First of two parts
Has anyone ever heard of term limits?
If you were working in a restaurant and the foods you were preparing no longer tasted good, you could experience a limited term of employment!
That’s the idea and many voters in the U.S. think it’s about time we give our Congress term limits!
Tommy Sowers, Missouri 8th Congressional District, posted April 2010 an article entitled: “The Cancer of Incumbency.”
The former special forces soldier left a leadership position at the VA (Veterans Administration) where he served as assistant secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. He holds a doctorate in economics from the London School of Economics. He was the Democratic nominee for Congress in 2010 for Missouri’s 8th District. He deployed twice to Iraq.
“I spent the last 28 days conducting ‘Boots on the Ground,’ living, working, and listening one day and night in each of Missouri’s 8th Congressional District’s 28 counties. Across one of the poorest districts in America, voters here in Missouri reflect the record national anti-incumbent mood, a deep anger at all things Washington.
“One of the thousands of voters I spoke to, an old man named Charles, leaned in close, looked me in the eyes, and said, “I don’t have too much longer to live. But what I want to see before I die is legislative reform. If you are the challenger, you have my vote. ‘Cause this year, if you are an incumbent, you are out.’
“Despite this broad and deep sentiment, as a challenger facing an entrenched D.C. incumbent, I face long odds. A cancer of incumbency infects our Nation. This disease has all but killed the citizen legislators our Founders envisioned. At the root of this disease sits our current Congress, the longest serving in history.
“Instead of producing experienced, effective legislators, the cancer grows a partisanship of paralysis, so distasteful that moderates like senator Evan Bayh flee. With a game of grudges to settle when in the majority, and uniform opposition when in the minority, we, the American people, lose.
“It is past time we isolate and cure this disease. This is why I support a primary treatment, term limits for Congress. Incumbents will say the ballot box serves as a term limit, plausible only if evidence could support this claim. Yet, despite decades of abysmal approval numbers under 20%, we see Congress reelected 95% of the time.
“Only a constitutional amendment would cure the cancer of incumbency. While amending the Constitution is difficult, it can be done. Sixty-three years ago, Americans recognized an imperfect Constitution and passed an amendment to limit the terms of the president. Eighteen years ago in Missouri, 75% of voters supported a constitutional amendment limiting legislators to eight years in the House.
“My belief in term limits reflects a belief in the inherent quality of America. In a Nation of 300,000,000, no group of 535 individuals could be or should be found irreplaceable. The notion that it takes years to figure out how to legislate is preposterous. When I deployed to war, I didn’t have years or months to figure out how to keep my soldiers alive. So I trained, prepared, and learned prior to deployment so I could hit the ground running. Rotating in new people brings new tactics, new ideas, and new approaches to war, just as it would in D.C..
“Short of a cure, another approach would be to attack the money that spreads this cancer. Over the past 10 years, my opponent, a former insurance lobbyist, raised and spent 25 dollars for every dollar her opponents could muster. Over half of her funds came from special interests. Now I am a good shot with a rifle. But if any reader had 25 shots for every single shot of mine, I’d bet on the reader. Two to one isn’t a fair fight, 25 to one is not even a fight.”
Continued at thevoice.us/political-incumbency-tilts-field-to-special-interests