John was heard muttering to Earnest Padgette 
 about Government Reform 
 JP> With respect, Ernie, I don't think it's that simple.  The
 JP> Constitution, says **NOTHING** about term limits.  Yet I don't believe
 JP> that the founders ever envisioned a permanent political class.  I think
 JP> they figured a man would spend a few years in politics out of civic
 JP> responsibility, then go back to his private life.  In that sense, term
 JP> limits is an attempt to restore the founders concepts.
 I realize this is simplistic, but consider:
 What is the root cause of the problem?  I would suggest that it's not
 the government, but in fact the electorate.  Government is merely a
 symptom.  We need to go after the _cause_.
 We have term limits.  It's called voting.
 JP> One of the things that REALLY drives me up a wall is the idea of
 JP> pensions for elected officials.  If we did away with those, people
 JP> wouldn't spend their whole life running over and over again for one
 JP> office after another.  Again, nothing in the Constitution for or
 JP> against pensions.
 There's nothing about their compensation, either.  I propose we pay 'em
 a dollar a year.
--- FMail 1.02
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