In addition to term limits -- House/Senate 12 years, combined no more than 16 years -- there should be age limits.
Strom Thurmond, the oldest serving member of the Senate who served until age 100, was a stud having landed on D Day in a glider as part of the follow on wave of the 82nd Abn Div.
Nobody should be in Congress beyond age 75. It is simply a matter of energy and intellectual vigor.
Absolutely, go to the defined contribution model. Defined benefit is a dinosaur and absurdly expensive.
I hate to put an age on anything. Look how screwed up Social Security is, and the inertia against changing anything. Suppose Bryan Johnson is right, and we start living productive lives until 150? Here is a different way to look at age------we have minimum ages for Congress and President. Maybe raise those ages so people are forced to engage with the private sector before they enter Congress?
The best counterargument that I've heard is that without experienced members of Congress the bureaucracy and lobbyists will steamroll the rookies due to unfamiliarity with DC. A good case of this would be Trump's first term when he even admits he had no idea how diabolical DC was to resist his agenda.
But a lot of that was pre-Chevron, which has now changed the calculus and power structure back in favor of the People's representatives and away from the bureaucracy.
With the new post-Chevron doctrine of limited administrative powers, I am more inclined to support term limits as you have laid them out.
It does hinge on getting rid of the bureaucracy. I am making a bet it happens. It needs to happen. Why does the Dept of Energy have a Intelligence Component with the same ability to spy on us as other intel agencies?
DOE has an intelligence component because a significant part of their mandate is nuclear weapons. Having a few intelligence people also means they have people around who understand how intel works and the capabilities others have to collect on what DOE is doing.
Their intel component is very small, by the way...
Id say eliminating pensions, making it easier to fire people (say agency heads can fire at will), banning unions, requiring tests for hiring and advancement (of substatial difficulty on subjects pertinent to their agency) and capping years of service at 15 would all help. Oh and requiring diversity of geographic and educational background for all positions.
100%. Don't forget the Turtle... He is married to The Foremost Group, an Asian based shipping/shipbuilding bidness. Oh, and his bro-in-law runs EDG Capital over there as well. Should be completely illegal.
Not only that, but it is vile and disgusting the New York Stock Exchange will be closed Thursday in honor of Jimmy Carter's death,the racist Jew hating anti-Semitic friend of terrorists jerk off that got great public relations when he was swinging a hammer with Habitat for Humanity but undercut even Bill Clinton's foreign policy. The whole thing is vomit inducing.
Okay now to the meat of the matter LOL In fact, at a federal level, more than 80% of Congress people and Senate people who are incumbents get reelected! Yes the average is more than 80%. 🤣 I don't know at local County State levels, but it's probably even higher.
Term limits and age limits should certainly apply. I don't want somebody wearing diapers that has an assistant wiping drool off their chin to be voting on whether or not we nuke another country. LOL
Another useless Illinois Senator was Carol Moseley Braun!! Fortunately her uselessness was evident and Peter Fitzgerald was able to limit her to one term. Then the ‘combine’ Illinois Republicans wouldn’t support him for a 2nd term so he retired. These Illinois Republicans received their Karma when the replacement they got behind, Jack Ryan, got smeared by the opening of his ‘sealed’ divorce proceedings. The rest is disappointing history starting “Sparklefarts” on his national adventure.
I will say Carol did one great thing for exchanges. They were trying to pass a transaction tax on exchanges. She sat Tom Daschle down and told him futures were to Illinois and Chicago what milk was to Wisconsin. Keep your mitts off.
It would be interesting to have a retired Capitol Police Officer to write a book about his experiences as a police officer in Congress and the people he dealt with there. I bet he would receive the Spilotro brothers treatment if anyone knew he was writing the book.
I say no pensions or retirement plans for any elected members of Congress. They should be serving the people only out of civic duty, instead of the current system where they only serve themselves. Nothing will get them out of Congress quicker than not having a government retirement plan. It should be a privilege to work for us.
My other pet peeve. No physical object like a building or a park or a street should ever be named for a modern era elected official. I would also go one step further. Any physical object named for an elected official since the end of the Civil War should also stripped of that person’s name. These grifters need to know that they are just citizens and deserve zero accolades. Serve the people and expect nothing further.
Another check and balance for our exalted class. They should all be required to have a daily logbook, no different than an American trucker has. Make the logbook public for all to see in real time, and make the Congressional princes and princesses log their daily hours every single night. Any daily logging violations should result in having their pay docked for a week. We The People want to know what these grifters are doing every day.
