‘Re-elect nobody’

The question posed in the Clarion (regarding term limits) has been around before. It reminds me of a great bumper sticker I saw one day, causing an epiphany right there in the parking lot, which read “re-elect nobody!” Talk about “term limits!” Of course I believe my representatives will vote themselves out of office by approving term limits. And Star Trek is a documentary and Ed McMahon is waiting at my house with a big fat check.

Until I saw that bumper sticker I was one who thought getting term limits by law was the logical way to give ourselves power. But that bumper sticker it hit me right between the eyes. We have the power now, have had it all along, to assess term limits on anyone. All we have to do is have the ambition and the desire to get out and vote.

Aha! There’s the rub! We have to get out and vote. We can’t do it from our living rooms by remote control, we can’t do it from our jobs or over our computer network system, we can’t do it from our automobiles by cell phone. We have to get out and vote. I made up my mind right then to make sure I never miss an opportunity to exercise term limits. If a candidate is doing an excellent job, he or she can continue, for a while. But the very minute that candidate stops remembering who put him or her in office, namely me, and who he or she is ultimately responsible to, namely me, I’m voting him or her out.

I don’t believe political offices were meant to be life-long occupations. Some of our candidates seem to assume they cannot be deposed. I’m not going to vote for any incumbent in future elections until I see someone who is getting the results I think are important, who adequately represents me. I’m not going to let political ideology or gender prevent me from trying to get rid of him or her if they are not doing the job I thought they should when I voted for them the last time around. Re-elect nobody! This is term limits in the manner imagined by our founding fathers when they organized our government.

What we have to do is stop complaining and start effecting change, one step, one vote at a time. All we have to do is put our grease where our squeak is. At least it would be a start. Because I don’t think our representatives will vote themselves out of office in the near future. Of course, this is merely my opinion, they may be voting themselves out as we speak. Just in case, though, be sure to cast your vote. Impose your own term limits. In the meantime, can anyone tell me where I might find that bumper sticker?

Marilyn Wheeless

Kenai