Opt Out

This past week saw the publication of two noteworthy letters to the editor. A reader of Florida's TCPalm, Steve Adams of Palm City, argues for congressional term limits and the formation of a viable third party:

Congress just doesn’t get it. When our forefathers drafted our Constitution, they never intended for there to be career politicians. You serve your country and move on. With all the disgust with our representatives and their involvement in the financial mess, maybe it’s time to push term limits. Congress will not support this, so we have to be crafty in forcing our hand. Voters should form a new party, the sole purpose of which is to truly represent us and protect our Constitution.

In Kansas, a reader of the Lawrence Journal World points out that the duopoly is effectively owned and controlled by the interests corporate capital, and decides to opt out:

It does not matter who you support in the two-party system. Your taxpayer money is funneled to members of Congress regardless of their positions. Corporations whose policies you may oppose take your money and curry favor at your expense. The only plausible alternative is new parties. I’m switching to the Green Party; maybe Libertarian is for you.

3 comments:

Shawn (Angry Pundit) said...

Thanks for pointing out this growing call for Congressional term limits. I've been a long-time supporter of this. Excellent blog, by the way.

d.eris said...

Thanks! Personally, I'm somewhat conflicted on the issue of term limits. On the one hand, if implemented they would certainly force changes to the paths taken by career politicians, and lead to a higher turnover among elected officials, but absent other reforms, we would simply be hostage to different representatives of the duopoly. On the other hand, they would also limit the potential effect that could be had by the election of any non-duopolist candidates.

Michael said...

I'm generally a supporter of term limits. But Mayor Bloomberg's recent success in overturning them in NYC is a perfect example that they are not and won't ever be the solution. We need a party with candidates that actually believe and practice a philosophy that is committed to being true citizen legislators.

 
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