John, I know Bernie stepped away from the Q&A, but I think it would be cool if he submitted one question for you each week, like you used to do when he was doing the Q&A. Serious or humorous would be welcome....
Term limits are probably a good idea, but it really doesn't matter. In order to pass term limits, the people whose terms would be limited would have to vote for them - although, I supposed they could grandfather themselves in.
No one has ever offered me any evidence of why term limits for Congress and the Senate would be a bad idea. If the President can only serve 2 terms, why should elected representatives be able to serve more than two terms?
At least that way, you wouldn't have representatives with effective life appointments, see Schumer, Pelosi, McConnell et al.
Contrary to popular belief, running the country is highly nuanced and requires great skill. Drafting laws is a prime example. Many if not most laws are complex, trying to disallow certain harmful conduct but allowing other related conduct. If a law contains unnecessary ambiguities or does not accurately delineate proscribed conduct from other related conduct it puts undue strain on commerce, law enforcement, the judicial system, etc. This happen enough as it is.
With term limits you might well have greenish legislators either writing unsound bills or being overly reliant on congressional staffer, that is unless the congressional staffers are also green. As it is, Congressional staffers are heavily relied upon to craft bills, but term limits would likely tremendously add to that reliance.
Parliamentary procedure is highly nuanced and massive. But it can be used effectively if one knows what he is doing.
Can you image if the entire Congress were run like the Trump Administration.
With no term limits you might see even more Congressmen mouthing off on cable news networks and endearing themselves to lobbyists, in effect auditioning for jobs after their forced retirement. This happens already, but this process might be intensified.
Bottom line, not having term limits for Congress is a problem, but having term limits may well present an even bigger problem. Problem solving is good but should not create bigger problems.
If term limits were instituted, it should be done carefully. To the degree possible, terms should be staggered. Additionally, all new Congressmen should be required to take a intensive training course.
IMHO, the question is about evidence is rather "do limits do any meaningful good? They've been around for over 30 years in many states. What is the result? There are numerous studies on the subject, and they generally point to the same thing. The nature of elected politicians' career arc changes, but not really for the better. We get lower legislator competency, more political party influence, more interest group and lobby influence, and more power in the hands of professional party staffers and unelected legislative staffers and public administrators. Term limits in practice just don't solve the problems people want solved because human nature is what it is and has been for thousands of years.
Regarding terms limits I simply suggest one do research on the theory, promise and intent versus the actual results in the many states with many years of experience that have gone down this path. Different? Yes! Better? No!
"I’ve made the point on this website many times, but I don’t think Musk has any idea what he’s doing on this front (which was to be expected, being that he has no experience in government)."
I don't know if you did John, but you should watch the interview Brett Bair had with the DOGE group. These are not sludge hammer baring hackers but brilliant people looking to clean up federal waste. To date DOGE has resulted in .15 percent reduction of the federal employees.
Not the chain saw approach the MSM has been promoting. They are taking actions that every company does and, in many cases, will eliminate entire departments which I hope they do.
Will this save the country and achieve a balanced budget? Of course not. If anything, maybe it will wake up some of the population to understand that the real important things for America are heading for insolvency.
John you are an idealist. I don't know your mind set but do you really believe there is hope that a congress that has driven us into trillions of dollars in debt will standup and change course? It's not happening. The only change that will happen is when our economy crashes. You can't have faith in the people who caused the problem to resolve it!
We the voting populus are to blame. And now we need to pay the piper either through increased taxes through a flat tax or other means. Everyone needs to pay.
And by the way. Want to cure AIDS? Quit getting AIDS!
I agree with you 100% on Musk. I watched that Fox News interview with him and his team leaders last night, and came away impressed with what it appears those guys are doing. But I just cannot trust Musk anymore. He's made false statements about what DOGE is finding. But he's also shown his biases in his other tweets... and the ridiculous "agree" or "exactly" one-word retweets from others. I support DOGE's efforts, but the Admin would be far better off dumping Musk and having one of his lieutenants be the lead spokesperson.
John, I know Bernie stepped away from the Q&A, but I think it would be cool if he submitted one question for you each week, like you used to do when he was doing the Q&A. Serious or humorous would be welcome....
Not a bad idea at all. Would love to field questions from a mysterious subscriber named "Bernie G."
