Sep 15, 2022·edited Sep 15, 2022Liked by Chris Bray
I've never favored term limits. I voted against term limits in California whenever that was on the ballot—1996, I guess. Any time anyone calls for term limits nationally, I say: "Look at California." Term limits empower the permanent bureaucracy. And, as you point out here, the same bad apples cycle through different offices anyway. Also—this is one nobody loves to hear—term limits let voters off the hook.
Politics isn't easy. Democrats learned decades ago how to "game" term limits. They cultivate a deep bench of candidates. They run for—and win!—nonpartisan offices, such as city council and school board seats. Water policy is boring as hell, but elected water boards are very powerful. I've met countless Republican activists who make these quixotic runs for state and even federal office and yet the thought of running for local office is anathema. Very few will entertain the idea. Those who do—and who run successfully—have ended up in the state legislature and, in a couple of cases, Congress. But that's retail politics and ain't nobody got time for that.
At the Federal level we’re electing TV actors who have no power over the actual government of 3 millions and 1-2X as many contractors.
So its all Carnies anyway (TV and the media are full of people who would have been Carnival performers a century ago).
Who knows at the State level.
The real Gerontocracy is the Civil Service, where the multiple offices are held at once to get 2-3 paychecks. The elected are not allowed by law and rules to touch our pure and virtuous civil service with their grubby politics, but that negated the vote. Life is hard choices, eh?
1.Sheila Kuehl was one of the original Mickey Mouse Mousketeers (i am sure Chris knows this!).
2. We already have term limits, it is called elections. The only problem is that the same assholes keep voting for the same assholes.
3. A corollary is that one cannot be mad at, say, Gavin Newsome, for doing stupid, destructive things and being a petty condescending asshole because he is only doing what his voters told him to do. But you can be very angry at those people stupid enough to vote for him.
It’s always been that way. Sam Rayburn was Speaker of the House forever. Strom Thurman served forever as well. Once these guys figure out the game they’ve got a job for life.
i think if more people saw politicians like Kuehl helping themselves from the civic service buffet, it might be a lot more apparent that a lot of them can’t seem to do anything else (i mean, isn’t that why Fetterman wants in?).
You're right, of course, although Boomers always have great voter turnout, and I'll bet they don't think 75 or 80 is old. They also think (if my own circle of Boomers is indicative of the group) that it is *vital* to keep voting for the incumbent of their own party because *otherwise the other party will control the House!!!*
The real reason for my comment, though, is that I hadn't thought about that game for decades. Man, I loved it. Leaping from the dresser to the bed. Streeeeetching from the arm of one couch to the arm of the other one. Thank you for bringing it up.
Mind you beware; Covid Fascism may have discredited the present sinecuristas but in terms of power, Politics as Profession probably got a big boost. They have tasted Power and will want more.
Sheila Kuehl is an interesting case. She graduated from Harvard Law School, for whatever that's worth. I don't know if "idiot" is the right term for her. I don't know that intelligence or the lack of it is important when it comes to being addicted to government jobs. Plenty of smart people are addicted to that sort of job. It's kind of amazing. Some of them complain about the conditions they work in, their failure to be promoted and the "idiots" they have for colleagues. But they cannot bring themselves to leave government and work in the real economy.
You know, it’s not hard to fix this. But of course there is no will to do it. All we have to do is set firm term and income limits. It’s a can of worms of course, because they’re so effing clever at gaming the system. Look at Joe Biden as a sterling example. What’s he worth now, 600 million? A man who has been in politics since the age of 28? Why doesn’t this upset anybody on the left? Instead they get their panties in a wad over Trump who actually earned his money.
And these people in their 80s still trying to get elected tells you more about their lust for power and influence than anything else. It’s sickening. I can’t stand them, any of them. And that’s where we are here in America. Most of us can’t stand any of them. They may be the richest and the most powerful but they’re also the most hated.
It’s not the age of the elected officials that is offensive; it’s the ones hanging around for decades just milking their position and taking their constituency for granted. Americans are lazy to the extent that up until recently most of us were not particularly active in politics. Look where that got us. One “benefit” of the insane clown posse destroying life as we know it is that it’s motivated a lot of us to get involved directly.
