Quote:
Originally Posted by The Phantom Gourmand
It CAN work, it's called term limits. If the lawmakers won't give it to us, then we can just do it ourselves and NOT vote for any legislator for more than 2 terms regardless of party. Term limits were instituted for the President in the mid 40's, I believe. They shouldn't have stopped there and should institute them for all of Congress. There should be no room for "lifers" who hold and give out IOU's for their votes on bills for which they nor their constituants have any interest.
I think term limits would eliminate a great deal of this type of politicking so that laws could be voted on based on their merit rather than the way they are now...earmarks and favors and IOU's
As an Independent, I have taken a personal pledge to not vote for any local, state or federal office, the seeker of which is running for a 3rd term....regardless of party.
Oh, and while we're at it, let's give the President back the LINE ITEM VETO so he/she can just strike out those earmarks and amendments to bills that cost us billions every year.
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Phantom, I agree that that would help, but in reality, who gets to vote for making the change to term limits. The government will never allow itself to lose that much control on the process. I truely would love for a revolution to happen, but unless the vote can be passed directly to the citizens on a ballot, it will likely never come to be. It is right up there with a year without a pay increase and the Easter Bunny showing up for dinner.
The human phyche is one that is based on comfort and recognition. Most people vote for a candidate for the sole reason that they recognize a name or he belongs to the same group as they. They have no idea what that person has done or is going to do. That is the fatal flaw in the general population that the government and politicians feeds upon. Look at all the people that are following Palin around like she is going to lead us to the promise land. I am far more conservative than liberal, but remain independant, so that I can choose based upon my own opinions rather than party affiliation, most folks do not operate this way. I have the opportunity to enter many peoples homes and talk with them on a more even field based on my line of work. You would not believe the number of folks (on either side) that have signs on their lawns, have not even heard what the other side has to say and they don't want too!
Phantom, I applaud you on your voting practice, you are truely helping to make things better, but an independant voter is very much in the minority when it comes to actually voting like one. I hope I am wrong, but history tells me that will not be the case.