“After decades spent in Washington enriching themselves, career politicians invariably lose touch with Oregonians,” says Sam Carpenter, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate.
Carpenter is a businessman, a newcomer to politics, and one of 170 (and counting) signers of the USTL Term Limits Amendment Pledge so far this campaign season.
“Ron Wyden is no different,” Carpenter pointedly adds. “He’s spent nearly forty years in Washington, D.C., and has lost touch with Oregon’s values of hard work and accountability. Term limits will help reverse this trend and make sure politicians work for the people.
“For nearly four decades, Ron Wyden has helped create a mafia-like patronage system where the American people, industries, and legitimate interest groups are forced to pay tribute to government for protection, insider deals and favoritism. This system has to stop. The career politicians have to go.”
Candidates for Congress who sign the U.S. Term Limits Amendment Pledge (and congressional incumbents who sign, too—all are welcome!) have committed themselves, if elected, to “cosponsor and vote for the U.S. Term Limits Amendment of three (3) House terms and two (2) Senate terms and no longer limit.”
Another signer is Democratic Florida State Senator Geraldine Thompson, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives who helped make Florida the first state to formally call for an Article V Term Limits Convention. On page 7 of this issue, she explains her commitment to term limits as essential to “fairness in our elections…. I support term limits for elected officials because I believe that too often politicians become entrenched, more concerned about their reelection than the business of the people.”
Signatory Ted Cummings, an independent candidate for the Washington state U.S. Senate seat, says his goal “is to serve one term as a senator and return to my home and job. I understand that we have heard this line before but I actually intend to keep my word. I have lived my life being responsible, honest and dependable, I am running on the basis of my character and reputation and with a sincere desire to serve the people.”
North Carolinian Ryan Duffie declares on his Facebook page that is he running for Congress not to fit in “but instead to push back against the statists and the cronyism.” In addition to pledging his support to the Term Limits Amendment he has also promised to limit his own tenure to three terms.
Duffie recalls a debate in which his opponent said “ ‘we already have term limits; they’re called elections.’
“Has that been your experience? That you can just remove these people all entrenched with special-interest money?
“That’s why I am going in, going to fight and then going to get the heck out after three terms…. Do you want somebody to fight with Mark Meadows, Walter Jones and Mike Lee or somebody who wants to ‘work across the aisle’ and become just another politician?”
“We applaud the many candidates who have pledged to support a strong congressional term limits amendment in 2016,” says U.S. Term Limits President Phil Blumel.
“They have shown commitment to the principles of our Founding Fathers and the courage to stand up to the Washington elite. We still have candidates out there who recognize the need for rotation in office and that Congress should be filled with citizen legislators, not career politicians who have lost sight of what their constituents need.”