New Talent and Limited Terms

“Idleness is the holiday of fools.”
— Chinese Proverb

Believe it or not, I found the above proverb in a fortune cookie and it’s been sitting on my desk for many years. If you give it a few seconds of thought, idleness really describes our nation’s capital at this time. Can you think of a better word to describe Washington, D.C.? Holiday of fools? We’ll leave that one to the comedians.

So how did we get to this stalemate? Where did we go astray? It’s really simple. ALL OF US forgot that we have the most important element in common — we all want what’s best for our country!

But why are we so divided? Our core values haven’t changed. Why the stagnation?

It’s called complacency. Not by anyone’s fault. There’s no ill intent. Most of us are busy doing positive things such as raising families, working hard and being good citizens.

We just became too comfortable with the people running our country.

We let our guard down and forgot what’s really important. Big things became little things and little things became big things. We have let political correctness lead us. We let petty things dominate our thought process. We are hesitant when speaking the truth. We have to “choose our words carefully.” We have become soft and doubtful. This led our major political parties to go off-course. The Democrats are too far to the left and the Republicans are too far to the right, leaving most of us stuck in the middle without representation.

So here’s how we fix it.

It’s not the party system — it’s the parties! Too many of our politicians waste valuable time pointing their fingers at each other, never taking responsibility for anything. Which always leaves our “leaders” not accomplishing enough to make our country vibrant again.

They waste our time and tax money. And the saddest part — they know it! Politicians know their approval ratings are horrible, but are they trying harder? No way! It’s business as usual. They forgot they’re public servants! The word on the inside is that once newly elected members of Congress get into office, the first thing they must learn and figure out is “how to get re-elected.”

So how do we get rid of this narcissistic, self-serving culture? It’s a process that will start and end with one thing: term limits!

Everyone knows we need limited terms. It’s healthy for all businesses or organizations to continually revolve their leadership — the most successful businesses keep “reinventing themselves” by being innovative with new concepts and ideas. And the best and most efficient way to do this is by bringing in “new talent.”

Under my plan, the current politicians get to stay, and the limited terms only pertain to newly elected officials. It won’t help our present situation, but it will certainly benefit our country’s future. It will enable every generation to elect whom they want. Our kids aren’t stuck with politicians that their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents voted for.

If our president can only serve two elected four-year terms, it should be the same for members of Congress. Senators should only serve two six-year terms and House members should only serve, at most, four two-year terms. It’s the only way our “present guard” politicians will vote for this.

It’s time for ALL OF US to start the buzz for limited terms. If we don’t start pressing our elected officials, don’t expect anything to change.

Top photo: U.S. Capitol Building (Photo by Amanda Krotki, Jmore)

A former businessman with an extensive background in community service, Charlie Levine is founder and executive director of the Team Up For 1 Foundation, a nonprofit that connects children with challenges to the experience of team sports. He is also former executive director of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces.