They wrote it, they should live by it.
Lest we forget, one of the proposed laws under the 1994 Republican Contract With America was "term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators."
Since they beleive it, I propose that all Republican Senators who have served two or more terms and all Republican Representatives who have served 6 or more terms voluntarily step down.
Citizen Legislature Act
Summary:
This resolution provides for consideration of two joint
resolutions which propose amendments to the constitution limiting
the number of terms members of the Senate and the House of
Representatives can serve. The first joint resolution
(identical to H.J.Res. 38 as introduced in the 103rd Congress)
limits the number of Senate terms to two and the number of House
terms to six. The second joint resolution (identical to H.J.Res.
160 as introduced in the 103rd Congress) also limits Senators to
two terms, but it limits members of the House to three terms.
Reading the full text of their "contract" is a lesson in political hypocrisy. Jeffrey B. Gayner of the Heritage Foundation wrote in 1995 that, "Decades from now, historians quite likely will reflect back upon the Contract With America as one of the most significant developments in the political history of the United States." He's probably right, but not for the glorious reasons he imagined. In the 12 years
since hopeful Republicans penned their contract, Republican politicians have turned their back on their contract, on their principles in general, and on the American people at large. In what should have been their crowning achievement, Republicans took control of the White House in 2000. Less than 6 years later, America is drowning on the world stage and is being led by one of the most devisive and unpopular administrations in American history. Despite their grand hopes, Republicans all over the country are trying harder than ever to distance themselves from their own party.
I am disgusted by their hypocrisy. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read their promise to "immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:"
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
How many of those principles have they violated? This year? This month? Today?
Who cares. The "Contact" was a political sham to begin with. The Republican party have done little more than prove to the world that they are totally incapable of providing real leadership. It's time for them to live up to at least one of their promises and step aside.