To Limit or Not to Limit.
The question of term limits has been a vacillating argument of pro and con by both major political parties as well as third party candidates. Their answers seem to be in direct correlation to the party in control at the time. However, the reality is that there are good and bad points to both sides of the issue, making a definite answer much more difficult to determine.

Those opposed to limiting the term of Senators and Congressmen point to the importance of institutional knowledge. It stands to reason that people with past legislative experience would understand the system of government (and its red tape) and should be better prepared to represent their constituencies with more effective governance. The major advantage for long term members is the status of seniority among their peers, which brings with it a code of loyalty within the party. Thus, when a senior member suggests legislation, it is more likely to be accepted by his/her junior peers.

Advocates of term limits stress the corruptive potential such power can bring. For example, senior Senators and Congressmen hold a tight leash on their juniors to ensure enough votes to pass their proposed legislation. Party leaders often dangle the threat of little to no support and financial contributions during re-election time for a dissenting junior - a major deterrent for criticizing members of their own party. A scarcity of criticism and whistle blowing attests to the compliance of junior members to ignore the unscrupulous actions of some senior party members. This allows for exploitation of power and money by those who place personal gain over the will and best interests of their constituents.

The Degrees of Corruption.
The government of the United States of America was created by men whom we consider Statesmen. Through differences and arguments, they struggled to find functional compromises to form a government structure that would keep the best interest of the people first. In today’s American politics, it is difficult to identify true statesmen as we so often hear of corruption and allegations of scandal and cover-ups. The modus operandi of our Washington representatives appears to be a continual cycle of personal gain over public interest, which does little to show our children the value of honesty, integrity, and accountability. To illustrate this point, let’s look at just the past week of news items.

Honesty?
One of the major stories this week was the revelation that Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) – former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee – did, indeed, attend national security briefings where the handling of enemy combatants by CIA interrogators was discussed in detail. In statements made only a week before, Pelosi declared on live television, that she had not been aware of waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation methods used by the CIA and U.S. military just after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Ironically, memos declassified by the Democratic Obama White House prove that Pelosi and other Democrats were involved in Intelligence meetings where she made no objections to the approved methods. Pelosi’s follow up explanation of her earlier statement, or let’s face it – lie, was a lame attempt at “clarification” stating that she didn’t know that [CIA] would actually “use” such tactics.

Hypocrisy?
Budget watchdogs revealed that while criticizing Democrats for loading the federal budget with earmarks and special projects during a financial crisis, Republican Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has appropriated $819,000 for study of the catfish genome, and $800,000 for oyster rehabilitation - two absolute financial necessities, no?


Integrity?
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) has been identified in a transcript from an NSA wiretap on an Israeli agent discussing using her influence to lobby the Justice Department to drop espionage charges against two officers of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee. In exchange the AIPAC would provide political pressure and intercession to lobby Speaker Pelosi on behalf of Rep. Harman to be named as the new chair of the Intelligence Committee. Initial comments from Harman denied that she had been the subject of a federal investigation and claimed, since she spoke with so many people including Israelis, that she did not recall any such conversation. Allegations that Speaker Pelosi, also a California Democrat, knew of the ongoing investigation but never informed Harman, led to a statement from the Speaker that she had no knowledge of being informed. Later proof from the transcript put both Harman and Pelosi in embarrassing positions. The transcript ends with Harman saying “This conversation doesn’t exist.” Apparently…it did.

Concern.
How do we expect our citizens to respect authority when our leaders stand before America and blatantly lie? Why would the average American want to pursue a political position in order to fulfill their civic duty if corruption is rampant? How do we teach our children true values and honesty when they see politicians engage in scandalous behavior? When are we going to demand accountability from our elected officials – Democratic and Republican - for their waste of our tax dollars?

These incidents bode well for the argument of term limits. Even though it seems a small step, term limits seem to be a rational start toward replacing a semblance of “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” Next week, we will look at the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. and discuss how this institution of red-tape and civil servants are the “real” governing body.

