We've got Democrats pretending to be Republicans, Republicans posing as Democrats, both major parties along with Independents, Libertarians, Progressives, the Green Party, the Tea Party, red states, blue states, Liberals, Conservatives and all other cliques and parties in between professing to be comprised of ordinary human beings ... one group blames another for all the world's problems yet offers no solutions, and vice versa ... nobody takes responsibility, and as always the American people are the real losers ... payoffs and bribes, waste and lies influence nearly every decision made by these self-serving career politicians ... the country is being blatantly stripped to the bone with extreme prejudice by these pretentious, unscrupulous power mongers ... we have little or no say as to the actions or lack thereof by our sworn public servants ... we've been hoodwinked and bamboozled, the wool has been pulled firmly and impudently over our blinded eyes, we've all been sold a bill of goods ... we've all been left in the dark holding the bag, an empty bag at that!
I have a solution, a crazy, radical, off-the-wall solution that just might work, but would never in a million years be accepted ... it's a simple solution involving term limits ... the following is how it would work ... since the majority of all politicians spend so much time and money just to get elected to public office, then after taking office spend even more money and most of their time trying to get reelected, with most decisions being made with the thought of gaining favor and approval from the most potential voters, and little effort actually put forth into doing their jobs ... I propose term limits of "one and done" all across the board from top to bottom.
Now what "one and done" means is that any particular person who is qualified, and who has the good of his fellow man at heart would be permitted to seek and to hold just one regular 2 to 4 year term in public office in any governmental capacity during their entire lifetime, all the way from city councilman to President of the United States ... that means if you are elected as city councilman, or dog catcher, mayor, governor, senator or president, and your term in office officially concludes, your career in public life then ends, you return to the private sector ineligible to ever hold any type of public office again for the rest of your natural life ... oh you would still be allowed to offer your expertise, advice or suggestions to your predecessor free of charge and in a limited, unofficial manner if requested, but you would have absolutely no power or authority.
Crazy huh? ... "one and done" ... but that's not all, so as to ensure that elected public servants genuinely have the good of the public at heart, no public funds could be spent on political campaigns ... limits would be set fairly and equally as to the total amount from private sources that any candidate would be permitted by law to accept or spend in their respective political arenas ... each "servant" would only be paid the federal minimum wage while in office ... medical coverage would be provided by the same providers and at the same level and cost as that of any other public employee insurance system in their respective geographical areas ... there would be no pensions or retirement benefits ... in addition, or subtraction, however you want to look at it, elected public officials would not be permitted to hold employment at any other job while in office, they would be required to devote all their time and attention to the duties and responsibilities of their respective offices ... and would be required to provide their own transportation to and from work ... just maybe if our public officials didn't have to spend all their time trying to gain power, money and influence in order to get reelected to multiple terms in public life, and just maybe if public life suddenly became an extremely unprofitable and less glamorous venture, then just maybe all the worthless, self-serving, lying, deceitful, thieving miscreants would get out of the way so talented, capable, well-meaning folks with no motive other than the good of our country could step forward and serve one term in public office with little or no financial gain, their only reward being the satisfaction of knowing they contributed something of substance for the betterment of mankind at great personal cost and sacrifice! ... might reduce the size of government too ... one and done.
--sja
