Term Limits Could Fix Washington If We Do It Right S:2E:30

People love to shout “term limits” like it’s a magic spell, but the minute you ask how it would actually work, things get messy fast. We start with our usual real-life chaos, including concussions, pickleball injuries, thrift-store living, and a legendary argument about a wildly expensive four-slice toaster, then pivot into a serious question: why do career politicians keep winning if voters say they want change? 

We break down what term limits would mean for Congress, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, and why federal term limits require a constitutional amendment. Along the way, we talk about the House as the “hot house” built for fast public reaction and the Senate as the “cool house” designed for stability, plus how incumbency advantage works in the real world through fundraising, gerrymandering, and name recognition. We also dig into the quieter power centers, like lobbyists and special interest groups that keep influence even when elected officials rotate out. 

Then we wrestle with the part nobody wants to admit: the debate often slides into age, but the deeper issue is complacency and competence. We ask whether track record should matter more than birthdays, how “succession planning” might translate to government without undermining elections, and why a fixed Supreme Court term limit like 18 years keeps coming up. If you care about political reform, government accountability, campaign finance pressure, and a system that doesn’t reward staying put forever, this conversation will give you a lot to argue with. 

Subscribe for more, share the episode with your most opinionated friend, and leave a review so more people can find us. What would your term-limit plan be, and why?

email: boomerandgenxer@gmail.com

Transcript

Concussions Pickleball And Getting Hurt

SPEAKER_02 0:03

Welcome everyone to today's show. Boomer and Gen X are walking into a bar coming to you from the Rabbit Run Studio, where you, as our listeners, will experience some wit and wisdom, some smart assery, and a mother and a daughter questioning, are we even related? My name is Jane. My co-host is my daughter Bobby. And for the next, I don't know, 25-30 minutes, we're here to entertain you. Bobby, are you still having headaches from that concussion you had?

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Yeah, I still am. I'm fighting a migraine right now. It's pretty bad. So we kind of stole some of your weather.

SPEAKER_02 0:40

No kidding, because it's not going to be 88 here, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Yeah, it's sunny, it's nice, and I'm kind of I'm really depressed right now because I can't get on my motorcycle.

SPEAKER_02 0:52

Oh, yeah, that's right. Well, Dr. Domain can get on his motorcycle, but I can't get on mine. And uh I played pickleball on Monday and went up into the bleachers to retrieve a ball. And when I was coming back down from the bleachers, I missed some steps. Okay, it really honestly wasn't funny at the time. I suppose it sounds funny now.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Uh, but how do you always do this to yourself? I don't know. I'm like the poster child. What was it? You guys were in Pella, and I got a call that you stepped off a curb wrong, and you think you broke your ankle. You'll be fine.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Yeah, I'll be all right. I'll just walk it off. So I played another game before I decided I was gonna leave, but my ankle is still terrible, and my finger, my little finger is still black because I thought it maybe I broke it, but I didn't really break it. I think I just jammed it. But the worst thing is I hurt my knee. And you know, knee injuries on old people, not a good thing. So I'm trying to get that thing all healed up. I know it's like I'm the poster child for how to have accidents or something. I don't know. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Like those uh safety videos that all the companies have.

Table Manners Thrift Finds And Warm Plates

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah, the you're the one that you know just trips over air and falls and like yeah, and the sad thing was with safety was under my direction for what 40 years, you know, and this and it's like I was such the advocate and the director for safety, and now I can't even I'm like a rag doll. I step on something and I just fall to the ground. It's like raggedy hands down again. I don't know. It's it's tough to get old, but I I had a new pair of tinny runners on, and I thought, oh, I'm gonna blame the tiny runners, but I can't because I missed some steps. So so anyway, there's that. And then last night we had a couple of friends over for supper, and it was so nice. There's such sweet people down here um in Georgia, some friends of ours, and they play pickleball too. And we just had a gay old time. And I just have to ask, so Bobby, do you remember when we used to have dinners at the house, like Thanksgiving and all that business? And I would put out all the good china, and I would put out like either six, eight or more pieces of silverware. And you kids would come in, and what I was trying to do is teach them a few manners, you know, which forks to use, which spoons to use, which glasses for or for what, how to set the table properly, how to set it, how you know, all of that stuff, what to do, what not to do. And you guys used to pick up all the silverware except for a fork, and you'd bring it into the kitchen and go, I'm not gonna be using any of this. And we thought, well, there's a bad thing, there's a bad thing right there.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

