This morning I went to the gas pumps. $4.62 for regular. Enough all ready! But our own state senator thinks we will be satisfied with the removal of the 18.4 cents per gallon Federal Gas Tax. Hmmm… Not connected.
Perhaps, they think no one is noticing the increase in EVERYTHING! Inflation! Today, that number is 8.54%. Everything is up.
There are several reasons for inflation, but virtually all of them lead back to the government. Everything from taxes, spending, and regulation, and that is the one I key on today. The government. The people who spend, pass laws, and more.
If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists – to protect them and to promote their common welfare – all else is lost. Barack Obama
Can we trust them? NPR tells us that only 19.4 percent of the public trusts the government. WOW!
My mom and dad always taught me if you do not have a solution to stop talking about the problem. Many people stop right here. (Well, Facebook seems to be where they stop.)
Do I have a solution? Yes! After years of being involved in politics, I have come to the conclusion, that there is a solution that “makes our vote count.”
The answer is simple and works on a local and state level. Far easier to work on than thinking we change Washington DC tomorrow.
Term Limits
Term Limits.
Currently, many states have voted on term limits, and more are moving it because it is in response to the people. (And it does require a constitutional amendment.) Under Article V of the Constitution, state legislatures may create a convention to enact a constitutional amendment and nobody in Washington can stop them. It takes getting 34 state legislatures – those politicians you elect to serve you at your state capitol – to pass resolutions calling for a Term Limits Convention.
I would tell you that term limits would preserve personal liberty. That many would not be campaigning all the time but doing the job they were sent there to do. We would gain skills and creative thinking. We would begin to see the end of crony capitalism, reduce the power of PACs and lobbyists,
Legislative resistance to term limits is in sharp contrast with private citizens’ strong support for them. Special interests oppose term limits because they do not want to lose their valuable investments in incumbent legislators. (Each House Member, for instance, receives nearly a million dollars per year to pay for franked (free) mail, staff salaries, and office and travel expenses. Who can compete? The turnover rate of incumbents is about 10% over the last 20 years or so.)
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions…”
“. . . The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.” Thomas Jefferson
How do we do this? I belong to two organizations seeking term limits. TermLimits.org and COS Action (conventionofstates.com) Both share a plan of action for each of us.
That plan begins with reaching out to your elected officials to get them to vote on our behalf. To cause them to see the light. And new candidates need to be encouraged to run on term limits. (Otherwise, the benefits can be a trap.)
It is time for a change. If we want to gain a better handle on the economy, inflation, climbing fuel prices and more, we will need to take a stand.
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”
― Gerald R. Ford
