Recycle Congress

The time has come to get rid of our elected officials! The Founders believed in government service, not government careers. The elected officials have abused their powers and made it so lucrative that they never want to leave. They forgot where they came from and IF they return, it's not continue to the life they left behind in the community, it's to retire on the backs of the tax payers they are supposed to be representing. Our elected representatives are supposed to go to Washington to represent the people of their districts. I missed the spot in the Constitution where once they get elected we never see them again, well until reelection. Why was there limits put on the President but not Congress. In Nevada, our state officials all have term limits. In the Founders wisdom, they missed one thing, term limits. The precedent set by President Washington by stepping down after two term could be summed up by his Farewell Address, where he said "...cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion." he continues "repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty." He continues warning of the dangers, "...habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position." That to me sounds like the perfect reason that term limits should have been included. Take a look at the most senior member of the majority party in the Senate right now. Senator Byrd has been in the Senate so long that he actually was a Senator when the Civil Rights legislation wa on the Senate floor. It just so happens that Senator Byrd also attempted to filibuster that legislation.

Until the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution, Senator were chosen by the individual states legislatures. This is a much better system, politics are better the closer to home you get. Most states have term limits on their state legislators and that would keep the Senate with fresh members. The 17th Amendment should be repealed, let the states pick their Senators. The Founders did not intend for the people to vote directly for the Senators. The House of Representatives is designed to represent the people, that is why it is the most numerous branch of Congress. The House of Representatives has 435 districts spread out across the country, designed to "represent" the voters of those districts. The Senate on the other hand is designed to represent the state as a whole. The popularly elected state legislators would then decide who would best represent the state's best interest in Washington, not necessarily the people. The Senate is comprised of two members from each state, to ensure every state has an equal vote. The House is broken down by population, states will gain and lose House members based on the outcome of this year's census, representing the people.

The election of the President and Vice President has itself become flawed and has gotten away from the original intent of the Founders. I'm not sure exactly sure why the Founders didn't trust the people or elected officials to choose the President. Probably the same reason they made two houses of Congress, one representing the population and the other representing the states. I'm not against the electoral college, just the winner take all method.

We need to get back to the Constitution, to follow it and to stop the government bureaucracy from growing and looking after it's own interests instead of the people that put them there. It has gotten so bad, we don't even realize how much of our liberty we have lost. The Founders would be very disappointed that we let things get so out of whack. Research your candidates, find out what they are about and what they have done. I can't blame (well I can) people for voting for Obama, our country was in bad shape and he campaigned on "hope & change" but never told us what that meant, maybe that's why everybody ate it up. We never looked into what Obama stood for, we could have learned that he was a radical at heart, following the Saul Alinsky model (he even taught it) and wanting to change our country. Everybody thought he meant transparency, working on both sides of the aisle not transforming the United States into a European Socialist country.

I'm in favor of competency tests to allow people to vote. People need to become educated about their candidates and their stances. People need to know how the government works, what the Founders believed in when they created this great nation. I feel that the biggest reason people voted for Obama is ignorance, they are ignorant of political issues and political stances and voted on the basis of "hope & change". They thought they were voting against the Bush policies and practices, not a fast forward version. We can make changes, it's not too late; all members of the House of Representative are up for reelection this year and 1/3 of the Senators. Do your homework, don't be an ignorant voter!