The title of this post is, of course, not literal. It is an American idiom that means there are multiple ways to achieve a stated goal. For example, democrats wanted to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. They tried to pass a law requiring a minimum wage of $15 an hour nationwide on multiple occasions, to no avail. So believing they should never let a crisis go to waste, COVID gave them the opportunity to change their tactics. The national shutdown put a double digit percent of people out of work. For months the government paid outsized weekly stimulus checks to the unemployed. After a few months the economy, and businesses, started to reopen. At that point a government that cared about the future of its citizens would have provided funds to employers to help them encourage the unemployed to get back to work. Instead it continued to pay employees to stay home. Employers are not able to find enough people to staff their businesses properly. Thus they are forced to pay bonuses, and increase wages, in an effort to entice employees back to work. Voila! The minimum wage was increased without the political elite taking the risk of legislation.
The majority of American citizens believe that our government is not working for us anymore. Earlier this month Statista, a data analysis company, asked a group of Americans one simple question. Do you approve or disapprove with how Congress is handling its job? One out of four approved, two out of three disapproved. Nearly 2 out of 3 of us do not want to defund the police, and 60% want immigrants stopped before they can enter the U.S. Most of us want the rioting, looting, arson, and burglary, in our big cities to stop. We want criminals, including criminals in high ranking positions of our government, prosecuted and punished. We were appalled when we learned that over 90% of our antibiotics are produced by, or sourced through, China. If COVID scares you this should paralyze you with fear. What happens if China decides to stop sending us antibiotics? We have spent trillions of dollars to end homelessness, drug abuse, and poverty. Yet there is more homelessness, drugs, and poverty, today than ever before. We spend more money than any country in the world in an effort to educate our children. Yet our high school graduates rank lower every year when measured against their peers worldwide. All of the above, except for the rioting, looting, etc., have been problems facing America for years, if not decades. Congress has completely, and repeatedly, failed in its responsibilities. We send an ever increasing amount of our incomes in the form of tax dollars to D.C. and Congress finds ever more inventive ways to piss them away. Then they print and borrow additional dollars that they piss away as well.
It seems to me there is a problem. It is a problem Congress refuses to address. There may have never been a more urgent need for congressional term limits in the U.S. In a February 2018 McLaughlin & Associates survey 82% of those polled support a constitutional amendment that would limit the number of terms members of Congress can serve. The idea of term limits is not a new phenomenon. Going back at least as far as the early 1990s American voters have been demanding term limits. In a 1990 New York Times/CBS poll, support for term limits crossed all demographic groups. The poll showed the majority of democrats, republicans, independents, blacks, whites, men, and women, expressed a desire for term limits. At least 60% of those polled in each group were in favor. There are members of Congress who were there to vote on the Clinton impeachment in 1998 and still there to vote on the Trump impeachment in 2021. If we lived in a democracy, as too many people who know better claim, 82% of citizens wanting term limits would be sufficient to make it the law. This proves we don’t live in a democracy. Every one of us understands that our elected representatives won’t even consider a term limits bill that would effectively remove lots of them from office. So let’s discuss another way, completely under our control, to skin the term limits cat.
We have too little control over members of Congress. So we are wasting our time pushing Congress to pass term limit legislation. So let’s all get together and do it ourselves. It is really a simple proposition. Let’s have a preset limit beyond which we will no longer elect a member of Congress. I have vacillated between 12 and 20 years as the proper limit. In my first book I chose 12 as the correct number of years to limit politicians terms. I have since talked to a number of people whose opinion I respect on this topic. The majority of them believe that 20 years is more appropriate. Our Founding Fathers were consistent in their belief that Congress should be filled by citizen legislators. They believed that representatives should serve for a short time and then return to their previous careers. In fact they warned of the dangers of electing people who would stay too long in Congress. That said, I am convinced 12 is the correct number. Capable representatives will find that timetable ample to make a positive difference for their constituents and their country. Unfortunately, 12 years is too long to live with incapable representatives. So I am calling on all voting Americans to take a look at how long your members of Congress have been in office. If any have been in office more than 12 years begin the process of finding a quality candidate to run against them in a primary. Then do everything you can to help them win that primary. I will begin a speaking campaign to promote this project everywhere. It is the first step in helping citizens regain control of our country. We can do this.