Length: 353 Words Reading Time: 2 Minutes
The idea of term limits has been battered around since the early 1990s. In my opinion, the time has come to get this much-needed control of politicians put in place. The 535 senators and representatives who served in the House and Senate used to comprise, for the most part, individuals who were public servants first and politicians second. That is no longer true.
Representative Jerrold Nadler is a case in point. Mr. Nadler began his career as a politician in the New York State Assembly in 1976 when he was 29 years of age. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992 and was recently elected last year to his 14th term as a Congressman. Mr. Nadler has spent 43 years of his 72 years as a politician or almost 60 percent of his life. How is such a situation possible in today’s America?
As I watched him several times recently on television, making speeches, three things occurred to me that, in my opinion, make him a prime candidate for term limits.
First, he is the only politician of recent memory that makes a speech standing by himself at a rostrum. He stands in front of a backdrop that has Congressman Jerry Nadler emblazoned on it many times. No one comments on this display of arrogance and self-importance, and I wonder why not?
Second, he does not speak extemporaneously from bullet points but reads directly from a written-out speech, all the while stumbling over many words. This approach confounds me further because he is a law graduate of Fordham University. I would think a comfortable facility with words would be of critical importance to a productive member of the House of Representatives.
Third, Mr. Nadler is the Chairman of the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, which I am given to understand is one of the key committees in Congress. His chairmanship reinforces my belief in The Peter Principle. The Peter Principle states that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their “level of incompetence.” From my vantage point, Mr. Nadler may have reached that point many years ago.