I mean, we knew listen, we know what forks go with what, we just don't care.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

Yeah, I know. And so I I do this for Dr. Domain too, not just not just for company, but like if we're having a hot dish even now, I put the plates in the oven to warm them up. Do you ever do that so that when the food goes on there, it's gonna be warm?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

My plates are from the thrift store, so I don't even know if they would like go into the oven in the oven.

SPEAKER_02 4:26

I put glasses in the in the freezer, you know, for drinks and stuff like that. I know.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

You guys have all that fancy stuff though, but like I go to so we have this place called Slim Chickens. Yeah, and they have these desserts that come in mason jars. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Are they real mason jars? Are they glasses? Oh, that's kind of cool. That's really cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

That's what we drink out of. We don't we don't have like different glasses. We have uh Slim Chickens mason jars.

SPEAKER_02 4:59

Well, I think you're so funny when you say, Oh, you guys have all that fancy stuff. This is the honest to God's truth, listeners. Most of the stuff that I find is at a thrift store. I mean, seriously, I buy stuff from the thrift store, bring it home, clean it up, use it. And so, yeah, it's it's not like we have fancy, fancy stuff. Do you think, Dr. Domain? I mean, we got some cheap plates and we've got glasses that I just got yesterday or the day before from from a thrift store.

The Two Hundred Dollar Toaster Debate

SPEAKER_00 5:31

Oh, I I'd say we're pretty conservative that way. Yeah. Except for toasters.

SPEAKER_02 5:38

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Four slices? Who needs a four-sliced toaster?

SPEAKER_01 5:41

He's got I have a four-slice toaster.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

No, wait, wait, stand by. No, wait.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

That's extravagant.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

So he he had this four-sliced toaster that he paid$200 and some dollars for. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

Oh my God.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

And it was stupid. It was way stupid. I was up there with the boat purchase and stupidest things I've bought.

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Yeah, something you could throw into the river over the bridge. And so we get to this house, and I said, You know me, I don't want anything on my counters. So no toaster is going to be on the counter. So I put it in the cupboard down below, and I said, Man, this toaster weighs a ton. I hate lifting it and put it back and lifting it and putting it back, you know. And so he says, Oh, I'll put in one of those shelving units that is like, you know, for your for your mixer, you know, where they come up, they pop up. And so he put that in. Unfortunately, the toaster was too big for it. So it in essence, he built this whole thing and it really did take a long time because you had to modify it and everything. And now we don't even use that toaster. We had to buy a new toaster.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

That is honestly, that is the most expensive forbidden bath bomb that I've ever heard of. Who pays$200 for a toaster? Raise your hand, Dr. Dominic.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

I think you're exaggerating a little bit. No, it wasn't quite that much. I'm pretty sure.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

It was$195 plus tax and shipping.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

I paid, I paid$39.95 for a toaster that also made the rest of the ingredients at the same time for an egg McMuffin. Hey, nice. You are you're spending$200 for that. I mean, come on.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

But we can get four slices of bread.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, that's the thing. Yeah, and bagels. You can put bagels in it too. Okay. Bagels, frozen stuff, all that's stuff.

Why Term Limits Never Pass

SPEAKER_02 7:28

We're losing this battle. You do realize that toaster. Well, anyway, we we can't even use that toaster now. And after he's done all this construction about it, so for it. I know it's silliness. Hey, uh, today we are going to talk about kind of a serious subject, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Kind of, and I think you guys just kind of proved a point on uh what we're gonna be talking about once you know people get older and things. Maybe they should uh not be in places for big decisions any longer.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Is she implying something?

SPEAKER_02 8:04

I think she is.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Hey, I bought that toaster years ago.

SPEAKER_02 8:07

Oh, not that many years ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

When I was when I was much younger than that's even worse because$200 years ago is way more than$200.

SPEAKER_02 8:18

There's like a million dollars today. Yeah, yeah. So you're so silly, Doctor. Doc, I gotta be honest with you, you need a term limit. So we are gonna be talking about term limits today, and there's so many people who say, oh, what we need are term limits. And you kind of go, well, if there's so many people in favor of it, why is it that it hasn't happened yet? You know, we all know no one is going the people who have to vote on term limits are the ones that will be affected. They don't want to put themselves out of a job, right? Despite, you know, high public support. And I've seen stats of over like 80% uh on congressional and senate terms, it does require a constitutional amendment. Right.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

And that that's part of the problem is, you know, we're we're talking about amending the constitution, and that has been a big argumentative point for a long time because you know, we had people saying, oh, the president wants to get rid of term limits for presidency, but wants to introduce term limits for this and this and that. So once once you talk about constitutional amendments, people tend to get kind of iffy on it because they for some reason they think that a constitution written hundreds of years ago is still relevant today without without any kind of amendments.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

Well, the vast majority of the constitution is still, you know, applicable and it was written in a way that should stand the test of time. But what happens is, and you mentioned it early on as a joke, but you really weren't joking, and it kind of hurt my feelings, is uh that people get older, right? And so but some of the fear is they would be removing some experienced officials, people who, you know, are very much empowered, people who are very well known by their constituents. And in addition, hate to put it this way, they know where the bodies are buried.

Incumbency Money And Lobbyist Power

SPEAKER_01 10:26

Well, and I mean, let's get into that a little bit because you know, you talked about like Senate and Congress. There's currently no federal term limits for Congress or Senate, so they can serve unlimited, you know, consecutive term. Now, the Supreme Court justices they they kind of have a lifetime term. Like once they're in there, unless they get taken, yeah, unless they screw up or they retire, they're in there for a lifetime. And I mean, that's for a lot of people, that is a long time. I mean, the you know, they talk about a term limit for these just for the Supreme Court justices, they're talking like an 18-year term limit. Yeah, that's crazy to me. Do you know how much can change in 18 years? And and you know, you go back and you look at some of these people who have been in their positions for 30, 40, even 50 years. Look at how much has changed in in that time, how much has happened, how much has evolved. And you're looking at people who are not only rooted in the old ways and have their set ways of doing it, but now they are older. I mean, you're talking, you know, 60, 70, 80 year olds who maybe don't see the the things that the younger generations are facing. And a lot of times, you know, it's a comfortable thing. You know, people do get comfortable with them. People say, Oh, yeah, I know that judge, I know that senator, I know that congressman. Um, you know, 20 years ago he did great things, so I'm just gonna keep him in there. Well, what's he done since since 20 years ago? You know, it's almost like they get comfortable riding that horse and they just don't want to get off of it because it's a familiar face.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

Yeah. So I was looking at some stats on like the incumbents that are in power right now. And believe it or not, as much as people complain about, you know, wanting term limits, they want to change, they want to see new faces, they want new blood in there, everybody's getting too old. The reelection rates for these incumbents is around 98%.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

Which is crazy to me. And it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

But they they attribute that to like fundraising advantages and you know, gerrymandering and name recognition. And let's face it, when you know somebody, like if you know, if I knew a congressman and that's the congressman that I've always voted for, to look at somebody new, that's hard to do because you already know his past track record or her past track record. And to take somebody new on, you're going, mm, now they have to learn things, and you know, do we have that kind of time? And if you set term limits, are they even going to learn that much during that time period?

