Rotten to the core.

Jim DeMint at the 9/12 Tea PartyJim DeMint is looking to do it the right way, amending the Constitution, to enact term limits for Congress:

The South Carolina Republican - hearkening back to the days of the party's "Contract with America" - on Tuesday offered a fix to the corrupting influence of "permanent politicians," introducing an amendment to the Constitution that would limit Senate members to three six-year terms and House members to three two-year terms.

I'm torn on term limits. I think there's a liberty issue at stake, just like with any other profession, and that term limits infringe on one's right to pursue whatever lawful profession they choose.

On the other hand, we got a whole lot of not only rotten, but low-hanging fruit on the vine in Congress. Term limits I think would go a long way toward rectifying that scenario.

I've advocated here for a compromise type of term limit regime featuring more of a "time-out". Senators could serve two consecutive 6-year terms, but would then have to relinquish their seats for one full term. House members could serve three consecutive 2-year terms, but would have to give up their seats for 2 or 4 years. After the "time-out" period, they would be free to run again.

I think this serves the purpose of removing career politicians from the halls of power long enough for them to regain their sanity, while still respecting the liberty interest involved with pursuing a lawful profession.

However, rest assured that if DeMint's amendment gains steam in its current form, you won't get any fuss out of me.

Russ