11-12-2016, 01:45 AM
There are a lot of pros and cons, but one that I hear the most often is 'but then you get inexperienced lawmakers.'
Two things:
First, no, you don't. Do you think every member of Congress is actually sitting around reading every 2,000 page piece of legislation that they vote on? Come on, there's not enough hours in the day. They rely on staff to tell them what they're voting on, what their base wants and what their party wants. And much of that staff doesn't change.
Your elected official is just representative of the staff he and his party have in place. Plug in another guy of the same party, you're — 9 times out of 10 — going to get the same vote.
Second, you get less experienced lawmakers, but more experienced people. Lawmakers are incredibly insulated (which goes back to the fairly constant staff around them). The longer they're in office, the longer they're away from the people and reasons they ran for office. Instead of being citizens serving citizens, they become party members serving parties.
Personally, what I'd like to see is what some states have for state officials. You can serve multiple terms, but not more than two consecutive. Send the representative back to the real world, if only for four years, and let him remember what it's like to get up and go to a real job or at the very least not have the perks of the pin.
Two things:
First, no, you don't. Do you think every member of Congress is actually sitting around reading every 2,000 page piece of legislation that they vote on? Come on, there's not enough hours in the day. They rely on staff to tell them what they're voting on, what their base wants and what their party wants. And much of that staff doesn't change.
Your elected official is just representative of the staff he and his party have in place. Plug in another guy of the same party, you're — 9 times out of 10 — going to get the same vote.
Second, you get less experienced lawmakers, but more experienced people. Lawmakers are incredibly insulated (which goes back to the fairly constant staff around them). The longer they're in office, the longer they're away from the people and reasons they ran for office. Instead of being citizens serving citizens, they become party members serving parties.
Personally, what I'd like to see is what some states have for state officials. You can serve multiple terms, but not more than two consecutive. Send the representative back to the real world, if only for four years, and let him remember what it's like to get up and go to a real job or at the very least not have the perks of the pin.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
