Senator Dennis Byrd passes away after having served almost 52 years. Strom Thurmond passes away after serving as a senator for the state of South Carolina for almost 48 years. Daniel Inouye, Senator from Hawaii, retires after serving 50 years. In the House of Representatives, Florida Congressman Bill Young passes away after serving 44 years in congress. Ted Stevens, Senator from Alaska, serves for 40 years before losing his seat amidst scandals. Charles Rangel, Congressman from New York, is able to withstand inquiries into ethics violations that cost him his seat as the head of the powerful Ways and Means Commission and nearly derailed a “career” that goes back to 1970. John Conyers from Michigan has been in congress for 44 years. Congressman John Dingell inherited his congressional seat from his father (as if a congressional seat could be something to be placed in a will). Senator Ted Kennedy dies after serving 46 years, and after his death, there were talks of placing his daughter in the vacant seat (again, as if such a thing could be inherited like a piece of furniture or a watch). Can we see the thread that connects them all? It is a thin, almost invisible one, like the one people notice at the hem of a skirt or on the sleeve of a coat and know that if they pull on it the coat or skirt will undo and unravel. It is a thread that no one likes to talk about, but is at the very heart of the present state of our union. These “public servants” have spent entire lives at the seats of power in Washington, they have been behind every major political move our country has made for more than half a century. They have been behind every single backroom deal, every last minute back slap and every major decision that has changed and impacted American lives. Now, far be it for me to suggest that they have held less than stellar careers, that their service to their country has been a corrupt. No… that would be disingenuous. The real point to be made here is that 40 plus years of “service” is ridiculous and ultimately self-serving on their part. After Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Congress passed a constitutional amendment which places limits for our president, 8 years and done. Roosevelt served 3 terms and died soon after being elected to a fourth. We have since had a presidency that has been passed over from father to son and almost from husband to wife. Congress has individuals running amok in Washington without even the slightest hint of fear. Many of them have been taking advantage of the perks “seniority” gives them and have created lovely little fiefdoms only a barbarian horde could ever have the chance of usurping. These individuals have been sucking – oh, forgive me… “Serving” – at the teat of our country’ coffers for far too long. It is time, long overdue, to bring about change in Washington… It is time to fumigate the halls of the Senate and the House and remove the stench of old politics and old thought processes from its carpets and drapes… It is time to finally thank each and every one of these distinguished individuals who seem to believe that they are the only ones worthy of “public service” and bid them adieu. It is time for a congressional amendment that imposes term limits across the board, without exception, without mercy, without remorse. Why do we find ourselves in the position that we are in? Because the people we elect to go to Washington are many times the same dressed up clowns and hookers who have slowly ruined us financially and have made us the laughing stock of the world. They may change their rhetoric and slogans, they may have pollsters and media hatchet men working the phone lines, but in the end, once we pull on that string, we see them for what they are... we wind up with the same old foul-smelling dead fish. And I apologize to hookers everywhere for I do not mean to denigrate making such loose comparisons: you let us know up front what are money gets us, many of these so-called “leaders” in Congress and the Senate answer to different pay bosses, and they tell them what their money will get them, and in the end, it is the people who wind up broke and screwed. Many times we wind up re-electing these foul-smelling mackerel in tailored suits and spiffy ties out of party loyalty, ignorance or just plain laziness and it has to stop. Their party must come to an end. We the people, the ultimate bosses of these clowns, need to reign in their abuses; their late night voting sessions where they give themselves pay raises without letting us in on it, shutting down the government while getting paid by the taxpayers at the same time, getting a 70 percent subsidy from a health care program that will bankrupt the American Economy while smiling to the cameras about the “fairness” of said program, passing said program in the middle of the night without allowing an opposition vote or debate and then having the nerve to call it “the law of the land”, ranting and raving about an upcoming financial crisis while taking a six-week vacation on our dime when they were elected to solve such problems, boasting about bringing an end to a government shutdown without mentioning that at the very last minute, a “senior” senator boasting the success of a last minute deal while lambasting a young senator for having the temerity to stand and fight against the status quo, manages at that last minute to insert a pork infested bill to a budget resolution which drains billions of taxpayer dollars to a special project even though that senator would have you believe that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. Their party must come to an end. Just as our President has a term limit, so should our Representatives and Senators; neither of them should be allowed to take advantage of what is a privilege. If a President can only serve 2 terms, eight years total, then the others should be maxed out as well; no more than 10 2 year terms for a Representative (the equivalent of 20 years) and no more than 4 6 year terms for Senators (for a total of 24 years). Retirement benefits would exist and any penalties thereof, if necessary. Any public servants found guilty of any malfeasance, shall lose any and all retirement benefits. Those lucky and privileged enough to have served for all of those years CANNOT cash in on their career at the same time, as those retirement benefits are to be balanced AGAINST their retirement packages and calculated by an independent group of monitors in a non-partisan panel. During their final term of service, these individuals are to step down from any and all positions they may have obtained as heads of committees and then the processes of electing a new chairman or vice-chairman should take place. Any laws involving budgets or earmarks destined for their respective states CANNOT involve said individuals; they must recuse themselves from the decision process and the committee must place an alternate from another state and party to take their place. Let the merits of said bill fall or rise on its own. And let us not forget the beloved spouses of these distinguished individuals; as they have never actually served in the Senate or the House themselves, they are ONLY ENTITLED to whatever retirement packages or benefits their spouses have earned… and not a taxpayer penny more. Their party must come to an end. Since when is it said that the ones currently there are the only ones who can serve the people? Are these individuals truly the only ones who can think of ideas for the people? Are these people the only ones with a monopoly on good ideas? Did they actually invent the question mark or the internet (remember him?) Their party must come to an end… If these so-called stalwarts of Democracy, these champions of the American people, truly are serious about making changes, then after serving faithfully their distinguished terms, they would gracefully step aside and allow another to take the charge, to hand over the standard, as it were. They would welcome in the new voices of democracy to enter the house of the people and serve as they have, in fact they would be ready, willing and available to help these new lions in the next phases of their political careers. All of this would be done for the sake of us all. The purpose of all things is to evolve, to become the next thing, to change, even something as powerful as the house of the people requires new perspectives and voices... even something as moving as democracy requires the strength of young patriots, new lions, to keep it alive and vibrant for future generations. GOD BLESS AMERICA
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 05:08:34 +0000
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