Congress And The Change In Term Limits Essay -- Politics Political

Congress and The Change in Term LimitsIn 1994, for the first time in 40 years, Congress was drastically deepend. Thepopular majority was uprooted and new, lively, freshmen were instated with ajob to undertake. As part of the Republican=s AContract with America, thesenew Republicans had to revise the current Congressional term limit status. Inundertaking this task, these men and women ran into a seemingly stone road-block.This roadblock consisted of long-term, carreerists who were averse to change.The problem was no(prenominal) that there were no Congressmen who were committed to realchange elected in 1994 because there were, but Congress was highly prevail bylong-term careerists in both parties who seemed to have more inscription to thesystem than to their constituents. As Thomas Jefferson put it, "Whenever a manhas freewheel a longing eye on dressers, a rottenness begins in his conduct." (Oxforddictionary of quotations, p.272) Over time, career legislators are more l ikelyto countenance the interest of the establishment of which they are part than that ofthe larger public. This fact is not surprising. If most of a persons time isspent meeting with lobbyists, constituents, and bureaucrats, that person mayactually come to believe what these influential passel are saying. This is whynew blood take ins to enter Congress more frequently, in order to avoid the highlyinfluenced Congress that is filled with old people with old ideals. Needless tosay the once optimistic freshmen were unsuccessful in their task, and it=s plainto see why. Until that changes, Congress is not going to change. Congressmenneed to get back to basics and realize that they are in office to serve theirpeople, and not themselves.What would change Congress is term limits. By the center(a) of last year nearlyhalf of the states had restricted, almost all of them by popular vote, thenumber of terms that their members of Congress could serve. But then the controllingCourt interven ed. In U.S. Term Limits, Inc., et al. v. Thornton et al., a narrowfive-to-four majority voided these restrictions, stating that "allowing exclusive States to craft their own qualifications for Congress would thuserode the structure visualized by the Framers, a structure that was designed, inthe words of the Preamble to our Constitution, to take a shit a Amore perfect Union.(US Law Week, 1995)Congress, na... ..., Edward H.(2), "Six and Twelve The Case for unsafe Term Limits,"National Civic Review, 1991. P. 251.Jefferson, Thomas. "Letter to Tench Coxe" 1799, The Oxford Dictionary ofQuotations, 3d ed. New York Oxford University Press, 1979, p. 272.McLaughlin, Fabrizio, Memorandum to "all interested parties," February 6, 1996,p. 1.      (www.poilticalscience/pub/quotes.com)Moore, Stephen and Steelman, Aaron. "An Antidote to federal Red Ink TermLimits," Cato Institute Briefing Paper no. 21, November 3, 1994, p. 21.(Http//www.ca to.org)Payne, James, AThe Culture of Spending Why Congress Lives beyond Our MeansUniversity      Press, 1991 p. 175-80.Smith, Bradley A. " cause Finance Regulation Faulty Assumptions andUndemocratic      Consequences," Cato Institute Policy analytic thinking no. 238, September13, 1995, p. A15      (www.cato.org)U.S. Term Limits, Inc., et al. v. Thornton et al., 63 U.S. Law Week 4413, 4432. may 22, 1995.Wall avenue Journal "Conflict in Congress," Wall Street Journal, April 22, 1996,p. A22.