The civil service racket is an absurdity. Hard or impossible to fire incompetents or clearly corrupt individuals often times, and they are unionized. There is no reason to allow them to unionize, because as many people have pointed out, they never are forced to negotiate with the people who pay their salaries. Instead, politicians looking for votes and money kiss their civil service asses. It may be too late, but Americans are waking up and getting in the game. The new right seems to be winning at this point. Of course we will still have to surmount the crooked election apparatus in November that gave us PedoHitler Cornpop et al at the helm. If that election is anything like 2020 as far as cheating goes, there’s gonna be big trouble, and it won’t be about the bernaise sauce in the Senate dining room.
In California being a 'public servant' pays well. LA county supervisors are paid over $250,000 per year. That's why they want to continue to be elected public servants and any level....
I'm not against term limits, per se. However, neither "age limits" (which I wonder if they would even be legal... isn't there some law about not discriminating based on age or you know, other thangs...) nor term limits fix the problem of career / idiot politicians.
You want to know who's to blame for the current political mess?
We are. The electorate. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
If you (the 73% of people who think there should be age limits) don't like the geriatrics who keep running for office ... effect change. Of course, this would require you to put down your Big Mac and beer, put your porn on pause and actually spend a modicum of time looking into the issues and candidates.
We don't need more rules and regulations, we need a citizenry who actually gives a shit, rather than one that just complains about the outcomes, when not putting any effort into the process.
Back about 30 years ago or so, Massachusetts passed a ballot initiative to implement term limits in the state, with about 80% approving. The State promptly ignored the initiative and never implemented it. That exact same election, Massachusetts reelected Ted Kennedy to his 6th term as Senator. Spare me your term limits. Voters can you utilize them every election if they like by voting the bums out.
I've never favored term limits. I voted against term limits in California whenever that was on the ballot—1996, I guess. Any time anyone calls for term limits nationally, I say: "Look at California." Term limits empower the permanent bureaucracy. And, as you point out here, the same bad apples cycle through different offices anyway. Also—this is one nobody loves to hear—term limits let voters off the hook.
Politics isn't easy. Democrats learned decades ago how to "game" term limits. They cultivate a deep bench of candidates. They run for—and win!—nonpartisan offices, such as city council and school board seats. Water policy is boring as hell, but elected water boards are very powerful. I've met countless Republican activists who make these quixotic runs for state and even federal office and yet the thought of running for local office is anathema. Very few will entertain the idea. Those who do—and who run successfully—have ended up in the state legislature and, in a couple of cases, Congress. But that's retail politics and ain't nobody got time for that.
Good stuff, as always, Bray.
At the Federal level we’re electing TV actors who have no power over the actual government of 3 millions and 1-2X as many contractors.
So its all Carnies anyway (TV and the media are full of people who would have been Carnival performers a century ago).
Who knows at the State level.
The real Gerontocracy is the Civil Service, where the multiple offices are held at once to get 2-3 paychecks. The elected are not allowed by law and rules to touch our pure and virtuous civil service with their grubby politics, but that negated the vote. Life is hard choices, eh?
A couple of commenthls....
1.Sheila Kuehl was one of the original Mickey Mouse Mousketeers (i am sure Chris knows this!).
2. We already have term limits, it is called elections. The only problem is that the same assholes keep voting for the same assholes.
3. A corollary is that one cannot be mad at, say, Gavin Newsome, for doing stupid, destructive things and being a petty condescending asshole because he is only doing what his voters told him to do. But you can be very angry at those people stupid enough to vote for him.
It’s always been that way. Sam Rayburn was Speaker of the House forever. Strom Thurman served forever as well. Once these guys figure out the game they’ve got a job for life.
i think if more people saw politicians like Kuehl helping themselves from the civic service buffet, it might be a lot more apparent that a lot of them can’t seem to do anything else (i mean, isn’t that why Fetterman wants in?).
term limits alone aren’t gonna cut it!
ARTICLE V!!!!!
No term limits, but all those seeking reelection must submit to water-boarding by their constituents.
