Power since 1978

by Brenda Weber

When Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh was officially ousted from power this week, and the news reports stated he had been in power since 1978, or 33 years,

I got curious. 
How many current members of our House and Senate had served that long? I couldn't find that exact information, but I did find out that by my count, 25 members had served 36 years or longer. I am curious about the rest, but my point is, why do we find it so unusual when another country has the same people in power for decades, but we never notice it in our own back yard?


        Newt Gingrich first ran for political office when NIXON was the president, and here he is, still hanging around and fucking things up. Even those who haven't seemed to serve in Congress that long usually start out working for another politician, or in a federal bureau, or especially in state government as governors, state senators, mayors and attorney's general. What was that quote from Einstein?  "Doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result is insane."  I used to be a die hard opponent of term limits.

Boss Tweed - "As long as I count the votes, what are you going to do about it."

         As a proud American, I was gonna be damned if anyone was gonna tell me who I could vote for! (That, my friends, is pride fucking with me.) I still hold that value in my heart and soul. But the practical part of me is screaming out "This is not working! Fix it!". Now I'm not sure if I am truly on the bandwagon for a constitutional amendment to limits these asshats terms, because the true democrat in me, the one who still believes in the founding principles of this country, rebels against any limits on my freedom to choose my representative. But the current situation may just require some flexibility in my principles, which just pisses me off; how dare these jackasses force me to adjust a firmly held democratic principle! It also makes me wonder, is it possible to have a "temporary" constitutional amendment? Can we put in a constitutional amendment that is limited to a specific time period, just to wash all this filth out of office and start anew?

• 2 people like this.
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    Joe Collins Yeah, but who keeps voting them in based on very little more than name-familiarity and comfort with a known face...

    November 24 at 8:57pm ·  ·  1
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    Brenda Weber Yes, I know it's our fault, we are lazy, with short attention spans and no real knowledge of what's really important. But how do we fix that? Take away everyone's TV?

    November 24 at 9:03pm ·  ·  1
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    Joe Collins I haven't got the answer, just pointing out that fact.

    November 24 at 9:04pm · 
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    Brenda Weber I know, frustrating isn't it? I get so tied up in knots I'm willing to throw away a fundamental principle I hold dear to fix it, and it pisses me off!

    November 24 at 9:05pm · 
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    Bob Medina Actually our founding Fathers did put that provision in. You were only to serve two terms and go back to private life. There wasn't any insurance or other benefitsd, ie... retirement pay. These bastards voted that out so they could control everything, especially the money that was paid by our tax dollars. You're right, it is our faults for becoming lazy and apathetic!!!

    November 24 at 11:38pm ·  ·  2
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    Juliana Ninety-Nine I'm no democrat, but I'm in agreement with anyone who argues that terms are limited at the ballot box. Gingrich's problem isn't that he's been there forever; it's his voting record: http://www.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/26821/

    

    Key Votes - Newt Gingrich - Project Vote Smart

    www.votesmart.org

    Project Vote Smart provides easy access to Congressional and State voting record...See More

    November 25 at 2:05am ·  ·  1
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    Brenda Weber That's democrat with a small d ;-)

    November 25 at 8:20am ·