“I never liked the atmosphere of Washington. I early saw that it was impossible to build up a race of which the leaders were spending most of their time, thought and energy in trying to get into office, or in trying to stay there after they were in.”

still true

We can see that in all of our so called representatives. We have got to issue term limits, because their are so many that take advantage of things like earmarks instead of righting what is wrong.

Which is exactly why we need statesmen, not politicians. Politicians are generally scumbags.

People of experience in the issues of the day are important to have as law makers, oversight committees, etcetera. We need people from agriculture, medicine, science etcetera in our congress but often those elected have little experience in such things. A smattering of history and philosophy would also be helpful. Beyond that the workings of a nation and a world in this advanced age needs knowledgeable people and term limits works against that.

The lust for power.

Waff, almost all of the people in the Congress are lawyers. What we need in the congress is sucessful businessmen and women, not a bunch of lawyers. And waff, why only two stars, Mr. Washington nailed it.

THAT IS WHY CAMPAIGN REFORM IS PARAMOUNT - UNTIL GREED IS TAKE OUT OF THE EQUATION IT WILL REMAIN THE SAME - WE ARE NOW A BANANA REPUBLICA RUN BY PUPPETS WHO REPORT TO THEIR MILITARY AND CORPORATE MASTERS

History repeating itself dooms the helots, serfs, and slaves.

Elaine in Atlanta. I agree that term limits are necessary, but they cannot be put in place until after we deal with their exorbitant lifetime pensions that are funded by us, the taxpayer. I don't know of any other work that one can do that provides a full pension in the amount each year of retirement that the person was making while still employed! Think about that for a minute. And those are the very people that fought tooth and nail to stop the extension of the bush tax cuts for the wealthy. Those of wealth are the people that build industry and provide jobs for the multitudes, not the lawyers that populate the majority of the liberal congress.

Greed cannot be taken out of the equation, RBE. We cannot remain so ignorant and altruistic to believe that laws can be written to eliminate human weaknesses. We must acknowledge them. Distrust is the reason power is to be distributed, not centralized -- because people cannot be trusted. That is why we have checks and balances. That is why our government is entrusted with FEW and LIMITED powers. Politics is the game of the rich and powerful - it always has been, ALWAYS WILL. Stop dreaming, and start taking back your country. Change the rules for getting on the ballot -- right now the game is rigged in favor of the incumbents. The 2 party system is a monopoly of power -- both parties are indeed ONE party beholden to the ruling elite, the ones that hold all our debt, that print our money, that charge us rent for our money supply -- they are the true dictators. The best finance law to pass is the Return to Honest Money. As long as there is anyone in the game that can print up billions in a New York minute, no law will control him -- he will eventually buy up everyone and everything.