Term limits are probably a good idea, but it really doesn't matter. In order to pass term limits, the people whose terms would be limited would have to vote for them - although, I supposed they could grandfather themselves in.
No one has ever offered me any evidence of why term limits for Congress and the Senate would be a bad idea. If the President can only serve 2 terms, why should elected representatives be able to serve more than two terms?
At least that way, you wouldn't have representatives with effective life appointments, see Schumer, Pelosi, McConnell et al.
Contrary to popular belief, running the country is highly nuanced and requires great skill. Drafting laws is a prime example. Many if not most laws are complex, trying to disallow certain harmful conduct but allowing other related conduct. If a law contains unnecessary ambiguities or does not accurately delineate proscribed conduct from other related conduct it puts undue strain on commerce, law enforcement, the judicial system, etc. This happen enough as it is.
With term limits you might well have greenish legislators either writing unsound bills or being overly reliant on congressional staffer, that is unless the congressional staffers are also green. As it is, Congressional staffers are heavily relied upon to craft bills, but term limits would likely tremendously add to that reliance.
Parliamentary procedure is highly nuanced and massive. But it can be used effectively if one knows what he is doing.
Can you image if the entire Congress were run like the Trump Administration.
With no term limits you might see even more Congressmen mouthing off on cable news networks and endearing themselves to lobbyists, in effect auditioning for jobs after their forced retirement. This happens already, but this process might be intensified.
Bottom line, not having term limits for Congress is a problem, but having term limits may well present an even bigger problem. Problem solving is good but should not create bigger problems.
If term limits were instituted, it should be done carefully. To the degree possible, terms should be staggered. Additionally, all new Congressmen should be required to take a intensive training course.
IMHO, the question is about evidence is rather "do limits do any meaningful good? They've been around for over 30 years in many states. What is the result? There are numerous studies on the subject, and they generally point to the same thing. The nature of elected politicians' career arc changes, but not really for the better. We get lower legislator competency, more political party influence, more interest group and lobby influence, and more power in the hands of professional party staffers and unelected legislative staffers and public administrators. Term limits in practice just don't solve the problems people want solved because human nature is what it is and has been for thousands of years.
Scott, everything you listed already happens without term limits!
Instituting an 8 year maximum isn't going to make any of those negatives any worse!
Nor better with the many places enacting TL's, so I believe the experiment has proven without meaningful value.
How's everyone in the USA enjoying the news of the Trump Liberation tariffs?
The usual Trump defenders have gone eerily silent on why nearly everything they buy will now cost more. But hey, this is MAGA! right? 👊🇺🇸🔥
Regarding terms limits I simply suggest one do research on the theory, promise and intent versus the actual results in the many states with many years of experience that have gone down this path. Different? Yes! Better? No!
"I’ve made the point on this website many times, but I don’t think Musk has any idea what he’s doing on this front (which was to be expected, being that he has no experience in government)."
I don't know if you did John, but you should watch the interview Brett Bair had with the DOGE group. These are not sludge hammer baring hackers but brilliant people looking to clean up federal waste. To date DOGE has resulted in .15 percent reduction of the federal employees.
Not the chain saw approach the MSM has been promoting. They are taking actions that every company does and, in many cases, will eliminate entire departments which I hope they do.
Will this save the country and achieve a balanced budget? Of course not. If anything, maybe it will wake up some of the population to understand that the real important things for America are heading for insolvency.
John you are an idealist. I don't know your mind set but do you really believe there is hope that a congress that has driven us into trillions of dollars in debt will standup and change course? It's not happening. The only change that will happen is when our economy crashes. You can't have faith in the people who caused the problem to resolve it!
We the voting populus are to blame. And now we need to pay the piper either through increased taxes through a flat tax or other means. Everyone needs to pay.
And by the way. Want to cure AIDS? Quit getting AIDS!
I agree with you 100% on Musk. I watched that Fox News interview with him and his team leaders last night, and came away impressed with what it appears those guys are doing. But I just cannot trust Musk anymore. He's made false statements about what DOGE is finding. But he's also shown his biases in his other tweets... and the ridiculous "agree" or "exactly" one-word retweets from others. I support DOGE's efforts, but the Admin would be far better off dumping Musk and having one of his lieutenants be the lead spokesperson.