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Right. And you have to look at also the the lobbyists, you have to look at the money backing these people. You know, once once they're in for so many terms, they have so much money backing them. So, you know, you see on commercials or signs or mailers, familiar faces and familiar names. Oh, this person's been, you know, in seat for 15 years. Why would we remove him? They have the money to do that. And then, you know, you see a new face on or a new name on the ballot, and you're like, who is this person? Right. Because they don't have the backing. They don't have the money behind them. You know, and like you said, they know where the bodies are buried.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

Right.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

So they they actually have big cop big corporations, big companies that have their hooks in them because they they've been there for so long and they say, okay, we're gonna back you for, you know, five hundred thousand dollars for your next re-election. We're going to cover these costs. Now they have their hooks in them, they're gonna have their hooks in them the whole time. So that that company, that corporation is gonna push for that person to stay in power because now that company has power.

SPEAKER_02 14:29

Right. I mean, it it's always follow the money. And always. Um, it's interesting. I read an article about the, because you mentioned the lobbyists, about the unelected lobbyists and the special interest groups that you know hold institutional knowledge. Once somebody leaves office, a lot of times that information or those leaders don't follow the new, you know, the new elect. So it's almost like you've got somebody in there that stands in there like a lieutenant governor. They don't do anything except cut ribbons, right? You've got lobbyists in there, and you think that they're doing the work, but the fact is, is you've got unelected leaders out there that you never see. And they're the ones who are really driving a lot of you know what's happening, a lot of the lawmaking, a lot of the um support towards different uh congressmen, senators, lobbyists, that sort of thing. I want to ask you this. In the US, have we ever had well, let me ask you this first. What amendment has term limits in it in the Constitution?

SPEAKER_01 15:40

For the president?

SPEAKER_00 15:41

No, there's not.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

There is.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

No, I'm just saying there's more than just the president. There's limits. There's term limits, but they're how many times you can do it. Yeah. Like the president can only go 10 years, right? Right. He can serve like halfway through some other president like that. Right, like a succession. But then, like representatives, they only serve two-year terms, but the number of times they can do it is unlimited. That's right. That's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

I guess uh yeah, and I I that's a good clarification. But it's the 22nd Amendment, and that is where it talks about for the president. Has the United States ever had real term limits where they can only run once or twice? There's a question for you too.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

This is I mean, other than the president.

unknown 16:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

What was the question?

SPEAKER_02 16:28

The question was has the United States ever had a system or an amendment by which um somebody could let's say that a congressman can run for two years, um, but he can do it, you know, right now it's consecutively, he can do it as many times as he wants. But have we ever had any type of limit where okay, if you ran ran for two years and then you do another two years, you're done? Have we ever had any limits like that in the United States?

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah, the presidential limit.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

I know we're not talking about the president. I said not the president. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

I know that some cities for mayor won't let them run consecutively so long, but they have to take a break, but then they can run again. So it's not like they can't run again after their break, but I don't know of any other one.

House Versus Senate Hot And Cool

SPEAKER_02 17:18

And the question is the answer is no. We've never had that in the United States. So what Dr. Domain was referencing, were you looking at the 22nd Amendment? No. What were you looking at?

SPEAKER_00 17:29

I was looking at the difference in the two-year term for the representative and the six-year term for senator.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:38

And was trying to understand why is there such a difference. The essence of it is what I understand to be the great compromise where the house is hot house. That's where all the latest things are happening and people are coming and going, so you get two-year terms for them. But then the Senate is kind of the cooling house where there's long-term stability. And I question whether that was the origins of why there's no limit on how many terms they can serve.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

So tell us what the definition of a hot house and a cool house are.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

The House of Representatives was intended to be the people's house, right?

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:17

And I think that that's how it came to be called. I I don't know if it's called that, but that's just what I read out of it. Is it's more of to be really highly sensitive to what's going on in the world. To the public needs listening to the public needs. And then your senators are there to kind of take it from there. Yeah, they're they're an insulator between just all the various things that are going on.

SPEAKER_02 18:45

So the senators are in the hot house?

SPEAKER_00 18:48

No, the house of representatives, so they've got the two-year term.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Okay. Yeah, they're the lower house. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And they're there for continuity purposes. Which might have been maybe that was the rationale for the way that the amendment was written. And it makes I mean terms.

