Term Limits. What you should know.

    I was going through the mail a while back and came across a couple main-in ballots, as I corrected them I noticed a couple things about term limits, not knowing as much as I would like to about the subject I went out and educated myself, here is what I found.

            A term limit is basically exactly what it says; a limit on how many terms an elected official can serve before he/she is subject to re-election or resignation. Term limits are somewhat complex. A term limit can consist of two or more terms and each term is 4 years long in the case of the president or can extend to life terms in the case of Supreme Court justices. Terms are a number of years that an official can be in office, term limits, limit the number of terms a person can serve, thus limiting the amount of time the official is under the influence of power. A lot of limits huh?

            As the marvelous movie The Dark Night states; “You either die the hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” which is true to this case. If you are in office to long with somebody else's power you are bound to abuse it sooner or later. Term limits are a level in the separation of powers which keeps our government from becoming corrupt.

Separation of power happens on 5 major levels; 1. Popular Sovereignty; basically this means that the people created the gov. so they can destroy it or rebuild it however they see fit. 2. Limited Government; this means that the actual government is divided into three parts Legislative (congress, senate and House of Representatives), Judicial (makes the laws) and Executive (which is the president and vp) 4. Federalism; is the government of the separate states. 5. Checks and Balances; this means that each branch of gov. has the power to override the others if they make a bad of stupid decision. It’s a lot of waffle but that is what makes our government tick.

            Term limits help officials from becoming corrupt with their borrowed power. Governments were instated among men to guarantee certain rights; life, liberty and property. To create these governments men give up some of their own power and give it to the government so they can create laws to ensure the public have their life, liberty and property. Term limits limit the amount of time officials are held subject to essentially more power than they can handle, thus prohibiting them from becoming tainted by prolonged exposure to said power.

            The term limit for president of the United States is 4 years. And the president can run for a second term of 4 more years. All in all one person can act as the president for 2 terms each consisting of 4 years per term. Term limits for representatives are different; a representative's term is 2 years, and there is no limit on how many terms you can serve as long as you are re-elected. A senator serves an 8 year long term and there is no limit on how many times he/she can be elected/re-elected. Supreme court justices serve for life. Sometimes a justice will die, in which case they have fulfilled their life term, and in other cases they will resign because their health is failing. When a justice does die or resign the president is the one who picks a new one.

            Term limits are very important to our version of democracy, because they are yet another level of the separation of powers that keep the balance. I would disagree with somebody who wants to abolish term limits I would not disagree however if somebody suggests that term limits are revised. Revision may be a healthy addition to the system seeing as times change, perhaps if term limits were looked at every 8 years or so we could adjust them to match whatever complications have come up. We should keep the term limits in place in no case should they be abolished. Term limits are part of the separation of powers, they keep our government in check and they help balance power by not letting only a few people have all the power all the time. Term limits insure a chance for other people to be in governmental positions, sort of like being on a sports team we have to have “fresh” legs to keep other people from becoming tired and making stupid decisions. If you want to read another view of term limits you can read about it at Term Limits Voter's Guide and you will see the author has a few good points but overall is wrong. If you agree, your just as stupid as he is. He says things like "tall people get elected, so vote for the short guy" he is an idiot who doesnt really know what he's talking about, and just has a little to much free time.

    I now know all I need to, to continue correcting. Until next time Jack Emmerson signing off.

State/Laws of Nature.

John Locke explained that in a "state of nature" that people would have the right to 3 things; Life, Liberty and Property. Locke knew that all people are not good, and so the rights of  good people in a state of nature would always be in danger of being harmed or taken away. This is how government is created. The "good" people give up some of their own power to instate a government that is dedicated to protecting the people's rights to life, liberty and property. This illustrates the "social contract" between the government and the governed.

"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." -- Declaration of Independence

This quote from the declaration of Independence directly explains the "social contract" between the people and the government. Governments are instated by the people to guarantee protection of life liberty and property. Which are the things that all people want/need. If a government becomes corrupt or destructive to the purposes for which it was created the people have the power to destroy or correct their government.

The Declaration of Independence includes 6 points of note due to relevance to this topic. Here I will explain what they mean.

1. "All men are created equal."

This means that all men/women are created with the same rights.

2. "People have certain rights that are unalienable."

This means that the rights we were created with can never be taken away.

3. "Rights include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

These are the rights that we are born with and that are unalienable.

4. "Governments are made to secure these rights."

This states the purpose of government. Which is to protect our unalienable rights from the baddies.

5. "Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The power government has depends on how much power the public/governed gives.

6. "People have the right to alter or abolish their government if it becomes destructive of the purposes for which it was created."

If the people don't like the way their government is headed, they can destroy/change it.

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Jack Emmerson

Democracy?

"Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want" - Clive Alexander Barnes

This quote rings a bell of truth in my ear, because it is logical. This makes complete sense because what is on T.V. is rated by the public and the stuff that people don't like gets removed, and the stuff that we do like is kept and improved. It may be unsettling to people to see some of the things that are on T.V. right now, but this quote is based in fact. The things we see on T.V. are what the majority of the people want, so it is scary. Youth are being de-sensitized sooner, and this leads to more free minds, and unstable ideals.

This quote suggests that America's form of "democracy" is either wrong, false, or not. Democracy largely depends on the support of the public, but do to human nature, and ambition the people that we think are trustworthy often have hidden agendas and plans, for how to further themselves. Perhaps America's form of "democracy" is not perfect, but hey it's worked so far.

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Jack Emmerson