Jimmy Terrell
Former LaGrange resident and law enforcement officer

The left brings us a new story and a new angle every day. There has been considerable discussion this past year on congressional term limits. Let’s start with Maxine Waters who is rapidly earning the name “Mad Max.” 

Omar Navarro is running against Mad Max in the 43rd District of California. The congressional candidate says it’s time to get Maxine out of Congress. More than a few would agree.

Navarro says Max “…needs to be stopped…(she) has spent decades in Congress hiking your taxes, palling around with criminals… and giving millions of dollars in taxpayer handouts to failing businesses connected to her cronies.”

The 80 year-old Representative has served in the House since 1991 and she holds nothing back.

Waters is also alleged to have provided a $12 million taxpayer handout to the failed OneUnited Bank, where her husband is a stockholder and bank executives are alleged to have donated to her election campaign. 

Navarro, a Christian Latino-American, thinks he can beat her this year. 

In comparing her election results from her last election she had nearly 70,000 less supporters than the previous election.

It’s easy to see how a long tenure in Congress clouds the eyes of the holder and why many Americans want term limits imposed on Congress.

In looking at the longest tenures of some Congressional members, 17 of the top 20 are/were Democrats. Seven Democrats have held elected office for 50 years or more and Don Young is currently the longest serving Republican having been in Washington for 46 plus years.

There have been numerous moves to establish term limits over the years, but all have failed. 

The most recent attempt that had a fair amount of support was in the 1994 midterm elections.

That plan was spearheaded by Newt Ginrich as part of the Contract with America movement.

Those who favor term limits are confident that the limitations would prevent politicians from gaining too much power while in office. Proponents also feel shorter terms would keep their politicians more in tune with those that elected him or her.

An additional benefit proponents feel would happen would result in Congress putting more emphasis on policy and less on politics.

Those opposed to term limits argue that such limits already exist and they are called elections. They suggest that members of congress that get re-elected are doing what the constituents want them to be doing.

Opponents also feel that term limits would weaken the power of the voters and their respective districts. 

If the voters want to re-elect their congressional representatives considered to be doing a good job at representing the district then there is no need to change. 

It’s an argument with matching pros and cons. Don’t expect to see a serious movement by any group to adopt term limits this year.

However, if there ever was a reason to move to term limits, “Mad Max could be the poster child.”