And finally, if an elected member of Congress resigns early from their term for any reason other than a medical or family issue, they must return their salary earned since the start of their current term, and they are barred from ever serving in Congress again.
Interesting incentive on public streets, buildings etc. I do think they should get some sort of pension only due to the fact they are dropping out of the private sector.
That’s fair. Then give them the same 401k the average American corporation gives out. If they end their term early then they have to give back the match. And take away their insider trading benefits.
A truly blind trust; set up an entity to manage the investments such that no investment manager knows whose assets he/she is managing and no member of congress knows which manager is handling their affairs.
The founders warned of this. I think making congress speand at least 1/3 of the year, doing this in at least full month sojourns, in their home state would be hugely helpful. It would remind each of them, at least a little bit, of why they are in congress and who they are supposed to be representing. D.C. eats its own and make state congressmen completely blind to who they are supposed to be respresenting, in large part because they only need to face them during re-elections.
The problem with term limits is they will not change anything. You aren't going to replace an old D with a young R in California. Or vice versa in Texas. You will replace an old D with a young D. The more things change the more they remain the same. To quote the Who: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Won't get fooled again." Of course you will.
It might even make the situation worse as they will try to grab all they can before they have to leave. Or install a crony. As they leave it will be elect my wife, my brother. my son. my daughter. See Dingell.
Reynolds idea is a great one.
Newt tried to make Congress live up to its own rules\laws. Both the D's and R's hated him for it. Not sure what can be permanently done. Making it a law rather than a House or Senate rule would be a step. Constitutional Amendment? Iffy but would do it.
It's interesting to look at Russia. The Communists ruled the same way the Tsars did. Different names and titles but everything was just about the same. Only real difference is the jobs were't hereditary. Stalin's son tried to take over when daddy died. Didn't work. Berra tried, they shot him. But the system was more or less the same. People at the top lived one way, everyone else another.
The genius of the Founding Fathers was they understood how people really thought and acted as opposed to Communist or Socialist Fantasies. The flaw was they thought people would just be in politics for a short time and not. see it as a career. Thomas Jefferson thought that going back to private life was a promotion. By the way Mr. President or Senator or Congressman is a job title not a life time title. See the Titles and Nobility clause.
What they also didn't see was Congress would willingly abdicate its power to the administrative state. Since most of the Administrative State is D or liberal or progressive or communist in sympathies the D's were happy. Got what they wanted but without leaving fingerprints. Don't blame me, blame them.
The R's SOP for decades was to promise their base pipe dreams that with the almost permanent D majorities they knew they would never have to deliver on. When they did, they lifted their skirts and ran away on tiptoes as quickly as they could, tee-hee-heeing all the way. When Trump tried to do what he said he was going to do the first go around they tried to subvert him as much as possible. Afraid he was going to break their rice bowl
The D's, as you say are clueless about anything industry does. Probably science, engineering, financial too. After all it isn't their money. So who cares? Not them. So we get Zero Net pipe dreams. Windmills and solar farms. The AI people are looking a Nukes. Wonder why? R's? Probably just Clueless.
Trump really isn't an R or a D. Sort of a fusion. Ditto Musk and company. They all have experience in the real world. Problem the first time around was Trump didn't have much if any experience in the DC\Political world. Things look different if you are in the stands watching a game then they do if when the ball is snapped, you look up and see a bunch of 300 lb guys rushing at you with the sole intention of pushing your face into the astroturf as hard as they can. Changes in perspective change your point of view.
Another thing occurred to me, which should have been obvious (slow brain) Term limits are indiscriminate and throw out the good as well as the bad. Back in the day CBS had a firm limit of when you had to retire (62?65?) and Walter Cronkite reached that limit. He didn't want to and didn't seem to need to. But the rules were the rules. So out goes Walter, in comes Rather. Walter wasn't perfect by any means but I'd would rather have had a Walter than a Rather.
It's not the system. It's the people. No matter what the system is if you elect a Nancy, you get a Nancy, If you elect a Bernie you get a Bernie. Biden was just as corrupt as a Senator as a VP or President. You elect a Biden, you get a Biden. Terrible people will corrupt any system.
There are a COUPLE of term limits that we need to impose.
First, we need to limit how long people suck on the government teat. Starting from age 20, anybody who wants to run for public office needs to have spent at least half of their adult life working for a paycheck with a PRIVATE enterprise. By age 40, the candidate must have spent at least 10 years in the private sector. Government SERVICE isn’t supposed to be a lifetime career; serve the nation for a FEW years, and then go back to the farm.
