TERM LIMITS

[Gene Scarborough]

[Dave Roberts]

Term limits was in Newt's 1994 Contract with America. Haven't heard him resurrect it this time around.

[KeithE]

I'm with you Gene. The argument that national leaders just get better with time has not been proven and there are plenty of examples of bad apples staying in power for too long. By having more people involved, our government is more truly a "representative" government. This applies to the decision makers in government not the lower level government employees who do the executing of policy. Thus it applies to Congresspeople, Supreme Court judges, the President, VP, and the Cabinet "Secretaries" and certain other posts (TBD) that have power like CIA, IRS, maybe the FBI.

But I do not think Term Limits is enough. Our democracy (or republic) is in shambles due to corporate interest and the rich getting their way. They have led an aggressive sales job over the last 40 years that have influenced our national psyche. This has been done via Media consolation[down to five major firms], fear mongering for war[favoring the Military-Indistrtial Complex], economic fear mongering against regulation [winking at industrial pollution affecting our health/sustainability],and most recently Tea Party ideology [promoted by the Koch Brothers and others RW rich people].

We also need Campaign Finance Reform and more Independent Accountability to reverse these trends. These trends have led us to economic calamity at home (for the most part only the top ~1% have prospered), counter-productive wars overseas, and unspeakable torture w/o due process.

If all we have is Term Limits, the corporate forces will just have to do their influencing more often. It does not stop the corruption of our law making or execution.

Comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform is among the most important actions to right our nation. By requiring the media to have televised and internet debates and present statements from candidates as a condition to having a license (as used to be the case), we can limit the influence of money on the national political discourse. Campaign fund raising should at most allow $100 donations from individuals. That money should be used only to research ideas, travel to debates, and prepare speeches. Political ads, roadside signs, televised saturation ads, negative advertisement, and Super PACs should not be allowed. We would debate ideas, not determine who has the most money (or can raise the most corporate money in exchange for votes). And people do not have to be rich and well connected, just have good speaking ability, good records, and good ideas/approaches to governance.

Even with all of that (Term Limits and comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform), we are still subject to corruption, be that money-based or ideological-based. To guard against that we need renewed emphasis on Independent Accountability of government activity. Unchecked people can evade the law and the directions of the legislature towards their pre-determined wishes or towards some under-the-table money to pervert the will of the people. Dropping regulations failed us in the financial crisis (hedge funds are about to get their due as well). Non-enforcement of EPA and IRS rules have hurt our environment and our deficits. Instead of the anti-regulation fever that has been so in vogue (via the media/corporations), those regulations must be streamlined and enforced. We can do that in this information age.

So Gene I agree with you but would add two other major emphases - Campaign Finance Reform and Independent Accountability.

Now onto the 49er's game.

[Tim Bonney]

We already have term limits. Each politician is limited to the term of office that their constituents choose to elect them to. Artificial term limits are a way of removing people from office that the American people want in office. It is anti-democratic. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head and making us re-elect people.

[Ed Pettibone]

[KeithE]

[Gene Scarborough]

Keith---

I think you are making great added factors to getting "a government as good as the people it serves," as Jimmy Carter wisely said. He didn't last long and that further proves how Government does not necessarily want to be good nor transparent.

Ed & Timothy---

You are both naive when big bucks can make manure smell like roses when the ad is put together by Madison Avenue expensive advertising on behalf of the candidate. If OJ could be let off by a jury from the highly paid performance of his lawyer, it should tell you something about the ability of people for find out truth---even in a courtroom!

Let's face it, people are gullible and stupid when it comes to politics. Flinging flame words like "conservative" or "liberal" is all it takes for some idiots to forget about Newt's moral failures and hipocracy along with Romney's corporate raiding activities which have a direct negative result on American jobs. The Koch Brothers are running a negative--reasonable sounding--ad against Obama with an alternative fuel scam run early in his time in office. Obama comes back to say "it's a lie and untrue."

Do your think us average voters will ever get any truth from a political ad????

When we were a small country and people knew one another personally, we had a good thing. When we are this big and corporations and banks are this powerful----it's all about the money---and TERM LIMITS would atomatically give us change and the POSSIBILITY of correction. Somewhere in that change will come movement away from the stalemate in statesmanship and the fancy party going on non-stop inside the beltway of Washington or Raleigh.

If Term Limits are bad, then why does the military move men every 4-6 years to another assignment? It works there very well!

[Ed Pettibone]

Keith would you also in those reforms, consider reinstatement of the equal time restrictions from the past as related to media coverage. I also would like to see all the primaries on one day at 60 days prior to the general election and campaign, limited to 45 days prior to the elections.

Thanks for the Giants plug. Last nights game was well played on both sides. If I had been paying attention to plans for the Supper Bowl I may have tried to get tickets, as we both love INDY and we still have a grandson there.


And
Gene, see my reply to KeithE. I try to avoid political Ads and commercials. But then I am not favorably impressed with most of the so called "news media" either.

And BTW some folk who have been here for a while know that I think OJ was not guilty. In other words I agreed with the jury in the Criminal trial.

[Tim Bonney]

[Gene Scarborough]

Good point, Timothy!!!!

One of the great complaints of the Republican primary is that of breaking up the unity.

Is the Tea Part a third one?

How about Libertarians who could not get enough money behind them to make an impact?

Is the problem simply the amount of money it takes to run a TV advertising campaign which shows vitually no real truth?

For sure, new rules for disclosure of contributors is a total farse!

[KeithE]

[KeithE]