In this political season, so many things are discussed at coffee sessions. One thing is, why we don’t have term limits for members of the Congress and the Senate. According to a former representative from Florida, when you vote you are often choosing a Congress person for life. That’s not what you intended, but it’s that way. Most members of Congress leave only when they retire, they die or they run for higher office.

Also, our Congress is not very representative. The average age in the House is 57 and in the Senate its even higher. There are none under the age of 30. Once they are elected, the party they belong to lectures them on how to beat the other side. In high-profile issues, the lobbyists come from everywhere, the big checks. Often as many as 10 per Congress person. In many cases, lobbyists seem to write the bills. These politicians will never set term limits on themselves, they got it made. What I would like to know is, how do you get something like this on the ballot? If it takes a petition from the people, I am sure there are lots of old duffers like myself who would be willing to sit in the mall and collect names.

I am not a member of either party and have no grudges. I only feel that these people stay in office way too long and some actually forget why officials, from the president on down, should serve some time in the military. Very few of them have. Well, that’s it for now, I will duck my head and look for other opinions here in this place.

 

John Petersen

Albert Lea