Second, there are 330 million people in America; we shouldn't keep electing the same losers. No candidate may run for ANY Federal office who is a close relative (spouse, partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, 1st or 2nd cousin, child or grandchild) of any President, VP, Governor or Senator. No more Kennedys or Shrubs or Clintons or Romneys or Cuomos. We need NEW "elites"!
And finally, we need a maximum allowable tenancy in Washington, D.C. Every government official of ANY kind may reside within 100 miles of Washington D.C. for a maximum of 30 years. Work for the government for a SHORT WHILE and then GO HOME.
All this isn't ENOUGH - but it would be a good START.
This doesn't surprise me -- I've done some ... actuarial looks at Congress over the years. I was waiting for Pelosi to recover to point out how fatal falls are for seniors (yet again)...
My last political old age post seems to be this one:
Additional solution is radical transparency. Short but data driven articles that would document the $$ made by sitting politicians (Open the books and others do this), as well as their schedules, which lobbyists they meet with and some way of seeing who funds their campaigns. Some object that such disclosures violate privacy...but what I see is that those in power show zero concern for our privacy nor our God given (not gov't granted) rights.
Good idea but i also suggest the following: once elected or appointed to office they are no longer eligible to hold any position in the bureaucracy. That's is one you are a politician you are presumed to not be a neutral party.
I don't think that this is a bad idea if we also include the other ones that restrict the ability to use the office to make money for themselves. The stock trading etc is a function of power, but also a nascent black market.
In addition to term limits -- House/Senate 12 years, combined no more than 16 years -- there should be age limits.
Strom Thurmond, the oldest serving member of the Senate who served until age 100, was a stud having landed on D Day in a glider as part of the follow on wave of the 82nd Abn Div.
Nobody should be in Congress beyond age 75. It is simply a matter of energy and intellectual vigor.
Absolutely, go to the defined contribution model. Defined benefit is a dinosaur and absurdly expensive.
Make politics part time again.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
I hate to put an age on anything. Look how screwed up Social Security is, and the inertia against changing anything. Suppose Bryan Johnson is right, and we start living productive lives until 150? Here is a different way to look at age------we have minimum ages for Congress and President. Maybe raise those ages so people are forced to engage with the private sector before they enter Congress?
Minimum age, hmmm. That's an interesting concept.
Social Security has to be discontinued over a 50 year period.
Even people who have lived to more than 100 currently have experienced the same cognitive decline as they approached 75.
I think 75 is a good age to hang up the spikes and develop a life long hobby. Get a bloody pizza oven.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
Pretty good arguments.
The best counterargument that I've heard is that without experienced members of Congress the bureaucracy and lobbyists will steamroll the rookies due to unfamiliarity with DC. A good case of this would be Trump's first term when he even admits he had no idea how diabolical DC was to resist his agenda.
But a lot of that was pre-Chevron, which has now changed the calculus and power structure back in favor of the People's representatives and away from the bureaucracy.
With the new post-Chevron doctrine of limited administrative powers, I am more inclined to support term limits as you have laid them out.
Nice work.
It does hinge on getting rid of the bureaucracy. I am making a bet it happens. It needs to happen. Why does the Dept of Energy have a Intelligence Component with the same ability to spy on us as other intel agencies?
DOE has an intelligence component because a significant part of their mandate is nuclear weapons. Having a few intelligence people also means they have people around who understand how intel works and the capabilities others have to collect on what DOE is doing.
Their intel component is very small, by the way...
Id say eliminating pensions, making it easier to fire people (say agency heads can fire at will), banning unions, requiring tests for hiring and advancement (of substatial difficulty on subjects pertinent to their agency) and capping years of service at 15 would all help. Oh and requiring diversity of geographic and educational background for all positions.
100%. Don't forget the Turtle... He is married to The Foremost Group, an Asian based shipping/shipbuilding bidness. Oh, and his bro-in-law runs EDG Capital over there as well. Should be completely illegal.
The Turtle, Byrd, plenty of others We don't have shortages of examples.
Indeed. There is instead a paucity of examples of pols that DON'T become grifters and hangers on for as long as possible.
I understand that Pelosi is using a walker today, after her (I'm sure luxury) hip replacement at our expense.
Not only that, but it is vile and disgusting the New York Stock Exchange will be closed Thursday in honor of Jimmy Carter's death,the racist Jew hating anti-Semitic friend of terrorists jerk off that got great public relations when he was swinging a hammer with Habitat for Humanity but undercut even Bill Clinton's foreign policy. The whole thing is vomit inducing.
