The issue is how to keep the Congress in tune with and reflective of the country’s problems and needs. Certainly dedicated Senator’s would realize that younger and more diverse representatives would better reflect the country that the Congress is supposed to represent, would be more aware of the issues of import to the electorate, and have the ‘energy’ needed to proactively pursue solutions to the problems our country is facing.
There are reasons why Congresspeople would want to serve never ending terms and can do so.
The first reason that congresspeople can serve never-ending terms is that their districts are designed to capture a specific demographic of people with a common point of view that is kind of static year by year. Gerrymandering, in particular, is designed to gather people with a common perspective into districts that congresspeople represent. They have no need to deal with the problems of the nation, they only have to address the needs and desires of the majority of common-perspective people that dominate demographics of their districts. As long as they consistently satisfy these particular desires of a distinct sub-group of the population they can stay in office forever. There is no need for these congresspeople to represent the American people generally and have to make hard decisions that may not satisfy the desires of their hard-wired constituents.
A fix for this would be to design districts that contain as many different perspectives from as many different voting demographics as possible, so some constituents would not like decisions made for the common good of the country - and this would require Congresspeople to have to re-earn the vote of the people in their district every election cycle instead of having a comfortable free-pass.
I see congresspeople who take on multiple terms as falling into two distinct groups generally. The first group serves in Congress in order to exploit the authorities and privileges granted to them by the people for their own self-serving benefit. They use their office and access to insider information to manage their business interests or to sell their political influence to soft-money and dark-money benefactors. To get these folks to not attempt to stay in Congress forever, remove the incentive for them to do so - turn off the flow of funds to them from benefactors and personal business interests. Turn off the free-flowing money spigots that keep them interested in staying in office.
The second group consists of talented, knowledgable and skilled politicians dedicated to work for the people, and see staying in office as the best way to continue to do so. They do have a lot of ‘corporate memory’ of the ins and outs of the mechanics of Congress and would provide a valuable resource of advice and counsel to newer congresspeople. I would go so far as formalizing appointments to a ‘congressperson emeritus corp’ whose membership would be limited by head-count, background vetting and voted on by sitting congresspeople. This would give truly gifted and dedicated congresspeople a formalized opportunity to provide needed advice and counsel to newer members and let them gracefully retire from extended service.
So my solution to keeping congress representative of the people with timely turnover of office holders and working for the people is to:
(1) Assure that congressional districts represent an equitable balance of competing political ideologies so congresspeople have to represent a broader constituency and have to make decisions that may not play well to all of their constituents - force them to have to earn the right to be re-elected.
(2) Eliminate the incentive for congresspeople to use the authorities and privileges granted to them by the people for their self-benefit. Turn off the money spigots and those that are there to enrich themselves will no longer have a reason to stay.
(3) Find a way to formalize a role for those dedicated, experienced and gifted legislators to still have a limited role in advising and counseling new office holders when they leave office - still having the potential to have an advisory voice would incentivize their transition to retirement so a younger more ‘tuned-in’ can take their place.
All of this may sound complex, but I think it is an easier approach then having to deal with the Federalist Society dominated Supreme Court.
Climate & Consumption
Health & Hunger
Politics & Policy
Safety & Security
Term limits? If people were informed there wouldn't be a need for term limits. Unfortunately they are not nor do they realize that the elected representative is not working for you, but for themselves and their buddies, to stay in power and kick backs from corporations.
One why is due to greed and a desire to maintain power and build on that power throughout their lives. There should be term limits on all political offices, as well as the Supreme Court. I could see staying in office for eight to ten yrs. max. That would provide enough time to be productive, but to not build an empire. It would also ensure that new talent/ideas would be able to make their mark on the country.
The issue is how to keep the Congress in tune with and reflective of the country’s problems and needs. Certainly dedicated Senator’s would realize that younger and more diverse representatives would better reflect the country that the Congress is supposed to represent, would be more aware of the issues of import to the electorate, and have the ‘energy’ needed to proactively pursue solutions to the problems our country is facing.
There are reasons why Congresspeople would want to serve never ending terms and can do so.
The first reason that congresspeople can serve never-ending terms is that their districts are designed to capture a specific demographic of people with a common point of view that is kind of static year by year. Gerrymandering, in particular, is designed to gather people with a common perspective into districts that congresspeople represent. They have no need to deal with the problems of the nation, they only have to address the needs and desires of the majority of common-perspective people that dominate demographics of their districts. As long as they consistently satisfy these particular desires of a distinct sub-group of the population they can stay in office forever. There is no need for these congresspeople to represent the American people generally and have to make hard decisions that may not satisfy the desires of their hard-wired constituents.
