You have a great job. No, make that a really, really great job. Some would call it your “Dream Job.”
You are well aware that not everyone enjoys a work environment as spectacular as yours. Consider the perks that come with the job.
Want a state-of-the art gymnasium, complete with a personal trainer to keep you motivated? Sure, that is included.
What about an employee cafeteria? Absolutely. The food is prepared by a chef, not a cook. Everything is healthy and actually tastes good. No need to go out and jostle amongst the common folk for a table.
Staff and admin expenses? Not a problem. Your employer provides a generous budget to cover both.
And it doesn’t stop there. You also have a premium healthcare plan, paid vacations, subsidized travel to visit family and friends, and a more-than-generous pension. Who could ask for more?
Then, one day, all that is at risk. With time on the job, you have come to realize that there is a serious flaw in your company’s business model. Cash flow projections confirm that the product promised by your employer cannot be delivered without drastic cost cutting and significant increase in revenues. In short, the current business model is not sustainable.
What do you do? Do you call attention to the problem, knowing that any effective solution would require senior management to make some hard, and unpopular, choices? Would they act? It appears they have repeatedly chosen, instead, to ignore the problem, putting off the day of reckoning.
Worse, you realize that, if you were to speak out, you would stand a good chance of being marginalized and punished for not being a “team player.” If you were to, somehow, hang on to your job, your future prospects would clearly be limited.
Do you have the courage to stand up and do the right thing? Would you take action that would you put your “Dream Job” at risk? What would you choose to do?
Oh, and while you are at it, you might ask your congressman what he would do if he were to find himself in such a situation?
We have a problem. Okay, you probably saw this coming. But the problem is real and needs to be addressed. Is there a solution? Maybe, but it will not come easily.
The obvious answer would be to impose term limits on our elected officials.
In May 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5–4 in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995), that states cannot impose term limits upon their federal Representatives or Senators. Thus, term limits would require a constitutional amendment.
Article V of the constitution provides two methods by which amendments are to be considered. Specifically, either two thirds of both houses of congress or two thirds of state legislatures are empowered to propose amendments for ratification. That step, ratification, would then be carried out by either congress of by state legislatures.
It is highly unlikely that congressman would act to put himself out of work.
Thus, enactment by the state legislatures would be the most likely solution. Not an easy task because advocates would need a total of 34 states to act. At least eight states have called for a term limits amendment, but getting more would be difficult. Today, many state legislators oppose term limits for themselves and probably wouldn’t want to impose such a measure on federal legislators.
If the people want term limits but the state legislators don’t, is there a way to get around recalcitrant legislators? Maybe.
The Supreme Court recently ruled (Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission) that the people of Arizona could use a ballot initiative to overrule the state legislature in setting up an independent redistricting commission. Thus, it is possible that this ruling would allow states to adopt a term limits amendment by ballot initiative.
Could it be done? The math is not encouraging. Currently only 24 states allow ballot initiatives, not the 34 required to force a Constitutional Convention.
Hopeless? Maybe not. It is time to ger organized. We need community activists to mobilize in each of the 26 states that do not allow ballot initiatives. Members of Congress have failed to fix their broken business model. They should not be allowed to keep their “Dream Job.”
Don’t underestimate the power of social media. Ten years ago, public outrage was muted. Today, however, every man has a voice, and that voice can be loud and persistent.
To successfully impose term limits on congress will take time, organization and money.
We have the ability to organize. We can raise the money.
Do care enough to spend the time?