Political Platform

Term Limits

I believe that the structure of our government was carefully crafted by our Founding Fathers, with great insight and wisdom. And, the their structure, which has prospered and enduring to this day has been a major factor in our success. In their wisdom was the creation of the Congress, which consisted of the Senate and the House of representatives. The result would provide a balance between every State being equally represented and the House of Representatives, which would have representation based on the population size of each State. To further enhance the “balance”, those in the Senate would have six year terms of office to provide continuity over a period of time and allow a “corporate memory” to be developed. The Founding Fathers believe that our government should be of the “people”, “by the people” and “for the people”, and thus believed that for the government to remain relevant and current, there should be a continual refreshing of the members of the House of Representatives, and therefore, each should have a term of office of two years. Over a period of time, the ideal balance has become distorted with members of the Senate and House of Representatives becoming entrenched and making their political office a long-term career – subject to the will of the people, of course. Further distorting the “balance” is the profound infusion of money to promote certain candidates who were beholding to support special interests because of the money they had spent greatly influencing the outcome of the election. It is generally agreed that name recognition is extremely, big-time important to achieve wide-spread name recognition. Advertising is expensive so big money can create big TV campaigning ads to achieve the name recognition. Unfortunately, this has bastardized our Founding Father’s intent for “balance” and a continual refresh of citizens going to Washington. NOW, what do I think about term limits? I believe that a balance is a good thing and therefore I favor term limits (I suspect this will make me a politically pariah. BUT, what is the proper balance. At the moment I am thinking of three terms for Senators, which would be a maximum of 18 years in office – certainly this would provide plenty of continuity. For U.S. Representatives, I am also thinking about three terms, which would be a maximum of six years in office. Of course, I am an “outsider” and perhaps my position might change with the first hand experience in office. AND, if you ask me how long would I like to stay in office if elected? My present thinking is only one term. Remember, I am NOT a politician! I am a Citizen Warrior. At the end of one term, I hope I would have found another Citizen Warrior to replace me with new energy and ideas.