"The solution for the United States: term limits! President - 4 years and out; Senate - 4 and out; House - 4 and out. Nobody allowed to run for re-election to any office. Once elected, they stay in D.C. and do their jobs. No war chests for re-election. No fundraising dinners. Getting good people to run? Has anybody noticed the ones we have are not exactly mental giants?"
—
"When you say ‘American car,' do you mean my Ford (that was built in Mexico), my mom's Honda (that was built in Ohio), my sister's Kia (built in Georgia) or my dad's Toyota truck (built in Texas)?"
—
"Wait... Solyndra declares bankruptcy? Didn't the Obama administration basically make bankruptcy law irrelevant by virtue of its intervention with GM? Let's just hold a special vote by the public to see how the assets of Solyndra should be distributed."
—
"I was pleased to see the victories by the Republican Congressional candidates in New York and Nevada. Just proves the old adage: ‘You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time!' "
—
Your chance to sound off: E-mail Vent submissions to vent@evtrib.com
Arizona Willie posted at 9:34 am on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
2nd venter --- American Car means one sold by a company whose profits remain in the U.S.A. and go to American ( primarily ) stockholders. I'm sure Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler stocks are owned by people in other countries but, by the same token, American investors own stocks in foreign car companies.
But the concept is that the profits stay ( mostly ) in America.
As opposed to buying a Nissan and the profits go to Japan ( mostly ).
Arizona Willie posted at 9:46 am on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
1st venter, the problem with only a 4 year term is that the jobs are so complex that it takes that long or longer just to get your feet wet good.
The rules of the Senate / House are complex enough in themselves. Just getting an office setup and staff hired is a very complex undertaking.
Do you dislike bureaucrats making decisions?
Well if legislators only had 4 year and out terms, there would spring up a whole new layer of bureaucrats whose sole job was setting up new Congresscritters and holding classes teaching them the ropes.
The legislator would HAVE to rely on the bureaucrats for almost everything.
Soon bureaucrats would have ALL the power and legislators would be only figureheads.
Bureaucrats already hold MOST of the power. They stay in the jobs for decades ( and are not subject to being elected ) and know all the ins and outs and tricks of getting things done. Effective legislators are the one who know which bureaucrats to hire.
It's bad enough now. With only 4 year terms it would be a disaster.
Make that 6 year terms and you got an idea, with the stipulation that a legislator cannot serve a term in the House then turn around and serve another one in the Senate.
And, any legislator who leaves office and he, or a member of his immediate family ( wife,children, brothers or sisters, father or mother ) goes to work for a corporation he voted on beneficial legislation or their lobbiests ==== gets a 10 year sentence in Leavenworth.
Retiree2000 posted at 5:52 pm on Tue, Sep 20, 2011.
What a load! If you don't like an elected official or his/her position, then vote them out. Creating arbitray term lengths and limits will reduce the effectiveness of quality elected leaders and will only mean that those who have shorter terms will likely be more involved in illegal activities.