Posted by
tenurecorrupts.com on Tuesday, June 03, 2008 5:55:56 PM
VOTERS AND NON- VOTERS, LISTEN UP!
(text)
Our
dysfunctional Congress is the direct result of an apathetic voter
population, which in turn, is the direct result of the absence of term
limits.
Voters
who really want an effective, responsible Congress, are turned off from
voting because they feel voting is a meaningless exercise, since
Congress is chock full of permanent, careerist, professional
politicians, who are principally concerned with reelection first, good
government last.
These
politicians don’t want to do a civic duty. They only want a well paid
job, which has generous benefits, no boss, is non-accountable, has a
large staff, many perquisites, and possible lifetime tenure. And to get
this, all they have to do is ‘con’ voters into always reelecting them.
Toward
this end, the incumbents carefully manage their voting records and
speeches to nurture the special interest groups who give them the most
financial and electoral support for the next election. And they are
succeeding. Reelection rates for the House are 98%, the Senate is 90%.
So the responsible voter says “What’s the use?”, and doesn’t vote.
In the early 1900’s, reelections averaged in the 60% range
In the 1960’s, House reelections averaged about 90%, voter turnout was about 62%, .
After 2000, House reelections reached 98%, voter turnout was down to about 50%.
I predict that when reelection rates reach 100%, voter turnout will plunge to below 35%.
And Congress will still stand rock-solid against term limits!
That will be the beginning of the end of our liberty, and our once great republic.
There
is only one way to correct this slide into national oblivion. It
requires the American voter to take back Congress. We can do it,
simply. It only requires determination.
First,
we must, all of us, always vote, in every election. We must raise voter
turnout from the current 50% level to over 80%. In every Congressional
election.
Second,
and most importantly, we must never reelect incumbents. Good or bad. We
must always vote for challengers. Also good or bad. We must give up our
party and incumbent loyalties, and concentrate on achieving a 100%
turnover in Congress. We can do it in 3 elections. The whole House and
1/3 of the Senate is up every two years.
In
reality, only a substantial partial success is required. When the media
and the pols see the trend, they will panic. And new freshmen, seeing
the trend, will then vote the way the voters want them to vote.
We
can always go back to voting for our party and a favorite candidate
AFTER we take back the Congress and install Term Limits. If we don’t
win this battle soon, we will eventually no longer have any choice on
who to vote for. We’ll have a fully permanent Congress. And it will be our fault!
I'm Nelson Lee Walker
of tenurecorrupts.com