You're right, of course, although Boomers always have great voter turnout, and I'll bet they don't think 75 or 80 is old. They also think (if my own circle of Boomers is indicative of the group) that it is *vital* to keep voting for the incumbent of their own party because *otherwise the other party will control the House!!!*
The real reason for my comment, though, is that I hadn't thought about that game for decades. Man, I loved it. Leaping from the dresser to the bed. Streeeeetching from the arm of one couch to the arm of the other one. Thank you for bringing it up.
The problem is not how the tyrants are selected, but the unchecked power they wield.
Mind you beware; Covid Fascism may have discredited the present sinecuristas but in terms of power, Politics as Profession probably got a big boost. They have tasted Power and will want more.
Sheila Kuehl is an interesting case. She graduated from Harvard Law School, for whatever that's worth. I don't know if "idiot" is the right term for her. I don't know that intelligence or the lack of it is important when it comes to being addicted to government jobs. Plenty of smart people are addicted to that sort of job. It's kind of amazing. Some of them complain about the conditions they work in, their failure to be promoted and the "idiots" they have for colleagues. But they cannot bring themselves to leave government and work in the real economy.
“Honey, my head hurts.”
“Well, darlin’, have some sinus meds.”
“But, what about this railroad spike in my temple?”
That’s what the demand for term limits sounds like. It completely ignores the actual problem:
Government Overreach.
As long as you allow government so much power; the ability to sell favours and reward cronies, it doesn’t matter how long our reps are in office.
Strip government of that power and not only will reps self-term limit, so will the army of lobbyists that are there to wine and dine and buy them.
So, limited terms?
No.
Limited government?
Yes.
You know, it’s not hard to fix this. But of course there is no will to do it. All we have to do is set firm term and income limits. It’s a can of worms of course, because they’re so effing clever at gaming the system. Look at Joe Biden as a sterling example. What’s he worth now, 600 million? A man who has been in politics since the age of 28? Why doesn’t this upset anybody on the left? Instead they get their panties in a wad over Trump who actually earned his money.
And these people in their 80s still trying to get elected tells you more about their lust for power and influence than anything else. It’s sickening. I can’t stand them, any of them. And that’s where we are here in America. Most of us can’t stand any of them. They may be the richest and the most powerful but they’re also the most hated.
It’s not the age of the elected officials that is offensive; it’s the ones hanging around for decades just milking their position and taking their constituency for granted. Americans are lazy to the extent that up until recently most of us were not particularly active in politics. Look where that got us. One “benefit” of the insane clown posse destroying life as we know it is that it’s motivated a lot of us to get involved directly.
The civil service racket is an absurdity. Hard or impossible to fire incompetents or clearly corrupt individuals often times, and they are unionized. There is no reason to allow them to unionize, because as many people have pointed out, they never are forced to negotiate with the people who pay their salaries. Instead, politicians looking for votes and money kiss their civil service asses. It may be too late, but Americans are waking up and getting in the game. The new right seems to be winning at this point. Of course we will still have to surmount the crooked election apparatus in November that gave us PedoHitler Cornpop et al at the helm. If that election is anything like 2020 as far as cheating goes, there’s gonna be big trouble, and it won’t be about the bernaise sauce in the Senate dining room.
In California being a 'public servant' pays well. LA county supervisors are paid over $250,000 per year. That's why they want to continue to be elected public servants and any level....
I'm not against term limits, per se. However, neither "age limits" (which I wonder if they would even be legal... isn't there some law about not discriminating based on age or you know, other thangs...) nor term limits fix the problem of career / idiot politicians.
You want to know who's to blame for the current political mess?
We are. The electorate. Don't hate the player, hate the game.
If you (the 73% of people who think there should be age limits) don't like the geriatrics who keep running for office ... effect change. Of course, this would require you to put down your Big Mac and beer, put your porn on pause and actually spend a modicum of time looking into the issues and candidates.
We don't need more rules and regulations, we need a citizenry who actually gives a shit, rather than one that just complains about the outcomes, when not putting any effort into the process.
Back about 30 years ago or so, Massachusetts passed a ballot initiative to implement term limits in the state, with about 80% approving. The State promptly ignored the initiative and never implemented it. That exact same election, Massachusetts reelected Ted Kennedy to his 6th term as Senator. Spare me your term limits. Voters can you utilize them every election if they like by voting the bums out.