SPEAKER_02 19:09

It kind of makes sense, right? I mean, to have those levels, like here we're w out with the people, we're listening to the people, we're getting the people's concerns, we're we're bringing them forward, and then they go to another level and then they get voted on, right? And so it's like, but what happen what's happened now is you don't see that the people's concerns are being listened to. The representatives are taking their own feelings, taking their own positions, and saying that is of the people.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Again, I think that's further supporting two-year terms for representatives. And so we see a lot more churn in the house than we do in the Senate. In the Senate, we've got people there that have made a career out of it.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

Right.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

So my understanding for hot house and cool houses, and I have heard this term before. I had a really good history teacher and government teacher. So the hot house refers more to like uh a shorter term. So I think it's like, you know, um, before they're re-elected. But they go out and they get the hot button issues. They go out and they get, you know, all these little issues that come up and they throw them together and they push them on and they say, This is what my constituents want, this is what we need to talk about. The Senate is the cool house, the cooling house, because they are more tenured, they're supposedly in there for longer, and they're there to slow things down, to say, okay, we understand this is the issue, but the way that you're presenting it is not going to pass because of this, this, and this. So we need to slow down, we need to look at the issues, we need to rewrite it, or you need to rewrite it so that we have a better chance of passing this through.

SPEAKER_02 21:02

Okay. And that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

That was my understanding.

SPEAKER_02 21:04

Yeah. Is that the way you understand it, Dr. Domain?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Yeah, I think we're saying the same thing.

Age Time In Office And Competence

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

But I think where everyone gets concerned about term limits is they see these older individuals that are sitting in a Senate seat for 40 years or whatever.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

And nothing's been done.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

Perhaps.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Or it's not that nothing's been done. It's just that you have a and I I I'm not saying this to be mean. You have a geriatric person who's in the seat.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So now we're talking about ageism, not terms. Yeah. I mean, there's an aspect of ageism here. There is.

SPEAKER_01 21:42

There is. But you know, you have a geriatric person who's been there for 40 years, who's sitting in a seat, who's supposed to be representing the 20 and 30 year olds, but has no idea of the issues that are presented in a way that 20 And 30-year-olds would present them or fight for them because they're so set in their ways. They've always done this, they've always passed this, they've always lobbied for this.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Right.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

And so they do. They get set in their ways. They get set in, you know, the good old boys' club of, well, this is 1950s America type thing still. So we're going to treat it as such, not realizing that there's a lot of issues out there that they don't have to face. I just think they're out of touch. I think they're out of touch on the street.

SPEAKER_02 22:32

I don't disagree with that. Who's out of touch?

SPEAKER_00 22:35

Are you talking about senators or representatives or both? And are you only basing it on age?

SPEAKER_01 22:41

I'm talking, I'm not basing it on age. I'm basing it on um time in office, I'll say. Because like I said, they get comfortable. A lot of them don't have a forward-thinking perspective. They have a perspective of, okay, well, I came into office in 1963, and now it's, you know, 2020, and we have this, like let's say the COVID virus. Well, they they're gonna have a completely different and a lot of times outdated view on what they need to do versus someone who is 35 years old, who's in, you know, in the trenches, in both sides of not only an older generation, but a younger generation, they can understand both sides of it. They just kind of have more perspective on what's going on with boots on the ground rather than somebody, you know, who's been sitting up in Senate or Congress for 40 or 50 years.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah, I would argue you're still talking about age. Yeah, I would too. But the other the other point, I'm sorry to interrupt, the other point is that isn't that what our uh election process is all about.

