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, telling was drastically changed. TheDemocratic majority was uprooted and new, lively, freshmen were instated with ajob to undertake. As section of the Re barlican=s AContract with America, thesenew Republicans had to revise the current copulationional end point limit status. Inundertaking this task, these men and women ran into a seemingly c aren road-block.This roadblock consisted of long- full term, carreerists who were unwilling to change.The problem was non that there were no Congressmen who were affiliated to realchange elected in 1994 because there were, but Congress was highly dominated bylong-term careerists in both parties who seemed to watch much loyalty to thesystem than to their constituents. As Thomas Jefferson put it, "Whenever a manhas cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct." (Oxforddictionary of quotations, p.272) Over time, career legislators a re more likelyto promote the interest of the establishment of which they are part than that ofthe big 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 battalion are saying. This is whynew blood needs to enter Congress more frequently, in order to avoid the highlyinfluenced Congress that is make full with old people with old ideals. Needless tosay the once rose-colored 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 middle of last year nearlyhalf of the states had restricted, some all of them by popular vote, thenumber of terms that their members of Congress could serve. moreover then the SupremeCourt inte rvened. In U.S. Term Limits, Inc., et al. v. Thornton et al., a specializefive-to-four majority voided these restrictions, stating that "allowingindividual States to craft their own qualifications for Congress would thus choke the structure envisioned by the Framers, a structure that was designed, inthe linguistic process of the Preamble to our Constitution, to form a Amore perfect Union.(US constabulary Week, 1995)Congress, na... ..., Edward H.(2), "Six and cardinal The Case for Serious 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 appoint brief Paper no. 21, November 3, 19 94, p. 21.(Http//www.cato.org)Payne, James, AThe Culture of Spending Why Congress Lives beyond Our MeansUniversity      Press, 1991 p. 175-80.Smith, Bradley A. "Campaign Finance Regulation Faulty Assumptions andUndemocratic      Consequences," Cato Institute Policy Analysis 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 Street Journal "Conflict in Congress," Wall Street Journal, April 22, 1996,p. A22.