Okay now to the meat of the matter LOL In fact, at a federal level, more than 80% of Congress people and Senate people who are incumbents get reelected! Yes the average is more than 80%. 🤣 I don't know at local County State levels, but it's probably even higher.
Term limits and age limits should certainly apply. I don't want somebody wearing diapers that has an assistant wiping drool off their chin to be voting on whether or not we nuke another country. LOL
He was a President. Exchanges traditionally have closed. Hence, it closes.
Another useless Illinois Senator was Carol Moseley Braun!! Fortunately her uselessness was evident and Peter Fitzgerald was able to limit her to one term. Then the ‘combine’ Illinois Republicans wouldn’t support him for a 2nd term so he retired. These Illinois Republicans received their Karma when the replacement they got behind, Jack Ryan, got smeared by the opening of his ‘sealed’ divorce proceedings. The rest is disappointing history starting “Sparklefarts” on his national adventure.
I will say Carol did one great thing for exchanges. They were trying to pass a transaction tax on exchanges. She sat Tom Daschle down and told him futures were to Illinois and Chicago what milk was to Wisconsin. Keep your mitts off.
It would be interesting to have a retired Capitol Police Officer to write a book about his experiences as a police officer in Congress and the people he dealt with there. I bet he would receive the Spilotro brothers treatment if anyone knew he was writing the book.
I say no pensions or retirement plans for any elected members of Congress. They should be serving the people only out of civic duty, instead of the current system where they only serve themselves. Nothing will get them out of Congress quicker than not having a government retirement plan. It should be a privilege to work for us.
My other pet peeve. No physical object like a building or a park or a street should ever be named for a modern era elected official. I would also go one step further. Any physical object named for an elected official since the end of the Civil War should also stripped of that person’s name. These grifters need to know that they are just citizens and deserve zero accolades. Serve the people and expect nothing further.
Another check and balance for our exalted class. They should all be required to have a daily logbook, no different than an American trucker has. Make the logbook public for all to see in real time, and make the Congressional princes and princesses log their daily hours every single night. Any daily logging violations should result in having their pay docked for a week. We The People want to know what these grifters are doing every day.
And finally, if an elected member of Congress resigns early from their term for any reason other than a medical or family issue, they must return their salary earned since the start of their current term, and they are barred from ever serving in Congress again.
Interesting incentive on public streets, buildings etc. I do think they should get some sort of pension only due to the fact they are dropping out of the private sector.
That’s fair. Then give them the same 401k the average American corporation gives out. If they end their term early then they have to give back the match. And take away their insider trading benefits.
i think once elected to office, they can only invest in ETFs, and their money ought to be managed by a blind trust.
A truly blind trust; set up an entity to manage the investments such that no investment manager knows whose assets he/she is managing and no member of congress knows which manager is handling their affairs.
Oh hell yes
The founders warned of this. I think making congress speand at least 1/3 of the year, doing this in at least full month sojourns, in their home state would be hugely helpful. It would remind each of them, at least a little bit, of why they are in congress and who they are supposed to be representing. D.C. eats its own and make state congressmen completely blind to who they are supposed to be respresenting, in large part because they only need to face them during re-elections.
The problem with term limits is they will not change anything. You aren't going to replace an old D with a young R in California. Or vice versa in Texas. You will replace an old D with a young D. The more things change the more they remain the same. To quote the Who: "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Won't get fooled again." Of course you will.
It might even make the situation worse as they will try to grab all they can before they have to leave. Or install a crony. As they leave it will be elect my wife, my brother. my son. my daughter. See Dingell.
Reynolds idea is a great one.
Newt tried to make Congress live up to its own rules\laws. Both the D's and R's hated him for it. Not sure what can be permanently done. Making it a law rather than a House or Senate rule would be a step. Constitutional Amendment? Iffy but would do it.
It's interesting to look at Russia. The Communists ruled the same way the Tsars did. Different names and titles but everything was just about the same. Only real difference is the jobs were't hereditary. Stalin's son tried to take over when daddy died. Didn't work. Berra tried, they shot him. But the system was more or less the same. People at the top lived one way, everyone else another.
The genius of the Founding Fathers was they understood how people really thought and acted as opposed to Communist or Socialist Fantasies. The flaw was they thought people would just be in politics for a short time and not. see it as a career. Thomas Jefferson thought that going back to private life was a promotion. By the way Mr. President or Senator or Congressman is a job title not a life time title. See the Titles and Nobility clause.
