We in the USA have a bit of a problem with politicians staying in their elected positions for way too long. The presidency has a two-term limit (thank God) but if you’re in Congress? It can be a lifetime job.
And I don’t think that’s right, especially as people are living (or in the case of some of our elderly representatives, surviving) longer and longer.
So here is my idea on creating natural term limits. I am not an expert, there are probably reasons this can’t be done, but let’s spitball anyway.
Currently members of Congress are paid from the federal treasury, funded by taxes of all stripes. I want to change that and mandate that the salaries are paid from state taxes. I also want to give representatives automatic ‘step’ raises each year that they serve instead of having them vote for their own increases.
Next, in early October, the federal government mails and emails an activity summary for each Senator & Congressperson back to their districts. This data is already collected and shown on websites, but I believe each voting household deserves to have this information given to them instead of having to search for it. I would also change election law so that every ad for a candidate, no matter who pays for it, has to have a link or QR code leading to the summary.
This summary will contain:
> Attendance record
> Number of votes cast Yes/No/Present/NonVoting
> Number of bills written/sponsored/cosponsored
> Committees that they serve on
> Any disciplinary measures taken against that representative
> And most importantly their salary, and how much of a raise they will receive next year. With the plainest language you can imagine. “Senator Bob ‘Gold Bars’ Menendez, age 70, has served 18 years in the Senate. He will make $174,000 this year and will receive a $5,000 raise next year. This salary is paid by you via your taxes paid to the State of New Jersey.”
So then Joe MiddleManager starts wondering, “Is Congressperson Blah really doing $X,000 worth of work representing me?” And there is nothing Americans LOVE to do more than decide a person’s worth.
And now, our long-timers have to work harder the longer they serve to make it look like they’re earning their salary, because they’re going to be scrutinized harder each year. And maybe one day the public decides to save some money and pay a newer, younger person less to do the same job.
It’s rough, but it could work.
Need some more email in your life? If you’re a regular reader but forget to check in, you can subscribe to a once-a-week email with links to the week’s posts! Click here to sign up!
Novel approach to the problem, and some interesting ideas that I could get behind. I don’t think our representatives in Congress would wholeheartedly approve of this.
Oh I think NONE of our representatives would get behind this mad plan!