedy) claims to be champion of the working man amazes me. The idea of the citizen-legislator was to bring people with real-world experience and knowledge to the legislature so that people who understood commerce would craft laws about commerce. People who understood the effects of taxes would write laws controlling taxation. People who held jobs would create law which encouraged job creation. People like Bill Clinton who never had a job not paid for by tax payers are stereotypical of what the founding fathers did not want. The Civil Service, not elected office, is the place for people who want to make a career in government.

There is no reason to consolidate power into a kingdom if you know you will be leaving office and will no longer be King. Lobbyists pay off the more senior and more powerful legislators precisely because they know that those people will never leave office voluntarily. You might have noted that every time you see a Representative or Senator charged with misconduct or ethical violations, it is always some one who has been in Congress a long time (Stevens, Frank, Dodd, Rostenkowski, Hastert, Rangle, Jefferson, etc.) That is because it makes no sense to bribe someone who doesn’t hold power to promote your agenda. The saying that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” could have been the motto of the US Congress. Quoting Alexander Hamilton in Federalist number six, "Men of this class, whether the favourites of a King or of a people, have in too many instances abused the confidence they possessed; and assuming the pretext of some public motive, have not scrupled to sacrifice the national tranquillity to personal advantage, or personal gratification."

The career politicians always argue that the people have a right to vote whoever they want to into power for as long as they want. Of course, the people don’t know about the many back room deals, gerrymandering and bribes which go into continuously getting those same politicians re-elected. That argument might work if there was a level playing field but there clearly is not.

The career politicians also argue what a wonderful job they have been doing for their constituents. While this may be true and many unnecessary tax-funded projects may have been brought back to their political contributors in their home districts, the arrogance of the argument is startling. If you are, for example, a Senator from New York, will you honestly argue that there is no one else in a state of millions of people who could do a good job as Senator? Does Ted Stevens have to remain a Senator (and crook, apparently) for thirty six years? Is there no one else in the State of Alaska who could do the job? He stayed there for that long and you see where it ended up. Joe Biden has been a Senator for twenty eight years and is now actively seeking to have his son taken the seat from him. Is that an elected office or a kingdom? The King is now Vice President; long live the new King, son of the old King.

My suggestion is that when the amendment restricting the terms for the Presidency to two was passed, it didn’t go far enough. That is not unusual because Congress almost always includes a codicil in every law they pass which states that the law does not apply to Congress. I think that five terms (ten years) is enough time for any representative to do some good then go home. Two terms (twelve years) is enough for a Senator. If you can’t get anything done in twelve years, you need to be replaced on principle. A system like that would set up a staggered rotation, eight years for President, ten years for Representatives, and twelve years for Senators. The idea of Robert Byrd tottering around the Senate, barely able to speak and stay awake, is ridiculous. By the way, if you want to see how absolute power does absolutely corrupt, go see Robert Byrd in West Virginia. You take the Robert Byrd Highway across the Robert Byrd Bridge and the Robert Byrd Dam, turn onto Robert Byrd Parkway past Robert Byrd Park, Robert Byrd Elementary, and Robert Byrd High School until you find the Robert Byrd Federal Building. There may be something in West Virginia not named after Robert Byrd but I am not sure what that might be.