for the greater good

LOL, If you do some research for yourself you will see that this is what happened in 1994. The problem was that the "new" people in congress worked for the people for a year or two, and then found out that there was real money to made, and became more corrupt than the people they took out of office. This was the same group the repealed Glass-Steagall which cause the current economy crisis that we have today. I forget the total number of millionaires that came out of the group but it was 80 - 90%. So be careful what you wish for!

I'll take it one step further and say not only vote out encumbants, vote replace them with folks who have something else next to their name besides an (R) or a (D). Not only are the ones currently in charge beholden to special interests and lobbyists, they are beholden to a party, this is at least half the problem. Elect people who aren't part of a big commercial party or even better, just plain ol independants who aren't in debt to national establishments of any sort, incuding a big commercial political party.

Over the years the US has seen the emergence of "career politicians" and this is what we have all known most of our lives, but it was not always so nor do I think was it meant to be so by the founders of our nation. The governmental structure created by the Constitution makes it necessary for "we the people" to elect representatives who are supposed to execute the will of the people that they represent. There are qualifications enumerated but no indication that these positions were meant to be careers in themselves. They are both civic duty and employment. However, we seem to be putting more importance on these representatives than the position of employee would warrant. The more years spent in office, the greater the power and influence they wield. The career politician begins to do what will benefit himself, rather than the people or the nation. Even the president is an employee but we not only give him great deference and not only is there much pomp and circumstance surrounding his position, we don't call his wife "Mrs. Whoever", she is the First Lady. It's time we not only throw out all the career politicians, we must also refresh our views of our elected officials. It is a job, we are the employers, it is the voters they must please with their performance. We may get less experience politicians, but we may get more honest ones. We could get some honest individuals whose main purpose is to serve the people, to serve the country. Even if we elected people with zero experience, I doubt we could be worse off than we are now.

This sounds fine, but what do we do when someone challenges a bill from these new legislators and the Supreme Court Justices, who are not elected, start legislating from the bench? If they lean one way or the other, and not towards the Constitution, what do we do?

don't know all nitty gritty of your government but politics is riddled with corruption and anything that will stem it even a bit sounds like a good idea to me.

Well, let's see... The Democrats are showing they are definitely bad for the country. The Republicans are still trying to figure out what their platform is or how conservative they should be or something... If they haven't figured it out by now, they never will, so they're worthless. I agree, the only real way we'll change anything is to vote anybody out of office that has been there more than 2 terms regardless of what party they belong to. We also need to vote for any Independent or Libertarian as third party candidates wherever possible. Both the Democrats and Republicans have demonstrated that they cannot run government responsibly. This is an indisputable FACT. We need people running our government that will balance the budget and work to reduce the National Debt. We need to clean up government waste and get rid of ridiculous government programs, end government subsidies to certain businesses, revamp the tax system, make it illegal for congress to vote itself raises whenever they want, put an end to lobbyists and a lot more. Both the Republicans and the Democrats have shown that they have no intention of doing any of these things. It's time to start over. We need a strong third party to take over. We'll call it the "Common Sense Party". Can you imagine? Common sense in Washington? Now there's change we could believe in.

As you know Whiteheather I'm not American so I'm not that familiar with how the US political system works, or the quality of your elected representatives. I guess people the world over complain about their politicians, usually about them being corrupt. I'm sure you will have some good guys in Congress, but just like here an awful lot of them will be stinkers! I do think the term-limit on the Presidency is a sensible idea. I wish we had that for our Prime Ministers because there's a few that have seriously out-stayed their welcome! In fact the more I'm thinking about it, the more I'm thinking term-limits on all our MP's would also be sensible. Not so much for the corruption aspect of it, but if they knew they only had a finite number of years in the Houses of Parliament it might make them try harder to make a difference. I wouldn't want them all changed at once because you need some continuity in government, but maybe if it was staggered it might work. It would shake things up a bit anyway.

Thanks so much by putting this in here as I knew you would do it right hugsssssssssssssssss

I agree with this. I think that will be the best thing to happen to our legislature.

Just wish that would happen over here in the U.K. as well. All most all M.P.'s (of all parties) seem to have their snouts in the trough, what with expense claims for several houses, multiple cleaners (even a duck house). Some seem to drive across the whole country every day - according to their mileage claims.

First of all, whiteheather, I want to say that I know you're upset with me and I'm very sorry about that since I've always valued your friendship! Anyway, I'm going to do my very best to not say anything here that could possibly be taken the wrong way. The last thing I want to do here is to offend anyone! Regarding this e-mail, while I certainly agree that many of our elected officials are indeed corrupt and many have forgotten who put them in office and who they're supposed to be serving. It certainly is tempting to try to "throw the whole bunch of them out" and start all over. However, in my opinion this really wouldn't work the way you'd want it to even if it could be done. What I think needs to be done is to drastically change the way campaigns are financed and to outlaw lobbyists working for huge corporations and other special interest groups that really don't have the people's interests at heart. The way it works now, practically from the day a member of Congress or Senator takes office he or she is already thinking about reelection. Especially the Representatives of the House since they run every two years. How much can someone like you or I contribute to someone's campaign, even if we wanted to? I know I can't afford it and if I could throw in five or ten bucks it's not going to make him or her want to please ME more than those who are handing out thousands. Basically, the fresh new faces we elect won't be fresh or new for very long! That having been said, I doubt any e-mail campaign or grassroots effort could get enough people to actually go through with voting against every incumbent. The fact is, while most people will give Congress in general a pretty low approval rating if asked those same people more often than not will say they LIKE their own Reps and Senators. Also, for too many people pork is only pork and waste is only waste if it's spent somewhere other than where they live or helps people other than themselves or their loved ones. Your "corrupt and wasteful career politician" may just be MY experienced and loyal Congressman who's brought lots of jobs and other benefits to my state and district. (I'm just using you and me as generic examples, by the way!) One thing I definitely DO agree with X about is third party and independent candidates. While I wouldn't go as far as he says and automatically vote for someone other than a Democrat or Republican I think we should ALL start taking a good close look at these candidates instead of automatically discarding their candidacies as futile. It wouldn't even be necessary to get a bunch of wins to make a difference; I think if there were a good number of races nationally in 2010 where the independent or third party candidate even got CLOSE it would open the eyes of some of the party faithful. Annie

I totally agree with that! We have some people that have been in the Senate for over 40 years! That's way too long. The founding fathers intended for people to serve just one term--serve their country then go back to their farms and jobs. That's because it used to be a sacrifice, not a career. These people were Statemen, not career politicians. I say we go back to that! I'm voting them ALL out over the next few years. Unfortunately, the majority of voters are suckers and will believe all the false promises the politicians give them. I say we need Statesmen again, not career politicians that are in it for their own gain, ego and profit.

Brillant!

If someone is good he will remain good even if his/her tenure is for two years, and if someone is bad or not doing their duty truthfully they will remain so in 8 years. U cant say anything about anybody. But changing this will take many years it cant be done over night.

i do agree with this article.a term is given to others so that the power is not abused,it sure should apply to others who are in power.