Fixing Congress

Yesterday, when I was discussing changes we need to make in our energy policies, I finished my post with the following:

To accomplish any of this, we must first make our lawmakers immune to the power of the lobbyists and the intoxicating effects of big money. How do we do this? This is fodder for another post, which I will write tomorrow, May 3rd.

So, how do we make our lawmakers immune from this type of corruption? Because that's what it is...corruption. Corruption usually denotes some sort of illegal activity, but one of the dictionary's definitions of the word is a "perversion of intergrity". This is what is happening here. Lawmakers are so scared of not being re-elected (and giving up their comfortable lifestyles) that they will do anything to get money for their next campaign. Since the House of Representatives stands for election every two years, the whole thing has become one constant campaign and search for money. Under these conditions, many lawmakers have crawled into bed with those forces which can provide them with the money they need to run successfully. My solution is simple. Term limits.
Now, we've heard this one before, but it's a hard ideas to implement. The Congress certainly isn't going to vote for this--they've got it too easy. They're the rulers, and they get to exempt themselves from every onerous burden they place on the citizens. Voluntary term limits don't work either--we've already been that route, and those Congressmen who once ran on term limits platforms have sadly changed their tunes. Now the mantra is that they can do so much more for their constituents from their office. The other thing I hear, especially concerning long serving Congressmen, is that they can direct money to their district more efficiently because the longer they're there, the more power they have. This is EXACTLY what we don't need happening. You multiply the billions of dollars getting directed here and there by the 535 members and soon you're talking about real money. This money doesn't materialize magically from the air. It is the taxpayer's money.
No, the people must demand term limits. If Congressmen won't limit themselves, the people must limit them. We must create a national environment where the lawmakers would realize that if they don't vote for term limits then they will be voted out. If a Congressman doesn't have to worry about being re-elected, then maybe he or she will do what is right instead of what is self-serving. They could then make those hard choices to cut programs without worrying about their re-election opponent accusing them of killing old people and children. For the one most important thing the Congress needs to do is get spending under control. If we don't stop the huge deficit spending, we are doomed as a nation. My recommendation would be four terms for a Representative, or eight years, and two terms as a Senator, or twelve years. If a Representative has finished his or her eight years, they could then run for the Senate. The most anyone could serve, then, would be twenty years, assuming they could get elected to the Senate. When I see people serving thirty, forty, fifty, or more years, I say to myself, "This is ridiculous." If we install term limits, Congress would be able to do the right thing without fear of not being re-elected, and we would have a constant turnover of fresh faces, all coming to Washington to do the right thing, kind of like Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Wouldn't that be nice?