The GOP has taken “snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” to a new level. Though Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency, and were tackling something unpopular and self-destructing, Obamacare, they were impotent to do anything about it. After seven years of promises, how can this be? I have two theories.

The first is that they are idiots.

The second is that they are scared of losing their jobs. Well, I have a pill for that. It’s called term limits.

Currently a term for senator is six years. For a House member, the term is two years. Two years is not long enough. No sooner does a House member get elected and they have to think about getting reelected. Let a term for a House member become four years, with that member not allowed to serve more than three terms. For a senator, the limit would be two terms. That way, no one could hang around Congress for more than 12 years.

I see a couple of benefits in this. First, if you know how long you might remain at a job, you might reflect differently on why you want that job in the first place. I think this kind of reflection would enlist a more sincere breed of people to politics.

The second plus would be that we would only have to listen to seasoned politicians trying pull the wool over our eyes with rhetorical blather for so long. After their term is up, they’d receive the appropriate thank you’s, perhaps a small pension and the chance to reap what they’ve sown.

In politics, like sports, you can play the game two ways. You can play to win or rot to lose. The GOP just chose that latter. Unfortunately, if anyone is going to lose here, I think it’s us.

– Allan Gilmour

Salisbury