SPEAKER_02 23:51

It is, and that's why I mentioned you know what what the reelection percentages are, you know, as much as people don't like it. Why uh uh aside from age, Bobby, and I I get what you're saying because you kind of look at everybody and you know we know what 70, 80 year olds, you know, how how slow we get. Um, I'm not there yet. Let's not act like I am. Yeah. Uh but wouldn't it make more sense, regardless of age, that you look at what their track record is? You know, what have what have I mean, if you've got somebody who's in office right now and they're 75 years old and they're still making progress and they're still, you know, working diligently, bipartisan, to, you know, get things approved or, you know, make their position or listen to the people and move the country forward as opposed to worrying about what their age is.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

No, I I totally agree with that. My thing is, is it's a combination of things. It's it's not just the age thing, it's also, you know, like we discussed before, when you're sitting for so long, you have the lobbyists, you have the backing of the money, you have the corporations that back you, you have the ability to be recognized. People like to stick with what they know. I think that it does do a disservice, not and I'm saying you need to look at their track record too. You need to look at what they're voting on, how they're voting. But I think it does a disservice to not have term limits because we get so used to being familiar with that person. But you know, we could start a nuclear war. We don't know what's going on. I think it does a disservice.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

So, what's the solution?

SPEAKER_01 25:44

I think term limits are a solution.

SPEAKER_02 25:47

I think I think succession planning, first of all, um, you know, every every corporation has a succession plan. What they're doing is they are getting the next person ready to move into their position. And we don't have that in the government. We don't have anybody who is mentoring, they say they are, they're not, who is mentoring other people to move into their positions. Now, if they are, a lot of times it's again, I'm gonna show you where some of these bodies are, I'm gonna show you how to swindle through this, I'm gonna show, you know, it would be nice to see a uh a publicized succession plan to say, you know what, we're gonna take these three, I'm gonna take these three people, and I'm gonna have them shadow me for the next couple of years. And I think they're up and coming people, and I think that they're people that we can really show the way and you know, get them ready for the future. And I know that sounds a little corny, but companies do it all the time.

SPEAKER_00 26:50

Yeah, but the difference is you're electing an individual.

SPEAKER_02 26:53

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

The company, you're grooming them to be put in that position.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

But aren't they being groomed in the government interview?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

There's no election in the corporate world.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

I get it, but they're being groomed in the government interview. I was gonna say there's been plenty of people.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

That totally undermines that totally undermines our election process.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

It does, but I mean, if you look at how are you gonna groom someone and then the Kennedys have been groomed to take over.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Understand, but still at the end of the day, they don't enter office without a vote from the people.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

So my point is, how do you groom someone? I mean, do you just groom a whole fleet of people in the hopes that one of them's gonna get elected? Or maybe not. Maybe we go back to the way senators used to be put in office. We never used to vote on this. Senators were never voted in. The states, the state legislature said, okay, yeah, here's our man, we're our woman, whatever we're gonna put him in. Yeah. But it weren't they voted on it just later on? We never voted. The people never voted on it. When you had in the senator back in the 1800s, it wasn't the people that voted him in. It was the state legislature. It wasn't until an amendment later on in the Constitution that said, yeah, now we're going to elect, have an election process for senators. Well, do we go back to that then? I mean, maybe that would fit your grooming model.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Well, and I hate that term grooming.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Or whatever. I mean that's what I'm that's what I that's what you're kind of doing, right? You're getting them prepped for those.

SPEAKER_02 28:22

You kind of are. I would much rather see some people who are in, and I'll use the term groomed. I would much rather see people who are learning the processes, who are learning the history, who are learning the people, who are learning, you know, how the procedures work. And yeah, kind of like interns or apprentices. And yeah, if they don't get voted in, they don't get voted in. But you you still have people who can move forward in the government. I mean, maybe they won't be a senator, but maybe they'll be, you know, something else. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

Yeah, I think there's value because we have seen time and time again, particularly in the House of Representatives, I believe, we've got some real wackos that got elected. And no kidding. It is astonishing the level of incompetence that hits that floor.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

Um they're they're disgraceful, they're it's just they have no decorum. They're so embarrassing. What we see today, like during the State of the Union and those types of things, regardless of who's standing at the at the podium, it it goes on both sides. Yeah. So anyway, I'm getting off on a tangent.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

But I think but it's true. I mean, there's a certain decorum that you have when you're on the Senate floor and when you're in that that arena, and I don't care who's up there either.

