Fundamental Cure for a Fundamentally Broken Political System

“Congress has a 14% approval rating, but a 96% incumbent reelection rate.”

Tampa Bay Times (11/11/2014)

With public dissatisfaction with Congress never higher — yet incumbents’ jobs never safer — it would be easy to despair of ever unseating today’s entrenched political power.

And I believe that that’s the case, at least through conventional election campaigns.term limits

Fortunately, there’s another option — one that was seriously discussed by national leaders as recently as the early ’90’s, in an economic and political environment uncannily similar to today’s:  term limits.

Specifically, limiting — by Constitutional Amendment — the number of years and/or terms in office that members of Congress could serve (the most popular number being 12 years, which would translate into two terms for Senators and six for U.S. Representatives).

Brief History Lesson; “Ross Perot Wasn’t Wrong”

So, what happened to the promising term limits movement a generation ago?

Bill Clinton got elected, Ross Perot faded, and the 90’s economic boom — leading to the Internet supernova and flame out — just sort of changed the subject.

Which is too bad.

Because term limits was (and is) an especially good (the only?) way to deal with hopelessly entrenched economic and political power.

(Note:  antitrust policy is another option — but dealing with a broken political system necessarily comes first).

The Alternative to “Just Getting Used to It”

Which leads to the big(ger) picture, as they say. 

The lesson of the last several election cycles shouldn’t be, “if political power is hopelessly entrenched, we should all simply get used to it, somehow.”

That’s the path of cynicism, disaffection — and ultimately, disengagement.

Rather, the takeaway should be, “if the system is fundamentally broken — as many now believe it is — the solution is to turn to fundamental, institutional-level fixes.”

Not superficial campaign spending tweaks, ineffectual (and easily circumvented) disclosure rules, etc.

As a smart person (OK, Einstein) once observed, “a problem can’t be solved at the same level it was created.”

See also, “Matthew McConaughey for President?  Guess Who’s Using Ranked Choice Voting?“; and “When Being Close Counts:  Horse Shoes . . . Hand Grenades . . . Ranked Choice Voting??”

About the author

Ross Kaplan has 19+ years experience selling real estate all over the Twin Cities. He is also a 12-time consecutive "Super Real Estate Agent," as determined by Mpls. - St. Paul Magazine and Twin Cities Business Magazine. Prior to becoming a Realtor, Ross was an attorney (corporate law), CPA, and entrepreneur. He holds an economics degree from Stanford.

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