A few months ago, I wrote that one way to fix our political system was to term-limit our Congress. Putting limits on them would reduce their propensity to deal with issues based on how it would affect their chances for re-election. Unfortunately, with all the seniority in Congress, the chances of getting them to pass legislation limiting their terms are slim-to-none.
With this in mind, I’ve come up with a simple solution that would effectively provide the same outcome without any help from Congress – Always vote for the non-incumbent! This will provide the exact same benefit as having term limits. Whether you’re Republican or Democrat, just vote for the person not currently in office. This sounds a little crazy, but hear me out.
One objection I’m sure many of you are thinking of is that if, for example, I’m a Democrat, and a Democrat is currently in office, I have to vote for a Republican. Not necessarily so, or at the very least, highly unlikely. During the primary season for your party, just vote for the incumbent’s opponent. If the challenger wins the primary, this will effectively allow you to keep voting for your party. Ideally, I would like to see the two-party political system disappear. There’s too much divisiveness and voting going on strictly based on party lines. In its place, I would put in a system where the top four vote-getters during the primary season are put on the ballot. No party affiliations whatsoever. Each candidate would garner their votes based on their stand on the issues. The perfect situation would be for some non-partisan panel to come up with a list of questions on the most pressing issues for that state/district and require each candidate to provide a written response for publication in the local newspaper.
As I’ve said before, limiting a politician’s term will hopefully make them focus on their real duties and responsibilities of the office that they hold. A perfect example of this loss of focus is the adjournment of Congress yesterday. Rather than tackle the energy crisis facing the American people, Congress voted to adjourn for five weeks. In doing so, the Democrats avoided having to vote on any energy package that would have alienated their environmental friends. They weren’t looking out for the American people; they were worried about re-election and offending all their big money campaign contributors. I don’t think our forefathers envisioned or would have approved of a system of lifelong service as a politician. Too few politicians are holding too much political power. It’s time the American people wake up and reclaim their power by voting.
This may not be a perfect solution, but I think it’s a lot better than what we have right now. What do you think?
