Constitutional Amendment to
Enact a Congressional Term Limit
The Congress of the United States has changed itself from a Citizen legislator to a self serving, self perpetuating, professional, political force that no longer best serves the people of the United States. Congress has abused their authority and when Congressional tyranny erodes the people's consent to be governed, the people have the constitutional right to engage in a second revolution to demand Congress work in accordance with their will.
Our forefathers who signed the Declaration of Independence did so stating, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
Ask yourself this question: "Can YOU name ONE member of Congress today that could have been part of the writing of the Constitution of the United States, much less pledging their lives and fortunes to such a cause?"
Both political parties are a part of the problem, and accordingly, the only long-term solution is to limit the number of terms that any congressman/woman can serve in office.
What would such a term limit Amendment accomplish if Congress could no longer be a permanent vocation? It would:
1. Be more responsive to the people;
2. Reduce the number of unqualified individuals that have simply worked their way up and, in the process, "acquired" enough favors within their respective party and special interests groups to be self perpetuating;
3. Attract a more qualified group of individuals who are interested in a limited time in office and real solutions to problems that are not based on ideological dogma;
4. Be more accessible to individuals with practical experience in various fields that know the problems associated with their respective industries and want to make them better;
5. Put the emphasis on understanding and then solving problems as opposed to trying to score political advantage;
6. Look for real long-term solutions as opposed to short-term political advantages;
7. Reduce the influence of special interests and lobbyists;
8. Reduce the pork barrel spending;
9. Reduce the influence of the political parties; and
10. Reduce the existing practice of simply "pushing" costs down to the states based on unfunded federal legislation.
Under the existing political process, the two major parties share and switch power functioning under the same general method of operation that requires loyalty to the party over loyalty to the people.
This general mode of operation, used by both political parties is as follows:
1. Elect a party loyalist by any means possible;
2. once elected, the only way that the official can progress is to work their way up through their respective party; (positions of authority, best committees, etc). For example, Committee Chairmanships are gained by tenure in office and generally yield more power than any ordinary member; and
3. the only way to gain real positions of authority is to become the party in power.
4. This requires loyalty to the party above loyalty to the people they represent.
5. The respective party positions are often dictated by a handful of people that occupy positions of authority within their respective parties.
6. These positions of power are "earned' by longevity in office and the favors they have traded and "earned" between members of congress and special interest groups.
7. In essence, only a handful of citizens are truly represented by their elected representative and those are the people who are in positions of authority within their respective parties.
8. In turn, the political party rewards the member by allowing them to "earmark" special interest legislation (bring home the bacon = PORK) within their district/state to helps them keep them getting reelected.
9. The respective party uses the strength of their organization to reelect the official irrespective of the person's qualifications, or any abuse of power or corruption they may have committed. In fact, in the 2004 election, incumbents seeking reelection to the House experienced a better than 99% success rate and in the U.S. Senate 96% were reelected. To learn more about why sitting members of Congress are almost always reelected, click here. Bottom line, a loyal elected party official, no matter how they may have abused their position to obtain favors or have committed outright misdeeds, the party will help in his/her reelection.
This "politics as usual" process has created a system of extreme partisanship that:
1. Precludes any honest debate or practical solutions to the problems that face the nation.
2. Inhibits new solutions to existing problems as too often the solutions put forth by the respective parties are based on their ideological positions, or represent special interests to which the party is beholden.
3. Party politics favors vote buying - legislators pushing contentious legislation will buy another legislator's vote by writing in special interest "legislation" for that particular member's voting district or constituency.
4. In turn, the position that does emerge from the party in power is denounced by the opposition party irrespective of its merits; in many cases simply to position themselves as opposed to the legislation in the hope that it will fail and that they can gain political advantage in the next election.
5. The resulting legislation is most often passed by the party in power with no real support from the minority party.
This political process has created an Imperial Congress that is not responsive to the people, and is unduly influenced by special interests; unless of course Congress is looking after its own self interests of the perks and benefits. While there are the rogue Congressman/woman who stand against their colleague in such matters , they are far too few.
Because the job of a Congressman/woman is to self perpetuate him/herself and advance within the party structure, they are dependent on special interests, and lobbyists for their knowledge of problems and potential solutions:
1. The majority of Congress are Professional Politicians; the highest mentioned previous occupation being State Legislators or Congressional Staffers
2. By definition, the advice they receive from lobbyists and special interests are slanted toward the point of view of the party giving the advice. The result is too often special interest legislation at the expense of YOU, the common citizen.
Congress passes laws designed to create blocks of voters for their respective parties without regard to the rights of the citizens of the United States;
1. The welfare system for many years created a block of individuals that were trapped in poverty in order to perpetuate party preference over another, and
2. Current illegal immigration bills have the same intent - Vote for the Party That Passed Amnesty.
Congressional House and Senate salaries as of 2009 are approximately $174,000, and unlike most working Americans, Congress has protected themselves with an automatic annual cost of living adjustment (in deference to political expediency and the economic climate, this was foregone for 2009).
Furthermore, according to the National Taxpayer's Union
Congressional pension benefits are 2-3 times more generous than what a similarly-salaried executive could expect to receive upon retiring from the private sector.
Since 1984, members of Congress are required to participate in the Social Security system. In addition, they are covered under Federal Employees' Retirement System for which they contribute 1.3% of salary while Congress pays 16% of payroll as the employer contribution and vests after five years. This program is less generous than the previous Civil Service Retirement Act and and because of that, they may contribute up to $15,500 into a Thrift Saving Plan with employee contributions up to 5% of pay are matched by the Taxpayer.
To learn more about Congressional Pay & Perks, Click here
The SECOND place this above document (Case Against Congress) will go is under the AMEMNDMENT tab and under Amendment Two. Again, it is just a duplication of what is done under the ENTER page and what has been done for the Repeal the 16th Amendment page.