Let’s look at a topic that has significant support among the American people: term limits.
Listening to the January 13, 2021, impeachment proceedings against former President Trump, you repeatedly heard lawmakers say, “We are doing this for the American people!” But, they are not doing this for us. They are doing it for themselves.
It is striking how out-of-touch many representatives and senators seemed to be. They claim to represent us – the people. Over and over, Washington politicians said “the American people demand impeachment” to protect our democracy.
It is clear the representatives favoring impeachment were not doing this for us. They sought impeachment to preserve their power and prevent Trump from running again – for themselves. That is an abuse of power.
There are few practical or effective ways to remove a legislator from office who commits this kind of abuse: re-election, recall, and impeachment.
Re-election is ineffective as incumbents almost always win. Voters outside of the representative’s home district have no say on the matter. The majority of representatives and senators are convincingly re-elected over and over again by their constituents. A recall is extremely difficult. There have been few impeachments because the party in office rarely votes to remove one of their own.
That leaves term limits. However, the Founders chose not to include them in the Constitution. They did not just forget. It is a flaw that needs to be fixed by the People because Washington’s career politicians will never willingly limit their own power.
Polls taken over the last three decades show overwhelming public support for Congressional term limits. Washington Post, iSideWith.com, Politico, and Gallup found that between 75% and 85% of Americans want them.
Gallup asked the question: Suppose on Election Day you could vote on key issues, as well as on the candidates. Would you vote for or against a law that would limit the number of terms which members of Congress and the U.S. Senate can serve? Among adults surveyed, 75% would vote “for” term limits, 21% “against.” The remaining respondents held no opinion.
So, why with all the overwhelming public support for term limits do we still have career elected officials that have been in Washington, D.C. for decades? Good question! Apparently, the only opponents of term limits are Congressional politicians, liberal media, and progressive strategists who oppose them.
Is this how our Founders pictured our Government would be?
From the website, History of the House,
“The Constitution grants the U.S. House of Representatives a unique set of powers in the federal government, embodying the framers’ intent to make it uniquely responsive to the will of the people. James Madison of Virginia, the father of the Constitution and the House’s most important statesman in the early Congresses, believed the House should have 'an immediate dependence on, an intimate sympathy with the people'.”
Madison argued that frequent elections would make representatives more responsive to voters and eliminate the need for term limits.
The House official website claims that “Direct, biennial elections and the size of the membership (currently 435 voting Representatives) have made the House receptive to a continual influx of new ideas and priorities that contribute to its longstanding reputation as the ‘People’s House’.”
Yet, how can we have an influx of new ideas, dependence on, and sympathy with the people when we have Career Politicians?
Term limits appear to be the solid answer. They would serve as a guard rail to break the chain of continual re-election and elevation in seniority under the party rules.
In Part 2 we will take a look at how much the average years or length of service has increased from1789 to 2021. It may seem obvious and a huge mistake in hindsight, but there were many reasons why term limits were not included in the Constitution.
Join us in the fight to save Liberty and the Republic. Read history, and take action.
Description: 3 Part Educational Series on term limits by a new SCW Georgia writer William Wilson. Part 1 is editorial opinion in nature but does have a factual basis. Part 2 is interesting because it shows how much the average length of service has dramatically increased from 1789 to the present. Part 3 is likewise interesting because it examines the factual reasons term limits were left out of the 1787 Constitution.
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