There cannot be a better "poster-child" for term-limits, than Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, who has apparently become Paul Hodes’ new financial mentor.
Now, a particular NH CD-2 Congressional candidate is dead-set against term limits, insisting that we "already have them", "they are already in the Constitution", and that “the people must become engaged", in order to properly enforce them.
While it is true that the Constitution does outline terms of office for members of Congress, the founders, in their optimism for those who would serve the public, never imagined the patronage, graft, corruption, theft, and influence that we see today in Congress.
Conceding that “we already have term limits”, and relying on the people becoming fully engaged, exercising their civic duty to take care of this issue, could be a good approach, if we had ANY evidence that it would occur, and would remain consistent. This is doubtful, when the average re-election rate since 1964 is 93% in the House and 81% in the Senate. Apparently, "the people" have come to expect certain things from their incumbent politicians.
Making it worse, the 17th amendment allows “the people” to choose their Senators, instead of their State Legislatures, as originally designed by the Founders. This simply forces us to rely even more on “the people” to do the right thing, all the time. It also removes a critical check and balance on Senatorial behavior.
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