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Jason Beigh posted on 1/26/2010 5:04:00 PM
Joe, I may be naive, but I do not believe that ALL politicians seek to destroy the free market. The politicians who seek to do so are the ones who have typically not been able to become successful outside of politics and rely on politics for their success. These politicians seek to destroy the free market because doing so gives them more power, and thus wealth. If we can reduce the power and financial gains from the politicians, we will be left with legislators who are in office to serve the public, rather than themselves and special interests. Those are people I want in office and do not want to impose term limits on. If someone is willing to serve on a part time, voluntary basis, in an office that gives them no personal power or gain, I want them there for as long as they are willing to serve weather I agree with their politics or not, as long as they are upholding their oath of office to uphold the constitution and fighting their fellow politicians who are trying to destroy it.
Additionally, if there were 100% transparency and disclosure in campaign contributions etc., we would know who is doing the peoples' business and who is supporting special interest. Going one step further, I think since politicians are in "public office" their offices should become more public. By this, I mean that they should have cameras in their offices so that their constituents could monitor what is going on behind closed doors. All meetings with fellow politicians, lobbyists etc., should be open to the public. Then, we could use the term limits known as elections to remove the bad apples from office.
Additionally, term limits do not address the lack of accountability "lame duck" politicians would have in their final term in office. We are currently dealing with that issue in PA with a Governor who is pushing his agenda and trying to grow government in his lame duck term. Luckily we have legislators who still answer to the people and who will be held accountable at the polls the next time they are up for reelection. Can you imagine how different this last years budget passage would have been if a large percentage of the legislature would have been in their last term in office? They would have had a lesser incentive to fight for what was right. It would have been too easy to simply say to themselves "I'll let the next guy deal with the fallout".
Joe Sterns posted on 1/24/2010 8:38:00 AM
Jason, politicians and government by their nature seek to destroy the free market, and the more power they have, the easier it becomes for them to destroy freedom. Lovers of the free market (of which there is none greater than I) tend to make a perverse application of that love of freedom and choice to government in terms of wanting politicians to be free to gather the power necessary to stomp our freedom! Government must always and everywhere be thought of as a necessary evil deserving of every safeguard we can place upon it, including term limits upon politicians and yes a part-time legislature. But without term limits, any move to a part-time legislature would likely be ephemeral.
Jason Beigh posted on 1/21/2010 11:26:00 AM
Though my knee-jerk reaction is to agree that term limits are a good solution, I don't think this solution addresses the root of the problem. Term limits create the "Lame Duck Effect" and as the article points out, "restrict the voters' choice and are undemocratic". As one who believes in the free market, I feel free market principles should apply equally within the realm of politics as in business. The real problem is the amount of power and money that our lawmakers have available to them once elected. Remove the motivation for lawmakers to become "Career Politicians" and the problem is solved.
Our legislature, both at the state and national level, should be returned to a "Citizen Legislature" rather than the group of elite lawyers serving today who have made a career of finding new ways to waste our money. I recommend an amendment to both the Pennsylvania and US Constitutions that would return our legislature to part time law making bodies with minimal compensation to cover their time spent serving. Serving in the house or senate should not be a full time job. States like Wyoming, Oregon, New Mexico, New Hampshire and Idaho are able to operate this way. Many states such as Texas, the second-most-populous state, have a part time legislature. Texas' 181 lawmakers meet for a maximum of 140 days in odd-numbered years. They don't meet in even-numbered years unless the governor calls them into special session States like New Hampshire have a large number of part time legislators who are paid a small stipend of a few hundred dollars a year for their public service. With 424 members, the General Court of New Hampshire is the largest state legislature in the United States. This limits the power any one legislator has, and removes any financial incentive for them to be a career politician.
Most of their time in office, our legislators are campaigning and getting tight with lobbyists. I would also suggest prohibiting any gifts from lobbyists even as small as a cup of coffee, along with major campaign finance reform. Political elections have become huge PR, marketing and advertising campaigns sponsored by large corporate interests so that the elected lawmakers will push their companies agenda. Again, as a free market guy, I don't believe in limiting contributions, rather I believe we need to make these donations completely public. Any politician or person running for office who receives more than a specified amount of money from one single donor, company or special interest group, should be required to include this information in their campaign literature and advertisements. This way voters would know who a politician is beholding to.
Term limits that would not only remove the bad apples that are spoiling the whole bunch, but they would take good, honest politicians (though at this point few and far between) with them, and would do nothing to take the incentive of greed and power away from those who seek office. Limiting the power and financial incentives from politics will draw people who want to serve for the right reason... civic duty.
G Paul posted on 1/21/2010 11:12:00 AM
I totally agree with term limits. It is quickly becoming one of the major reasons for our nations move towards socialism and our losing ability to comptete glabally.
Ida M Temple posted on 1/21/2010 10:21:00 AM
Thank you for the update on term limits published on Commonwealth Foundation. I agree completely. Not only for state, but the federal government as well. "We the People," need to stand up and vote to keep this country a democracy.
david posted on 1/21/2010 9:54:00 AM
not just term limits, but also the inability to change parties during and until your term is up. If the voters of a certain party put you there, how dare someone change parties in mid stream.
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