America has moved away from being a democratic republic and into an oligarchy. 535 congressmen, and one president decide the fate of 320 million Americans. This must be reversed; they are elected to serve us, not we, them. There is only one way to do this, and that’s to establish term limits for all elected officials. The members of the House and the Senate must have the same limitations as the president; two four year terms in both, with a maximum of 10 years. This will restore our government and eliminate the greatest evil in our country; professional politicians.

Every two years all 435 members of the House face reelection. This means that the day they are elected they begin campaigning for their next effort to remain in congress. This is idiocy, and prevents them from working for those who elected them. A six year term for senators is too long. They know that what they do for the first four years will be forgotten as they spend all of their time campaigning during their last two. They know that very few Americans pay attention to what they failed to accomplish.

Being a professional politician is worse than being a used car salesman. Power and money corrupt, and the more power and the more money a politician amasses the less likely he or she is to care for those who elect them. A perfect example is Mitch McConnell. He has been in Washington for more than 30 years, and fails to have a single accomplishment on his record for the American people.

Congress is primarily composed of old, white men. They fail to understand the needs and wishes of the majority of the American people, and they don’t care. The reasoning which forced congress to place term limits on the presidency is applicable to congress. Two terms is more than enough for any representative or senator. If they cannot accomplish what is necessary in that period of time, the American people will elect someone who will work for them for more than 100 days a year.

Write or call your congressmen and demand that they vote for term limits. Until that happens, we can send them a message by voting against any candidate who has an “I” next to his or her name. Our government is dysfunctional, and Incumbents are to blame. Real change will only begin when we change the rules.

Please re-post; thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Image courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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