Why We Need Term Limits In Congress

In every system, there is the possibility of abuse and Congress is no exception. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) was the previous record holder for abuse of the lack of a limit on how many times one can run for Senate. The sometimes-former Klan member, Robert Byrd (D-KKK) has just surpassed him with nearly 48 years in the Senate or to date 17,327 days. To top it off, he’s planning a run for a record ninth term; a run he’s likely to win due to his mastery of bringing home the pork to his home state of West Virginia.

Byrd, almost jokingly referred to as the “Conscience of the Senate”, could easily have retired years ago. In fact, given his lack of apology for his participation in establishing a major chapter of the Klan in West Virginia, one wonders how this man not only has the moral authority to be Senator, but how his fellow Senators can tolerate his presence. Given the accolades they showered him with for being the FDR of the Senate, one has to wonder at the sorts of individuals they are to be so accepting of a man who clearly does not represent the majority of his constituents, and I would hope, the Democratic Party. That they would line up with a known and unapologetic old-school dyed-in-the-wool racist is amusing for people who have no trouble labeling just about everyone who disagrees with them racists.

Strom Thurmond was certainly a racist himself, even going so far as to be a part of the Dixiecrat movement of the 1960’s. He did undergo a conversion and repented his previous racist ideology, leaving the Democratic Party for the Republican Party, but Byrd has not show the same penitence, nor has he shown the desire to do as Thurmond did and retire. Thurmond definitely overstayed his Senate seat, but a man like Byrd seems power-drunk enough that one can only imagine he wouldn’t be able to survive without his seat on the Appropriations Committee.

Also, considering that this man practically defined pork-barreling in his day (see Dictionary: under pork barrel there’s a picture of Bobbie), and given the recent but brief flirtation with policing such giveaways in Congress, you’d think more pressure would have come on Byrd to resign or at the very least curtail his giveaways to West Virginia. Byrd seems to share with Clinton a Teflon exterior, though, and somehow avoids any and all mentions from the antique media or his own Congressional body that he might not only have overstayed his welcome, but that he might embody the corruption of everything that is wrong with Congress. How a man like him survives, I can only imagine is by the grace of some pact with Lucifer himself. Perhaps if, when he does eventually die, bloviating and pontificating on some budget cut to the “Robert Byrd/William LaPetomaine Memorial Throughway”, should he spontaneously combust right there on the Senate floor, we’ll have our answer on that one.

Until then, why not write your Senator and ask him or her what he or she thinks of this icon of the Senate remaining after all these years. Ask them what they think about a man who embodies hatred, corruption, and everything that is wrong with the Senate and see what their reaction is. Or if you’re up to it, send a letter to Methuselah himself and ask him if he has any shame or dignity left as a human being and if he does why doesn’t he exercise it and vacate the office for someone who's a little closer to the age of at least the average West Virginia retiree (should've seen my first comparison). I’m curious what sort of form letter that might generate. Why not drop them a line and find out?