And that…is Why It Matters.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, otherwise known as the “House Stimulus Bill,” will go down in history as one of the most self-serving, outrageous acts any governing body has ever proposed. The cost of the House bill is estimated at $825 Billion – a staggering amount that the U.S. does not have in its coffers. Thus, we would need to borrow the money from countries that will be glad to have the United States in their debt, such as China, Saudi Arabia, etc. With accruing interest, the total cost is expected to run around $1.2 TRILLION dollars. That’s TRILLION, my friends. Ironically, everyone sitting in Congress will long be dead before this debt will be retired.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has been walking on clouds since her Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed this mammoth legislation. To hear her speak on this issue is truly a lesson in spin. Either she actually believes that this monstrosity is the right thing to bring America out of its economic woes, or, most likely, she has gone insane in wielding her power. “If there is somebody who is disgruntled, so be it,” she arrogantly stated to reporters. Her sound bites infer that this was a unanimous vote from the Democrats in the House - FALSE. The truth is 11 Democrats were strong enough to stand against her and say NO. The final tally was 244 AYES (all Dems) to 188 NAYS (177 Republicans and 11 Democrats). So much for bipartisanship, uh?

During the White House briefings this week, reporters grilled Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on details outlining how many jobs this bill would create. Gibbs, in his hesitating and faltering reply, finally let slip that some of the jobs would not “actually” be “created” but rather “saved” or would come to fruition in the future. What? Gibbs also confirmed that much of the spending would directly benefit and immediately help most Americans. Really?

Below is a sampling of items included in this “emergency economic stimulus bill” which was supposedly created to bring our economy back into the black and put Americans back to work. While many of these may be worthwhile expenditures, they are NOT appropriate in an economic stimulus plan and should be dealt with in other, more appropriate legislation...if at all.

• $90 Billion for infrastructure.
• $87 Billion for Medicaid aid to states.
• $79 Billions to school districts and public colleges to “prevent” cutbacks.
• $24 Billion for “green jobs.”
• $4 Billion for neighborhood stabilization – (aka ACORN and their ilk).
• $1.5 Billion for a “carbon-capturing contest.”
• $600 Million for universal health care promotion.
• $400 Million to our “national treasures” which includes repairing the walls of the Tidal Basin in D.C.
• $400 Million for HIV and Chlamydia testing.
• $246 Million to Hollywood to “offset loss of income”.
• $335 Million to the CDC for sexually transmitted disease education and prevention programs.
• $200 Million for Dept. of Defense to acquire alternative energy vehicles, and
• $200 Million for DOD plug-in car stations.
• $25 Million for recreation maintenance (i.e. off-road ATV trails), plus
• $20 Million for trail maintenance and restoration.

The Wall Street Journal identified more pork, writing, “We've looked it over, and even we can't quite believe it. There's $1 billion for Amtrak, the federal railroad that hasn't turned a profit in 40 years; $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for that great engine of job creation, the National Endowment for the Arts; $400 million for global-warming research and another $2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects. There's even $650 million on top of the billions already doled out to pay for digital TV conversion coupons.”

This mere sampling of expenditures totals around $3 Billion and accounts for less than 1 percent of the total spending package. Remember, these are YOUR TAX DOLLARS being allocated.

You can download the complete 647 page bill (H.R.1.EH) from THOMAS, the Library of Congress’s legislative archives. The direct link is http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1.EH. The bill has now gone to the U.S. Senate. Let us pray that the Senators will kill the bill in its current form. Now is not the time for pet projects, which are designed to ensure reelection for incumbents.

Join the thousands of other Americans who are calling, writing or faxing their Senators and Congressmen to voice YOUR opinion on this wasteful spending. You may find Congressional information at www.house.gov and Senatorial information at www.senate.gov.

Our nation is certainly in an economic crisis and a stimulus plan is badly needed. However, it must address the economy – not special interest, expanded welfare or updates to currently budgeted programs. And that is...WHY IT MATTERS.