Have you ever repeated a word over and over to the point where it starts to sound ridiculous, and even its meaning starts to fade?
The word "change" has become this season's white noise du jour. Obama started this mantra right after he declared his candidacy, about a decade ago. Now McCain has picked it up. OK, you want change in Washington that's really going to make a difference? Here's an idea: a constitutional amendment that actually makes some sense.
This has nothing to do with marriage or any other moral issue. The purpose of the Constitution of the United States is to serve as the foundation of our law, not reflect any individual moral agenda.
Article V of the constitution allows for amendments as deemed necessary when agreed upon by two-thirds of both houses. Our founding fathers created an incredible device that has allowed for 27 changes to the constitution throughout our history, all accomplished without upheaval to our overall system.
The 22nd amendment (ratified in February 1951) limits the president to two terms in office. Basically, this is the result of Franklin Delano Roosevelt being in office from 1932 until 1945. He died right after the beginning of his fourth term.
Perhaps it's time to affect some real change in Washington by adopting another amendment that also limits Senators and House members to two terms. I would also like to propose that for both House and Senate, those terms be changed to four years.
With 435 Representatives having two-year terms, how much of this time is spent on getting re-elected, as opposed to actual work? In the case of the Senate, this would be a good way to keep individuals from becoming entrenched, like many of them are now.
Putting everyone - House, Senate and the president - on an equal playing field when it comes to terms in office would be a change that the country needs, but I'm not naive enough to believe such an idea has a snowball's chance in you-know-where of actually being implemented.