A fix for this would be to design districts that contain as many different perspectives from as many different voting demographics as possible, so some constituents would not like decisions made for the common good of the country - and this would require Congresspeople to have to re-earn the vote of the people in their district every election cycle instead of having a comfortable free-pass.
I see congresspeople who take on multiple terms as falling into two distinct groups generally. The first group serves in Congress in order to exploit the authorities and privileges granted to them by the people for their own self-serving benefit. They use their office and access to insider information to manage their business interests or to sell their political influence to soft-money and dark-money benefactors. To get these folks to not attempt to stay in Congress forever, remove the incentive for them to do so - turn off the flow of funds to them from benefactors and personal business interests. Turn off the free-flowing money spigots that keep them interested in staying in office.
The second group consists of talented, knowledgable and skilled politicians dedicated to work for the people, and see staying in office as the best way to continue to do so. They do have a lot of ‘corporate memory’ of the ins and outs of the mechanics of Congress and would provide a valuable resource of advice and counsel to newer congresspeople. I would go so far as formalizing appointments to a ‘congressperson emeritus corp’ whose membership would be limited by head-count, background vetting and voted on by sitting congresspeople. This would give truly gifted and dedicated congresspeople a formalized opportunity to provide needed advice and counsel to newer members and let them gracefully retire from extended service.
So my solution to keeping congress representative of the people with timely turnover of office holders and working for the people is to:
(1) Assure that congressional districts represent an equitable balance of competing political ideologies so congresspeople have to represent a broader constituency and have to make decisions that may not play well to all of their constituents - force them to have to earn the right to be re-elected.
(2) Eliminate the incentive for congresspeople to use the authorities and privileges granted to them by the people for their self-benefit. Turn off the money spigots and those that are there to enrich themselves will no longer have a reason to stay.
(3) Find a way to formalize a role for those dedicated, experienced and gifted legislators to still have a limited role in advising and counseling new office holders when they leave office - still having the potential to have an advisory voice would incentivize their transition to retirement so a younger more ‘tuned-in’ can take their place.
All of this may sound complex, but I think it is an easier approach then having to deal with the Federalist Society dominated Supreme Court.
The Democrats in the latest polls are losing, in F you look at this web sight which is very Democrat leaning, you begin to see why!
we are not addressing the top concerns of the Americans!
The Economy, Crime and securing the Southern boarder!
People are having real issues with finding a place they can afford to live!
We need more cops 👮♀️ to go after violent criminals, we need Judges that will issue stiff penalties for violent criminals.
We need to point out to the Americans that the GOP has flooded the country with guns and the criminals are using them!
The Vice President was put in charge of the boarder and has failed to show any improvements in security to any one!
What is she doing?
I am a Democrat and have had a tough time defending her!
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/tucker-carlson-open-race-hatred-on-msnbc/
You know, I must agree that racism is a problem in the US currently. Over the past 10 or so years, which escalated rather quickly in the last 6-7 years. It's racism against whites. The last person you want to be right now, in the eyes of the radical left, is a white person. Particularly a white, heterosexual, conservative male. The whites on the left believe that they are exempt from this racism. But it will be turned on them too in time.
Thanks Kristen!😉
The people who serve in Congress have term limits but we do not enforce it. All we need to do is vote a new person in. Everyone gripes about Congress but when it comes time to vote they put the same person right back in office. Since we do not seem to have the strength of will to vote in new people then I would support a constitutional amendment that limits their service to 12 years no matter which house they serve in. During that time they are paid and can contribute to the TSP but when they leave no pension.
Highly suspect the founding fathers never considered people living into their 80s & 90s and holding office for decades as life expectancy during their times was under 40.
"Consider the example of our Founding Fathers. When they were born in the 18th century, life expectancy was below 40. "
https://populationeducation.org/sites/default/files/resource_files/SSYL%20article%20Jan%202013%20-%20Life%20Expectancy.pdf
It's time for term limits. I have no idea why the Supreme Court of the 90's struck them down, but between gerrymandering, voter suppression, and lobbying, we the people have very little way of actually holding our representatives accountable as it is. At least with term limits there's a chance we could get new blood into office every less-than 35 years or so.
I think we all need to start calling for this at every level until Congress actually passes a Constitutional Amendment.