SPEAKER_00 29:43

But is your process or your thought process going to prepare someone to act and behave like a representative of the people?

SPEAKER_02 29:51

I would be hopeful that it would.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

I would hope that it would. I mean, like I said, like an internship. And it doesn't have to be one specific person, it can be, you know, hey, uh, I'm interested in the government, I'm interested in being uh a political constituent. And, you know, you go through a process of like, let's say, a year where you do shadow, and it doesn't even, you know, I don't even think it should be people who are in line with your political party. I think it should be all of them. I think you should, you know, shadow Democrats and Republicans. I think that that there should be, you know, a way for for these people who want to be involved in government, to be an elected official, to get that experience before they step into the arena so they don't look like jackasses. Right.

Other Countries Supreme Court Tenure

SPEAKER_02 30:42

So they don't include their contributing members, they're not just there taking up space, they're not just there running their mouth, they're they're there being contributing members of the government. So I have another question for you, though. Do any other countries impose term limits that you know of?

SPEAKER_01 31:00

Uh, I think there's a couple, but it's not as widespread as we think it is.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

So presidential systems like Mexico, Brazil, and South Korea, they limit their leaders to two terms and an absolute ban on re-election.

SPEAKER_01 31:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:22

Mexico does that?

SPEAKER_02 31:23

It's that's what that's what I'm reading.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

You see the proof of that shit show down there.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

I mean, think about it.

SPEAKER_02 31:29

The cartel's been in I was gonna say it's the cartel.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

I'm not I'm not blaming you at all on that, but I think that there's a reason we have the terms set the way we are with the Senate being the cool house, and in Mexico, you're saying they don't have that. Everyone's out in two years. So you got this big, massive turnover. And you got all this political unrest that goes on. And that I think it was a smart thing that we've done in our government is that at all at any given time, only like what is it, like one third of the Senate is turning over. So you got that level of continuity. And I think that's probably what contributes to the unrest in some of these places.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

I think you would find that if you asked the majority of people about term limits, if they would be in favor of more than one term, you know, one term, um, would I be in favor of consecutive? Yeah, probably maybe two or three, and then you're out. Because I think that gives you enough time to learn the system, to contribute to the system and to make a difference and maybe get somebody ready to, you know, move in. But you know, if whether it's two years or four years, I think some type of term limit is required because otherwise we're gonna continue to have what we have today, and that's just a lot of um you know, people who are sitting in a seat and haven't we haven't seen anything out of them. You know, right tell me what your you know your biggest accomplishment was, and a lot of them don't have anything.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Well, and you know, if you look at like um the justices, so let's look at those because you know, those are lifetime people, you know, unless unless they screw up really big time and get removed or they retire, they are a justice for life.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

You're talking about the Supreme Court justices, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:32

Correct. And you know, back in the pre-70s era, um, the average for a supreme for a Supreme Court justice was right around 15 years. So they would sit for 15 years and they would retire or you know, be elected, things like that. After the 1970s era, we're looking at closer to 28 to 30 years for them sitting in their position without you know being removed or retired or anything like that. If you know you think that they have they obviously there's a process to get to a Supreme Court justice. So you have to have experience before that. Let's say, you know, they have all this experience before it. I don't think that anyone should have a lifetime seat, period. I don't think that that's how it should be. I think that the most time that anyone should be able to sit, including a Supreme Court justice, would be right around 18 years. Because after that, I just I think that you know it encourages people to actually pay attention because they're gonna have to vote someone in. They don't get to just vote once for their lifetime and say, okay, I did it, I'm done. This person's gonna be there forever. Yeah. I think that it it's it gets people involved because they know in six or ten years there's gonna be a turnover and they need to pay attention to what this person did, what the next person says they're gonna do, type of thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:03

Yeah. And it's not like they're waiting to make their gangster money. Most of them uh today have made their gangster money in their first term. Right.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

I've always said, hey, you know, they need to, they need to wear those jackets like the NASCAR that has all the lobbyists' names on them of all the people that pay them or this is who's paying trim today. You know, their election.

