If 2020 taught anything it taught that term limits are an absolute necessity to retaining our Republic. People have preached for years that “voting” is term limits. That was true when the public was engaged. Back when the foundation of our country was being constructed people were engaged out of necessity. Frankly, they were engaged because it gave them something to do.
In today’s “expired before it hits the shelves” lifestyle the public doesn’t need to be engaged to fill up the boring spaces of their lives. There is plenty of fun stuff to do and politics just isn’t fun. More times than not it’s downright soul sucking.
No one wants to sit through a five-hour meeting to talk about road expansions to get to the part of the meeting about freedom crushing regulations. There’s a new episode of the Go Big Show or a gathering of friends to play Fortnite. Someone else can worry about the writing of regulations to oversee your favorite restaurant.
Que “I told you so” shoulder shrugging and eye rolls when you see those who couldn’t be bothered to oversee government, head out to their favorite local eatery to find it has closed its doors. The hand wringing, outrage and letter writing commences. Now instead of sitting through a five-hour tortuous meeting that could have prevented it, you must slog through years of trying to unwrite the business ending regulations.
Government encroachment into areas of your life where it doesn’t belong happens because of apathy and a reliance on “someone else” doing the watching.
In 2020 and continuing into 2021 we have witnessed government seize local business and put such strict, illogical and unreasonable restriction on them that many closed or had to lay off and fire their employees.
Schools kept their doors closed because of faulty information being fed them from unelected bureaucrats who themselves lived in personal fear of a coronavirus not much different than any other coronavirus. You were ruled by their fear, not scientific evidence.
What does any of this have to do with term limits? Unchecked power. If our County Executive and Governor feared the public outrage and backlash, NONE of what we are experiencing would have happened.
Our apathy allowed government to come in and treat everyone as children incapable of making risky decisions. WE let them.
The elected and unelected policy writers have no fear of the public because we no longer check their power. We can’t be bothered. People would argue that we need to get the public “engaged.” That horse has already left the barn. Instead of chasing it around the field, it’s time to erect fences that keep the horse from running wherever it pleases.
Term limits are the answer to current problems. The only good thing the Frederick County Charter writers did right was putting term limits on the County Executive and Councilman positions. We need term limits at the state and federal levels and should be encouraging that whenever we can.
Term limits prevent a good person from being wooed by power that ultimately corrupts everyone when exposed for too long. Term limits make the Delegate and Senator in Annapolis less beholden to donors and the “next election” and more beholden to the person who elected them. Term limits prevent an individual from garnering so much power that it become possible for one person to set the agenda for our lives without being questioned. People now fear their government instead of government fearing the people.
Thomas Jefferson said: “When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”
If you fear speaking out, then government has too much power. Do you fear voicing your opinions?
Government will not “serve” the people and uphold the Constitution until it once again fears us.
