October 21st, 2008, Fairfax, VA—U.S. Term Limits President Philip Blumel today praised the results of a recent Pulse Opinion Research poll that found that 83 percent of likely voters believe that elected officials should have their terms of office limited.As we have discovered with term limits here in the Great State of Ohio, what imposing term limits on our politicians does is make the politicians be more concerned with the "next job" rather than focusing on the one they have. Not good. And for that reason alone, I oppose term limits.
“National support for term limits is at an all-time high,” said Blumel. “And it’s no wonder. Public confidence in government is at an all-time low, and that directly correlates with increased support for term limits. The longer a politician stays in office, the less confidence he or she engenders from constituents.”
The Pulse Opinion Research poll was conducted nationally on October 8th amongst 1,000 likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 3 percent. Crosstabs for the poll are available here.
“The people believe that the reason government does not work is because of career politicians who maintain their clutches on power by catering to special interests,” Blumel added. “They are right. The public system of corruption, earmarks, kickbacks, and favors reeks, and we’re all fed up with it.”
“Voters are angrier than ever about the governments that misrepresent them,” said Blumel.
Blumel believes that the latest $850 billion financial bailout bill passed by Congress also played a role in increasing support for term limits. “The American people overwhelmingly lobbied against passage of the big bailout bill because they played by the rules and paid their bills.”
“Instead they watched as over $150 billion was added to the original $700 billion figure just to get it passed,” said Blumel. “Everyone knew the fix was in.”
Blumel contends that through term limits the nation will be able to return to its roots. “America was founded upon the ideal of citizen legislators—ordinary people serving their cities, counties, states, and country. However, because of the incumbency advantage elected officials have still at about 95 percent, instead of citizen legislators we practically have a landed aristocracy.”
“This is not how the founders envisioned representative democracy,” said Blumel. “And it’s not how the American people wish to be represented, hence the overwhelming support for term limits for all elected officials.”
Blumel foresees that term limits will become an increasingly prominent issue over the coming years. “I predict that the public will demand Congressional term limits be enacted, whether by constitutional amendment or via legislation. And U.S. Term Limits will be by their side, fighting in the trenches against the elite career politicians who stand in the way.”
What do you think?
