What Do People Want?

 

This simple question raises a plethora of issues that we have not begun to identify, much less deal with. The individuals who demand certain things often turn out to know nothing about the things that they are demanding. Where do they get these ideas? Regarding how these demands could be met, they are usually completely ignorant. No offense! I'm ignorant about many subjects myself. There's no shame in it.

The problem is that people are being told what terrible things are happening. They are being told who is responsible for those terrible things. They are being told what changes need to be made. They are being fed a constant stream of lies about the even more terrible things that will soon happen if those changes are not made. They are being driven mad with terror by lies about things that will never happen, things which could not happen. The changes that are being demanded will never happen, cannot happen.

People are being manipulated. They're falling for the lies hook, line, and sinker. It's a shame.

The terrors that people carry around with them today can be summed up in two words: Nancy Pelosi!

They are afraid of Democrats, even though I guarantee you, whoever you are, FDR made your family's life easier. Jimmy Carter; Fritz Mondale; Bill Clinton; Barry Obama; even Mike Dukakis; I'm asking you point blank: what did any of those men ever do to hurt you? All this time, business has been doing fine, and the rich certainly aren't hurting. Did anybody take away your guns? Can you explain why the thought of Joe Biden being president sends chills of raw terror up your spine? Now, now, I mean without reference to what you are being fed by certain media. Use your own ears, and your own words, and tell me what awful things are negatively impacting your life already just because Joe Biden is president. What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?

Facebook is currently preoccupied with the terrible dangers of Democrats in congress. People want term-limits!

God knows why, but Republicans have been spreading the bullshit pretty thick about term-limits in congress. You'd think that they would learn, but you'd be wrong. FDR terrified the Republican party so much that they managed to pass the Twenty-Second Amendment in 1951, limiting the presidency to two terms per person. It would take another amendment to limit a congressman's time in the Senate or the House, and I doubt if it could be done now. In my opinion, the Republicans don't want it, because they benefit from its absence as much as the Democrats do. That doesn't stop them from feeding it to their loyal, uncritical fans. Term-limits! Get rid of that awful Nancy Pelosi! (They never mention Mitch McConnell.)

People get this stuff from certain news media and social media outlets. I hate to tell them, but half of those anti-Nancy Facebook memes come from Russia. They're just stirring the pot, and foolish readers/ listeners yell, yeah! Where did Nancy Pelosi get all of that money? (She married it, BTW. Although her own family growing up was quite prosperous. Do Republicans now think that those things are crimes?)

The outlets get it from Republican politicians, backed by their faux academic scholars back at the Heritage Foundation. The scholars come up with conclusory arguments (arguments that simply state unsupported conclusions) to back whatever play the Republicans and the investment class are running with. It all sounds great to the Rubes, and it's off to the races! Term-limits! That's the ticket!

I thought that you people were big fans of the Constitution. The MAGA gang, and the Tea Party before them, never stopped screaming about the Constitution and freedom. Freedom! Why don't you all try some real freedom for a change, and take a few moments every day to think for yourselves? Why do you let these rich assholes lead you around by the noses?

You want term-limits in Congress? Well, start planning for that amendment. Big project. Better get started!

Here's your Constitution:

House of Representatives? Article 1, section 2. Candidate has four hoops to jump through:

1. Chosen by the people of the … state;

2. Must be at least 25 years old;

3. Must have been a citizen of the US for 7 years; and

4. Be an inhabitant of that state when elected.

Senate? Article 1, section 3. Something similar.

1. Chosen by the people;

2. Must be at least 30 years old;

3. Must have been a citizen of the US for 9 years; and

4. Be an inhabitant of that state when elected.

Nothing in there about term-limits. Hell, the candidate could have moved to that state one day before the election. (Ahem, Liz Cheney.) It seems to me that the writers of the Constitution wished to give the voters in the several states a great deal of freedom to choose their representatives. Now all of those MAGA patriots want to take that freedom away with term-limits? The current president can't add requirements. Neither can the Supreme Court. If you want to change the words in the constitution, you need an amendment.

So if you want term-limits in Congress, get busy, or shut up about it.