Would you want to be a "professional" Congressman?

[kentuck]

Why would anyone want to stay up there more than 2 years? Do they enjoy the power? The money? The perks? Why do some want to stay for 40 years? I cannot understand it. Why can't they go up to Washington for 2 or 4 years and then go back home? Do they think their "esperience" is supposed to be better for the rest of us? From what I have seen, the longer they are there, the more useless they are. They become beholden to special interests and they start to covet their position of power. It's too bad there is not a movement in this country to clean up the Congress. The people could tell the Congressman, Democrat or Republican, if they have been there more than a dozen years, it's time to leave. You've been there long enough...

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Term limits backfired in MO.

A new bunch of mainly repukelican reps took over the state legislature.

[dorktv]

9. Same here. We have more reactionary nutters then in the old days.

[unblock]

2. they have the seniority trap. the start to covet committee chairs

they think if they hand on, eventually they'll get some REAL power, and it DOES work that way. of course, usually, by the time they have that power, they are hopelessly beholden to the money structure that kept them in there for so long -- if they weren't, the money structure would have found someone else.

"but they were all of them betrayed...."

[napi21]

3. I think there are a few old timers who do a pretty good job.

I'm going to feel very baed when Ted Kennedy has to retire, he's done a LOT OF GOOD in his long career in the House. Senator Byrd has also done a lot of goood for all of us, and he's been there forever! To be fair, Arlan Spector has been a good Senator too.

I'm sure there are others that I'm not familiar with.

I personally wouldn't want to stay there for more than 2 years because I HATE begging, and from what I understand, Congressmen have to spend 75%+ of their time on the phone begging for money to get re-eleted! I simply couldn't do that, which is the same reason why I would never be elected in the first place!

I suppose, if no one could serve anymore than 2 years, that would eliminate one of those problems, but not both.

Experience really does matter sometimes too. Even with staffers and legal assistants, some of the old folks come up with a rule that hasn't been used in YEARS just to make things happen unexpectedly.

Most of them, I'd like to kick square in the....

But they're not really ALL BAD.

[cornermouse]

4. Its a job that they aren't likely to be fired from for simple

poor job performance plus it has large automatic pay raises that are not dependent on job performance, a lot of prestige associated with the position, and lavish retirement benefits. They get to dress up and eat in restaurants often that most of us can't even look in the window at. "Free" vacations anywhere in the world. Why would they want to give it up?

[readmoreoften]

5. I'd love to be a congresswoman. But I have too many tattoos. /nt

[pinto]

6. I disagree. I prefer a professional cadre of elected officials.

As it is now, we have term limits resulting in a lot of single issue partisans, political neophytes in a lot of ways, who know they won't be around long. Coupled with the real movers (the real professional bureaucracy of staffers and lobbyists), term limits are a recipe for abuse. I'd much rather have an elected, professional cadre of representatives.

It takes an informed and active electorate to make it work.

[demodonkey]

7. I'd love to be in Congress or State Legislature because....

I have been doing a lot of citizen lobbying for HR 550 and my state bills proposed to require voter-verified paper ballots with audits and I have learned that I do enjoy working in the atmosphere of both Capitol Hill in D.C. and my own state capital.

I would love to be a Congressperson, or a State Senator or State Rep. For how long, I cannot say. But as long as I was there I would do my best because I really like meeting people, working with them and helping them. And if I ever lost sight of that, hopefully I would know then that it is time to quit.

[godhatesrepublicans]

8. Yes, because I don't trust anyone else to do it better than I would.