SPEAKER_02 35:27

Yeah, Pfizer, Coca-Cola.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

I'm telling you. Yeah. I mean, it's that something needs to give. And no, I don't believe in you know, two or four-year turnovers constantly in all of our uh, you know, in all of our judicial seats, because that does cause turmoil, that does allow for more corruption and you know, more mistakes to be made.

Complacency Voters And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 35:50

I think today what we wanted to do is get our listeners to just think about you hear so many people saying, I want term limits, and it doesn't happen. And you know, there's a lot more to it than just saying, let's oust them. You need some experience, and and we we do need that rotate, you know, that rotation in there of experience and think a little bit more about it when they say, I want term limits. And I've done it. I mean, I I do want term limits, but there has to be some sort of you know, system and process around it so that we don't lose all of our experience at once and that we are prepping people for the future. And whether you elect them or not, that's up to you. But at least they have even advisors, you know. I mean, they whoever comes in could that person could be their advisor. I don't know. Right. But there's a lot more to it than just saying, uh, I want term limits. And I think we realized that when we got into this.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Well, and I know Dr. Domain called me out for being an ageist, but you know, I know some pretty sharp-witted 70-year-olds that I would absolutely elect into office if if they were to run and run on a good platform, but uh it things need to change.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Maybe my point was I think incompetence runs across all ages.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Have you met my kids?

SPEAKER_02 37:14

No, I mean but I mean, isn't that the truth? And and complacency is really the enemy.

SPEAKER_01 37:22

Um placency will be the death of democracy. Yeah, that's all there is to it.

SPEAKER_02 37:27

I don't know that age is the you know, is the villain. I think that complacency and uh, you know, taking kickbacks and being a gangsta really doesn't help.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

It all goes back to being elected, though. It does. I think it's our electoral base that is uneducated, perhaps. Maybe there's some people that are pulling levers they shouldn't.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Absolutely. Or just voting for a name that they thought that they liked.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

I blame OSHA. What? I blame OSHA because OSHA has been protecting stupid people for how many years now? Since 1970.

SPEAKER_01 38:06

I blame the warning label. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

I blame them. They should let some of those people just get thinned out with the herd, you know. So anyway.

SPEAKER_01 38:15

But yeah, any uh closing arguments there, mother?

SPEAKER_02 38:19

None from me. Any from you, Dr. Delmain.

SPEAKER_00 38:22

So are you saying like maybe we should put like a really steep staircase to the voting booths with the handrail? Maybe that would weed some of them out?

SPEAKER_02 38:29

Or just make it like a little uh mouse, what do they call those? Those little mouse traps.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

Mouse trap.

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Not a mouse trap, but you know, where they make them go through the tunnels and everything. It's like they'd get halfway through and go, I don't know where I'm at. Okay, well, turn around because you're not voting today.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

God, I'm for it. There better be cheese.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

There better be cheese at the end of this thing. Anyway, that's all I've got, Bobby.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Well, you know, I've always said that if you want an argument, the two things you talk about is religion and politics. So uh we uh I'm sure we'll have a lot of arguments from our listeners, but hey, we're here for it. We love it.

SPEAKER_02 39:09

Bring it on.

SPEAKER_01 39:10

Bring it on, but that is all of the absurdity in Senate that we have for today. We appreciate you joining us here at the Rabbit Run Studio. So be sure to follow us because we look forward to spending time with you each week. Please like us on your favorite listening platform. And if you have positive feedback, or if there's a topic you want us to discuss, or if you just want to bitch us out about this uh episode, drop us an email at Boomer and Gen Xer at gmail.com. And if you have hate mail, hey, send it there too, because I get bored some days. So until next week, I'm Bobby Joy.

SPEAKER_02 39:51

And I'm Jane Burt. And you're stuck with us.

SPEAKER_01 39:55

Peace out later.