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"Pats" vs. "Pros"
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Why We Should Expect Another 9/11
Article #27 –
"Pats" vs. "Pros"
By
Chris Cobar
“Pats” and “Pros” is my shorthand for “Patriots” and “Professionals.” “Patriots” I define as George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ben Franklin, i.e. the “Founding Fathers”, who served their country at great personal risk. “Professionals” are the vast majority of those currently serving in Washington D.C., who are putting our country at great personal risk for their own personal gain.
On 27 February 1951, the Congress ratified the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This Amendment limited the President to two consecutive terms in the White House. While this was a good start, sadly, it did not go anywhere near far enough for the American people.
James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers and a major architect in the construction of America wrote that [citizen] legislators should be:
“called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature and continued in appointment for a short period in office.”
Let’s see how well we’re doing. To save you time and me useless writing, I am only listing those who have “served” for 40 years or more.
For the Senate:
Byrd (D-WV) 51 years
Inouye (D-H) 47 years
Thurmond (R-SC) 47 years
Kennedy (D-MA) 46 years
Hayden (D-AZ) 41 years
Stennis (D-MS) 41 years
Stevens (R-AK) 40 years
For the House of Representatives:
Since there are so many, I will only say this:
24 members of the House have “served” from a maximum of 55 years to a minimum of 40+ years. Think about it; if, for example, you are first elected at the age of 25 and then spend the next 55 years in Congress, you would be at least 80 years old. While I’m sure that in many cases, for example, doctors, soldiers, diplomats and nuclear physicists, ‘experience’ is a nice thing to have and will most likely save lives; do we really want our country run by charter members of the ‘Geritol’ jet set? If they haven’t gotten it right in their first 12 years, why should we think they would do any better in the next 38 years?
The United States now has in excess of 330 million citizens. Surely, we can find more than one person, capable of representing each of our constituencies. If we are unable to do this, we’ve got bigger problems than who is going to represent us in Congress.
One shining example of our “professional politicians” was Dan Rostenkowski. He represented a northwest area of Chicago in the “people’s house” from 1959 to 1995 – 36 years. Over his tenure, he scrambled to the top of the heap, serving as the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. In 1994, after a two year federal investigation, he was officially charged with corruption. Two years later, he pled guilty to a reduced charge of mail fraud and spent the next 15 months in prison and 2 months under supervision before he was pardoned by President Clinton in 2000. Do you now wonder why our Founding Fathers wanted ‘citizen legislators’ who did their duty and then went home?
We’ve got 24 folk in the House who had or have ‘served’ for over 40 years. A Representative’s term in office is two years. That means that he barely has time to unpack his bags and set up his new office, before he has to start campaigning for reelection. 40 years in office equates to 20 elections. If over half of your time is spent campaigning, how do you get any work done? If you don’t get your work done, how can you effectively represent your constituency?
The Senate has a better deal. Their terms are for 6 years. Therefore, we might get a couple of years work out of them before they have to start campaigning for reelection.
The President has a 4 year term. He spends his first year learning the rules of the road, his second year maybe doing something, in-between campaigning for his party’s candidates and his last two years campaigning for reelection. From my point of view, a second-term president is always more productive than a first term president. Anyone see anything wrong with this picture?
The following countries have gone to one-term only presidencies: no do-overs, no second chances:
The Philippines 6 years
South Korea 5 years
Tajikistan 7 years
El Salvador 5 years
Honduras 4 years
Mexico 6 years
Paraguay 5 years
Now if these countries have already figured it out, why can’t we? None of them have anywhere near the number of native-born citizens that America does. Yet somehow, they manage to find somebody to fill the position.
Therefore, here’s my federal fixit:
American presidents serve a one term only for 6 years. On the down side, it means if we elect the wrong one we’re stuck for two extra years. However it also means that we stand a much better chance of getting him to actually do the job he was elected to do and perhaps, even get him to ignore the daily polls which govern his actions. Doesn’t make a difference what the polls say. He isn’t going to get reelected anyway. This might mean that we would actually have leaders in the White House instead of politicians.
While we’re at it, we might as well fix Congress. Here’s the plan. Everybody, whether they are a Senator or a Representative, would be allowed to serve a maximum of 12 years to their country. This would mean two terms for a Senator. If they can’t get it right in two terms, it’s time to go home and do something else anyway.
We don’t need, nor can we afford, elections every two years. It’s a waste of time and money. I assume that a lot of motivation for corruption among the ‘professional politicians’ and bending the rules is their need to build war chests for the next election. Therefore, I propose that the terms of office for the ‘people’s House’ be amended to either 3 or 4 years. The same rules apply; either 4-3 year terms or 3-4 year terms and then you’re out. After 12 years, you pack your bags and you go home. 12 years is an elegant sufficiency of time to ‘serve’ your country. It’s high time to get on with life and relearn reality.
This way, no one; not the President, not a Senator nor a Representative can make a ‘career’ at the expense of our country. No more ‘professional politicians.’ No more ruling class; just ‘citizen legislators’ who do their duty and then go home.
If anyone out there has any other ideas, holler.
Until next time,
CC
Thanks for your comments, please keep them coming –
Chris Cobar: rajamuda001@aol.com
Please visit my new blog, www.terrorlog.com
P.S. For those of you who want more than a snappy synopsis of the whys and wherefores of 9/11, I refer you to www.intelwire.com. It is managed by a good friend, John Berger. He is a certified terrorist consultant, who documents his colons and commas. If it's there, you can take it to the bank.
