This article was written by Jack Fisher. He is a retired financial services professional who wrote a humor column for The Wilson Daily Times. He is now a State Content Writer for Convention of States North Carolina.
One of the aims of an Article V Convention of States would be to propose an amendment for term limits for federal officials, including Congress. Most Convention of States North Carolina supporters favor such an amendment. But should there be term limits?
It has been said that relatives and fish start to smell bad after a few days. The expression tells a truth that simply means while you are happy to see relatives and enjoy their company, along with maybe a good old-fashioned fish fry, after a few days you are ready for them to return home and take the fish with them. The same must be said for politicians.
A conversation with Zell Miller, a lifelong Democrat, former Georgia Governor, and eventually a U.S. Senator, revealed he was disappointed upon his arrival in Washington.
As a Freshman Senator, the main theme of the orientation concerned getting re-elected and supporting his party. He found this to be the prime concern of nearly every Senator he met.
This was not the intention of the Founding Fathers, whose idea was to have citizen legislators, not career politicians. When an individual has held elective office for decades, it is likely that individual has lost touch with the people they represent and their values.
In short, what we see quite often is politicians thinking they are leading by looking in the rearview mirror. The intent was for them to be reflective of the needs of the people of present-day America. Their attempts to become relevant often misfire.
There is good news and bad news when considering the career politician. The bad news is they really do nothing new and constructive for America and the citizens. The good news is, doing little or nothing may limit the harm they could otherwise be doing.
The sitting politicians in Washington actually have a name for the many members of that great body who sit at their desk and do nothing beyond planning their next campaign. They are labeled as "furniture." This may seem funny when presented as a joke, but not so funny when you consider the missed opportunities that effective statesmen and women might have taken advantage of to put the country on a better course.
The argument you hear against term limits is simple: If citizens wish to limit the term of a politician, they simply vote for the other guy. Sounds good in theory, doesn’t it? Not so fast.
In practice, an incumbent running for Congress in 2016 had about a 95% chance of being re-elected. Name recognition is all important to reach voters, so the career politician uses free mailings and appearances on national and local news outlets who welcome a sitting member of Congress to appear on their show or an interview for the newspaper. All of this means the ordinary citizens who may be greatly qualified and aspire to the office simply cannot compete.
If a given politician has not accomplished what was originally promised in one or two terms, they are not likely to do so. A fresh approach is needed. There should be no honor in being in Congress for 40 years. The honor belongs to those who can deliver on their promises and then go back to being an ordinary American citizen.
The U.S. Constitution is here to protect freedoms for all of its citizens, not to guarantee a life of privilege to individual career politicians. It will take a constitutional amendment to accomplish this much-needed step in securing our republic.
The Founding Fathers wisely provided a tool to correct this problem. The North Carolina legislature will be voting on the Convention of States resolution again this year.
Please contact your legislators and ask them to vote for it. Here is an information page with contact information and scripts that you can use if you would like.
