I’m feeling politic today; sensible and judicious under the circumstances.
Political events are not everyone’s idea of a great night out and my checkbook is certainly not the target demographic for any candidate, but since I get to write for an audience, I’m going to say it: I think America’s obsession with term limits is dumb.
Reasons people think we should have them…1. Our representatives no longer represent our interests. 2. We need fresh faces and new ideas. 3. Voters need more options (because many politicians don’t have opponents). 4. Because many Americans want limits. 5. We need to get rid of career politicians who are in it for themselves.
Those are true statements in some cases but they are certainly not true of all electeds. And—oh yeah—we already HAVE a process of limiting terms that has worked pretty well for 230 years. It’s called *elections* people.
When we have a representative that doesn’t do the job, thinks more about personal agendas than constituents, doesn’t have new ideas or get anything done, there is an unbelievably simple solution: DON’T VOTE FOR THAT PERSON ANY MORE.
Meanwhile, leaders like Congressman John Carter prove my point. Rising to positions of great leadership over eight terms; he is in a position to accomplish great things because he has been debating and arguing and listening for 15 years. Because of that he knows a lot of things; works hard, has great ideas and gets things done. People know and trust him; he surrounds himself with smart people because he knows he doesn’t know everything. He has proven over time that he is a man of his word and he remains as committed to the job today as he was in 2003.
Why on earth would we want to replace him and people like him—who still want the job—with people who need help finding their office for the first two years; let alone manage the $200 billion defense construction budget currently on his desk?
We can not run this incredibly complex nation with rookies. And before anyone starts spouting about the Founding Fathers being rookies; they had 12 states and fewer than 4 million people more worried about epidemic typhus than insensitive tweets.
John Carter has reached “Cardinal” status at the Capitol and I am glad he is our guy. Even if you give me more options, I won’t want the surgeon one day out of medical school. I wouldn’t watch the NFL if teams drafted 9th graders with ‘fresh ideas’ about flea flickers.
There is no substitute for experience and rather than complaining about term limits, I’m just going to vote for the good people who make good things happen and not vote for the selfish ones who take advantage of the job. Ironically, our Founding Rookies were smart enough to see this coming.
But if 21st century America in the aggregate says, “We want government to limit itself,” then aren’t we just saying we’re too lazy to do our own research, pick the most qualified person for the job and actually get off the couch and vote for or against what is right? Let’s not be what we behold, people. Get your learn on and go vote.
