John Conyers won 26 elections to retain his seat in the House of Representatives for nearly 53 years. He may be a member today if he hadn’t retired following the revelation his office paid a former staffer over sexual harassment claims. His career was pocked with scandals and alleged corruption, yet he was able to retain his seat because in America, incumbents tend to have a major advantage over their competitors.
A strong majority of Americans believe members of Congress should be held to a limited number of terms. Lifetime politicians have plagued Capitol Hill in recent decades as few seem willing to give up their membership in the DC country club. As we push to make DC listen to our demands, the petition we posted has now broken the 100,000 signature mark.
It needs a lot more than that if we’re going to really get their attention.
Some polls show term limits are desired by more than 70% of the American population. But the only two ways for this to happen is through a Constitutional amendment through an Article V Convention of States (which has never happened in our nation’s history) or if Congress themselves are willing to pass a law limiting their own terms. Despite attempts by lawmakers like Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Congressman Chip Roy (R-TX), most elected officials on Capitol Hill choose to ignore any legislation that would limit their own personal agendas.
One of the biggest arguments I’ve heard against term limits is that we are forced to lose the “good ones” that make it to The Hill. While there’s some truth to this, the “good ones” are few and far between and do not make up for the lost productivity, broken promises, and ineffective governance by most of our federal government representatives. Particularly in the House of Representatives, many members seem to spend half of their time campaigning for their reelection rather than finding solutions to the problems in this country, many of which they helped create in the first place.
Instead of lifetime politicians, we need representatives with purpose. We need them to get in there and act, knowing they have but a short time. They work for us, and most of us want term limits.
We are currently forming the American Conservative Movement. If you are interested in learning more, we will be sending out information in a few weeks.
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