Here's The Petition
I know! I need to expound on my last post, to elucidate just what it is that I'd like to see happen to change "business as usual" in Washington D.C., so here is an outline for my proposed petition for federal congressional term limits to be proposed to Americans nationwide;
"In signing this petition, the undersigned agrees with the following statements;
1) I, the undersigned, do not believe the leadership in either the House or the Senate reflects the views of the majority of Americans.
2) I, the undersigned, believe the Congress should be made up of elected citizen servants, as was the original intent of the founding fathers. When their term is concluded, they should return to their life as a productive citizen, and should not continue to live off the largesse of the populace, while refusing to address the issues that concern the rest of the citizens of America.
3) I, the undersigned, believe in setting the limits for the House, elected representatives should have THREE, only, FOUR year terms. Twelve years is plenty of time to show their real agenda. [The House spends entirely too much time raising money every two years to actually do anything meaningful.] This would not preclude them from being able to run for the Senate after a four year period from the end of their House service.
4) I, the undersigned, believe the Senate should be made up of elected senators who should serve only TWO 6 year terms. Twelve years is plenty of time to show their real agenda. This would not preclude them from being able to run for the House after a four year period from the end of their Senate service. [Hubby thinks 18 years is okay, but I think about Ted [hic] Kennedy is reason enough to say NO WAY!]
5) With the passage of this ballot amendment, lots should be drawn to determine the rotation of one third of each house of Congress will be up for election every four years."
What is your estimate of the number of Americans who would sign this petition? Hubby thinks it would be huge!
This is only a draft, mind you, if y'all have any additions, suggestions, clarifications, go for it!
"In signing this petition, the undersigned agrees with the following statements;
1) I, the undersigned, do not believe the leadership in either the House or the Senate reflects the views of the majority of Americans.
2) I, the undersigned, believe the Congress should be made up of elected citizen servants, as was the original intent of the founding fathers. When their term is concluded, they should return to their life as a productive citizen, and should not continue to live off the largesse of the populace, while refusing to address the issues that concern the rest of the citizens of America.
3) I, the undersigned, believe in setting the limits for the House, elected representatives should have THREE, only, FOUR year terms. Twelve years is plenty of time to show their real agenda. [The House spends entirely too much time raising money every two years to actually do anything meaningful.] This would not preclude them from being able to run for the Senate after a four year period from the end of their House service.
4) I, the undersigned, believe the Senate should be made up of elected senators who should serve only TWO 6 year terms. Twelve years is plenty of time to show their real agenda. This would not preclude them from being able to run for the House after a four year period from the end of their Senate service. [Hubby thinks 18 years is okay, but I think about Ted [hic] Kennedy is reason enough to say NO WAY!]
5) With the passage of this ballot amendment, lots should be drawn to determine the rotation of one third of each house of Congress will be up for election every four years."
What is your estimate of the number of Americans who would sign this petition? Hubby thinks it would be huge!
This is only a draft, mind you, if y'all have any additions, suggestions, clarifications, go for it!
Dagney...
Your proposal to double the length of a current House term doesn't quite figure. The reason that the Reps in the House only serve two year terms is to allow for a more popular form of representation...meaning that voters can vote the scoundrels out if that's what they turn out to be during their terms. Scoundrels should be eliminated at the earliest opportunity...and according to our founding fathers...they believed it to be a two year term. I have to agree.
I would also like to see some language that pretty much states that just like prisoners not being able to make money off selling the stories of their crimes...Reps and Senators should not be able to EVER profit from their service in the Congress. No books, no honorariums, NOTHING!
See you on the high ground!
MajorDad1984
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Major, our reasoning (hubby and I) was that House reps seem to spend a year or so of their 2 year term raising money. Sorry if I did not make that clear in the post, but 4 years would allow for more productive legislative time. Of course, Rush would say "the less they do, the better!" LOL
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P.S. Major, the real scoundrels are in the Senate!
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Dagney I think that all of them are scoundrels, and they need to have 6 mo. terms so they're out raising money and they don't have time to pass laws. That is congress and the senate both, and the SCOTUS should have the same term length.
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By suggesting changing the term from 2 to 4 years, you'd absolutely need a Constitutional Amendment that would have to be passed by the states. Not only is that a lot of work, I don't think we'll ever pass another Constitutional Amendment because there's too much disagreement in the country now. Heck, I bet you couldn't get the states to pass any of the CURRENT amendments if you tried.
I don't think you'll find much support for expanding the terms of the House Reps, either. However, I could support the four year terms if it came with the absolute requirement that they be term limited, too. And I'd want that written in the law, too, that if the term limits portion ever was repealed, that the terms would automatically revert to 2- year terms.
But then I'd like to make the Congressmen swear to uphold and defend the Constitution before they took office, too...
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