“Repealing Term Limits in Idaho” Across the country, many American citizens have voted to place term limitations on state representatives. In the early 90’s Idaho voted successfully on term limitation for government officials. Any official from the governor down to school board members would be restricted to a certain amount of years. The new law allowed state and local officials to serve 8 years over any 15 year period, while county commissioners and school board members were allowed only 6 years over any 11 year period. Several officials such as the Republican Party were heavily against term limitation, due to the consequence of having legislative leaders removed from office. There were other groups against term limits such as local government and business leaders; these leaders were typically found in rural areas which had small populations. The downside to term limits would be that the small populated areas were known to be low pay or no pay position, and if leaders were forced out of office due to term restrictions their spot may not be replaced. It was not until 2002 that Ida...
It is not uncommon to find members of Congress who have genuine goals of spearheading, designing or even just supporting good public policy. It would be harsh to say that every member of Congress is against good policy. However what is difficult for members of Congress is deciding what is more important, the wishes of their constituents or national policy. Although it is rare, members of Congress vote against the popular opinion of his or her district in order to make what would be considered good policy in the national interest. This hinders their chance of re-election but is necessary for America. In very rare cases members of Congress have gone against the wishes of their constituents for moral reasons like in the aftermath of 9/11. When voting on the 2002 Iraq War Resolution, I am certain that the last thing of the minds of members of Congress was re-election. A very conservative House of Representatives member Jimmy Duncan said ‘‘when I pushed that button to vote against the war back in 2002, I thought I might be ending my political career.” In times of crisis members of Congress have decide between what is right, not what their constituents believe is right. Another goal other than re-election that members of Congress have is their own future. For many, being a members of The House of Representatives is a mere stepping stone in their career on the way to better things. Therefore for some members of Congress, re-election does not worry them and gives them the freedom to act in an environment striped of the constant pressure of re-election. However, considering that most of the members of The House Of Representatives goals lie within the Senate or high executive positions, re-election is still on their mind, all be it in the form of a different
In the political world today there are so many different opinions about several different topics. The topics that I will address to you will be, should the 22nd Amendment be repealed and also should the foreign born be allowed to run for president. In both topics you may have your pros and cons, but I am strongly against the both of them because I feel that the Constitution should not be taken advantage of. Government should not be allowed to manipulate the Constitution to suit his or her needs. While making adjustments to the Constitution to allow different things to take place for convenience doesn’t leave any form respect of the Constitution. There should be a line drawn to keep this from happening for years to come on these issues and others as well. Some will like for the 22nd amendment to repealed to keep who they like in office, but my feeling towards this is give other the opportunity to make our world a better place. There are more than enough qualified people to make a difference for our country no need to stick to one person who eventually will get tired of it anyway. In addition, with the foreign born, this issue came to play all over Schwarzenegger getting backed up by Congress and other governors in California to try to make necessary changes to the Constitution (CNN News, 2004).
An issue in Texas today is whether the public have sufficient control over the executive branch of Texas government. Texas has a plural executive, which mean the public not only elects the Lieutenant Governor, but also the Attorney General, Comptroller, Land Commissioner, and Agricultural Commissioner (Benson, Clinkscale, and Giardino 216). These elections add significantly to the “long ballet” that the public can vote for. Some argue that because there are so many to vote for, people cannot adequately vote for the positions. The research and attention needed to stay up to date on the elections can steer people away from voting. Many people vote for the governor and the lieutenant governor because of the title and how high the positions are.
Mike Lee, The Forth Worth Star-Telegram. Texas Governor should have term limit. Fort Worth, 01 September 2010.
The 22nd Amendment is to prevent the United States of America from turning into a dictatorship by cutting down the terms you can serve to two four year terms and to limit the power one person can receive. The 22nd is an amendment that protects not only the U.S. but the people that reside there as well. It’s the story of how the constitution had no term limit for the president to run for to how it came to be two term set by the example of the first president.
Every ten years after a census, politicians redraw the district boundaries that determine the house and state legislature. The problem with this system is that the same politicians who redraw the district boundaries are the ones who are being elected by the
Though, it would be refreshing to elect an official who remained focused on the best interest of their constituent, the reality is, special interest groups hold the purse. We must set term limits to prevent corruption and give the new comer on the block a fighting
The Electoral College today is a very complex system of voting and campaigning. When it was first created, the Framers thought the average citizen of their day was not intelligent enough to know who should be leading their country. So they created the Electoral College which was run by people who knew what they were doing. The Electoral College is a body of people who represent each state and they determine the president. The real question is: Has the Electoral College gotten too far out of hand where it needs to go? The answer is yes. The reasons are because any third party candidate running in the election has no chance of winning any electoral votes. Also, it gives too much power to the big states in electoral votes. Finally, it creates problems on majority electoral votes and equality of smaller states is diminished.
National Conference of State Legislatures. Wendy Underhill , 26 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
The single-member district election system is the most common and best-known electoral system currently in use in America. It is used to elect the U.S. House Representatives, as well as many state and local legislatures. Under single member district systems, an area is divided into a number of geographically defined voting districts, each represented by a single elected official. Voters can only vote for their district’s representative, with the individual receiving the most votes winning election. This method of electing representatives is better than any alternative solution in various ways. Four compelling reasons to support the single-member district election system include the fact that single-member districts give each voter a single, easily identifiable district member; the way single-member district voting helps protect against overreaching party influence; that single-member districts ensure geographic representation; and finally, that single-member districts are the best way to maximize representatives’ accountability.
Saad, L. (2013). Americans Call for Term Limits, End to Electoral College. Gallup Poll Briefing
Since the founding of our nation, government has constantly been changing and developing as the United States has been evolving. What started out as thirteen colonies rules by another country expanded into fifty states of an independent country each with its own ideas and people to look out for. With this expanding country it was important that the government expand but also that the American people felt like they had a voice. Their voice can be heard in the varying types of participation of the political process at the national, state, and local level. Mona Field’s California Government and Politics Today and Ann O’M. Bowman’s State and Local Government: The Essentials both discuss the topics of the importance of state government, the levels and types of political participation done by Americans, and the increasing importance of state governments.
Elected officials often hold their position for an extensive duration of time. The founding fathers placed a length of time before the terms of senators, representatives, and executives are expired and need to be reelected in the Constitution, and the twenty-second amendment placed term limits on the United States president. Why ought to other elected officials have term limits?
Profession Legislative issues are the ruin of this nation. At the point when government officials are more inspired by doing what it takes to get re-chose than they are in doing what they believe is correct, the framework must change. Tune in to each political expert and the congressman themselves. They discuss how things like Obamacare and world occasions and their position on those things will get them re-chose. They couldn't care less about whether what they say or do is correct. They just think about on the off chance that it will keep them in office. We must force term restricts with the goal that whether they are re-chosen is not anymore, the be all end all. What's more, the contention of naiveté or not having enough time to complete
How did the senators and the mayors of each state rose to their power? It all came from the power of the citizens, and that is to vote. Voting is one of the rights given to us from the law. In the course of history, several reforms were made about the age limit of voting until it was limited to eighteen years of age. However, there has been a lot of arguments recently about lowering the voting age further to sixteen. According to the first article, the voting age should be maintained, and I completely agree with the writer of the first article. Even if the voting age would be moved to sixteen, the percentage of voters would decrease further and the government should focus more on making the people participate and using their voting rights.