What they also didn't see was Congress would willingly abdicate its power to the administrative state. Since most of the Administrative State is D or liberal or progressive or communist in sympathies the D's were happy. Got what they wanted but without leaving fingerprints. Don't blame me, blame them.
The R's SOP for decades was to promise their base pipe dreams that with the almost permanent D majorities they knew they would never have to deliver on. When they did, they lifted their skirts and ran away on tiptoes as quickly as they could, tee-hee-heeing all the way. When Trump tried to do what he said he was going to do the first go around they tried to subvert him as much as possible. Afraid he was going to break their rice bowl
The D's, as you say are clueless about anything industry does. Probably science, engineering, financial too. After all it isn't their money. So who cares? Not them. So we get Zero Net pipe dreams. Windmills and solar farms. The AI people are looking a Nukes. Wonder why? R's? Probably just Clueless.
Trump really isn't an R or a D. Sort of a fusion. Ditto Musk and company. They all have experience in the real world. Problem the first time around was Trump didn't have much if any experience in the DC\Political world. Things look different if you are in the stands watching a game then they do if when the ball is snapped, you look up and see a bunch of 300 lb guys rushing at you with the sole intention of pushing your face into the astroturf as hard as they can. Changes in perspective change your point of view.
Guess we will see how it works.
Anyway rattled on enough. Sorry about that.
Good rattling… we will see how it works and it will definitely work better if Trump does not keep, most of the existing NSC staff. Fingers crossed.
Another thing occurred to me, which should have been obvious (slow brain) Term limits are indiscriminate and throw out the good as well as the bad. Back in the day CBS had a firm limit of when you had to retire (62?65?) and Walter Cronkite reached that limit. He didn't want to and didn't seem to need to. But the rules were the rules. So out goes Walter, in comes Rather. Walter wasn't perfect by any means but I'd would rather have had a Walter than a Rather.
It's not the system. It's the people. No matter what the system is if you elect a Nancy, you get a Nancy, If you elect a Bernie you get a Bernie. Biden was just as corrupt as a Senator as a VP or President. You elect a Biden, you get a Biden. Terrible people will corrupt any system.
There are a COUPLE of term limits that we need to impose.
First, we need to limit how long people suck on the government teat. Starting from age 20, anybody who wants to run for public office needs to have spent at least half of their adult life working for a paycheck with a PRIVATE enterprise. By age 40, the candidate must have spent at least 10 years in the private sector. Government SERVICE isn’t supposed to be a lifetime career; serve the nation for a FEW years, and then go back to the farm.
Second, there are 330 million people in America; we shouldn't keep electing the same losers. No candidate may run for ANY Federal office who is a close relative (spouse, partner, parent, grandparent, sibling, 1st or 2nd cousin, child or grandchild) of any President, VP, Governor or Senator. No more Kennedys or Shrubs or Clintons or Romneys or Cuomos. We need NEW "elites"!
And finally, we need a maximum allowable tenancy in Washington, D.C. Every government official of ANY kind may reside within 100 miles of Washington D.C. for a maximum of 30 years. Work for the government for a SHORT WHILE and then GO HOME.
All this isn't ENOUGH - but it would be a good START.
This doesn't surprise me -- I've done some ... actuarial looks at Congress over the years. I was waiting for Pelosi to recover to point out how fatal falls are for seniors (yet again)...
My last political old age post seems to be this one:
Politicians: Don't Tempt the Reaper
https://marypatcampbell.substack.com/p/politicians-dont-tempt-the-reaper
which was upon the death of Diane Feinstein.
Additional solution is radical transparency. Short but data driven articles that would document the $$ made by sitting politicians (Open the books and others do this), as well as their schedules, which lobbyists they meet with and some way of seeing who funds their campaigns. Some object that such disclosures violate privacy...but what I see is that those in power show zero concern for our privacy nor our God given (not gov't granted) rights.
Two Senate terms, screw working with two Presidents, 'sides 12 years allows work with 2 Presidents; 12(6 terms)years in House is okay.
Good idea but i also suggest the following: once elected or appointed to office they are no longer eligible to hold any position in the bureaucracy. That's is one you are a politician you are presumed to not be a neutral party.
good idea. also, use income tax to stop the revolving door between bureaucracy and the private sector
I would increase the pay to attract better candidates too.
I don't think that this is a bad idea if we also include the other ones that restrict the ability to use the office to make money for themselves. The stock trading etc is a function of power, but also a nascent black market.
The vast majority of candidates are already pretty wealthy...so I'm not sure it would make much difference.
Finally something we can agree on:-)
HA, even Democrats like this idea.