I've been an advocate for federal term limits of all 535 members of Congress since I began to learn about politics. Some politicians have been in office as long or longer than a lot of us have been alive. And that's far too long.
The problem with term limits is that, other than an Article V Convention of States, there's no scenario where enough politicians would willingly vote themselves out of a job.
As it stands right now, there is only one way to get rid of them, and that's obviously to vote them out. But as we know, for the most part, the deck is stacked in the incumbents' favor. They are the ones with name recognition, and many have the full support and backing of their party. With few exceptions, the outside challenger stands little chance. It does happen, but far too infrequently.
However, our elected officials are only part of the problem.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who represents Georgia's 14th Congressional District, appeared on a recent episode of Tim Pool's podcast.
I thought I knew pretty much what goes on in Washington, but what she said in this 17-minute segment shocked, educated and enlightened me, and not in a good way.
First, and as a bit of an aside, did you know that most bills are passed with a simple voice vote? And worse, the voice vote is a simple majority of just the members present at the time of the vote.
Greene, who speaks in plain English instead of that obnoxious political speak we get from most politicians, explained that her eyes were opened when she was seated in the chamber while a spending bill was being discussed.
There was a man seated in Speaker Pelosi's chair. She didn't recognize him as he was, of course, wearing a mask. On one side of Greene there were about five Democrats and on the other about the same number of Republicans.
All of a sudden the man in Pelosi's chair asked for a voice vote. All the Dems shouted "Yay," and then the Republicans all said "Nay." The man in the chair struck the desk with his gavel and exclaimed that the bill was passed.
Greene was naturally confused as she never got to vote. She called one of the Republican floor staffers over, and he explained that the bill was passed on a voice vote and that was that. She later found out that most bills are passed this way unless a member gets to a microphone and requests a recorded vote, at which point all members are called back to the chamber where they must vote, and it is then recorded.
After Greene did this several times, she explained that she got "chewed out" by fellow Republicans. She said that one Republican told her, "People don't want to be on record," meaning that they don't want their constituents to know how they voted. And with voice votes, there is no record of how or even if a member voted. How convenient is that!
Greene explained that she "pissed off" a lot of politicians, but has single-handedly been able to stop a number of really bad bills from passing through the House by insisting that every vote be recorded, including one that would allow felons, still in prison, to vote in elections.
OK, back to term limits.
Greene went on to describe her initial staffing issues. When she arrived in Washington, she was given a budget to hire staff and such. She was new and asked who she should hire.
Well, as she found out, just like the rest of the unelected, unaccountable Administrative State, House staffers never leave either. They just move from one politician to the next. One term they may be working for a Democrat and the next a Republican. The only thing they seem to care about is the continuance of the status quo.
At this point, Luke Rudkowski, one of Tim's co-host's, exclaimed that they all need to be term limited. I wholeheartedly agree!
It should be 12 years max for any and all public servants. Enough entrenched politicians. They're bad enough. It's the unelected bureaucrats that do the most damage, without any accountability, that also need to go.
Washington is a cesspool, and without term limiting these bureaucrats, we get what we now have – probably thousands upon thousands of Dr. Faucis.
There's a pleasant thought!
Listen to an audio version of this column:
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