When I was visiting Arizona, I remember reading that Senator Kyl (R) was swept in as an agent of change as part of the Gingrich Revolution in 1994. Of course, the foundation of the infamous Contract with America was term limits: if you know you have to leave, you're more likely to get something done than if you're a "career politician."
Of course, that was 12 years ago, yet some of the names look the same. Join me on the flip, won't you?
In doing a brief Google search (kyl term limits), I came across
this at the Library of Congress:
XII. ADDITIONAL VIEWS OF MESSRS. BROWN, THOMPSON, KYL, AND DEWINE
Term limits are founded on the conviction that self-government is to be preferred to government by professional politicians. Self-government means government by citizens who temporarily step out of their private lives to carry the people's voices to the councils of government. Self-government is preferred because temporary representatives know that they will soon return to live as private citizens, under the laws they pass.
Our constitutional architects believed in self-government and placed their trust in citizen representatives. Seeing clearly that power tends to corrupt and that absolute power corrupts absolutely, the framers turned away from a reliance on noble birth or high office to place extraordinary decisions in ordinary hands. Private citizens are asked by our Constitution to take their turn representing their neighbors and communities and to decide what laws are essential for the common good.
Unfortunately, today's politicians are too often careerists who find themselves firmly ensconced in the trappings of power. Surrounded by professional staffs and lobbyists, sheltered from the electorate by a 91 percent reelection rate, and disconnected from the laws they impose on ordinary citizens, incumbents lose touch with the constituents they serve. These career politicians, who relocate to Washington, D.C., who are separated from their neighbors, communities and districts, and who do not return home to live under the laws they pass, are not the type of legislators our founding fathers envisioned when they fashioned our republic.
More than two hundred years ago, Thomas Jefferson wrote a friend suggesting ways that our newly drafted Constitution could be improved. Jefferson said three things were missing: a Bill of Rights, limits on the tenure of the Chief Executive, and term limits on Congress. Since then, we have seen Jefferson's first two ideas implemented; this joint resolution embraces his last.
This is part of S.J.RES.21, A joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment to limit congressional terms (which you can view here).
This led me to the mother lode:
Mr. THOMPSON (for himself, Mr. ASHCROFT, Mr. ABRAHAM, Mr. BOND, Mr. BROWN, Mr. BURNS, Mr. COVERDELL, Mr. CRAIG, Mr. FAIRCLOTH, Mr. FRIST, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mr. INHOFE, Mr. KEMPTHORNE, Mr. MACK, Mr. PACKWOOD, Mr. PRESSLER, Mr. SMITH, Mr. THOMAS, and Mr. GRAMM) introduced the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
[snip]
SECTION 1. After this article becomes operative, no person shall be elected to a full term as a Senator more than twice, or to a full term as a Representative more than six times; no person who has been a Senator for more than three years of a term to which some other person was elected shall subsequently be elected as a Senator more than once; and no person who has been a Representative for more than a year of a term to which some other person was elected shall subsequently be elected as a Representative more than five times.
This last section would be the key: quite a few of the names here are running for their 3rd 6-year term, when them promimsed no more than 2 6-year terms.
I really wasn't politically aware then, so maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, but these people should be held accountable to their promises back in 2004. Were they lying then, or are they breaking their promise now?
I dunno --- in an era of Republican corruption, this seems like a big deal to me.