Time to Tackle Term Limits for U.S. Members of Congress?

Should Republicans manage to retake the House in 2020 --which I predict they will-- while retaining their majority in the Senate, I cannot help but wonder: Would this new congressional majority be BRAVE enough to tackle the subject of Term Limits for members of the United States Congress  (working on setting up an on-line petition)?

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How else can you effectively root out corruption and restore accountability to the U.S. Congress, given the abuses of power we've witnessed these past few months with the whole Impeachment Charade?

And what exactly would said term limits look like?  Limit of two terms served for a U.S. Senator and three for a U.S. Representative?  Any thoughts?  ... Would enough citizens be willing to step up to the plate in order to meet the increased demand/turnover in both the U.S. House of Representatives (2 years per single term) and the U.S. Senate (6 years per single term)?  Moreover, would this recurrent turnover infuse the United State Congress with a more bipartisan spirit, not to mention a plethora of new ideas?

This change would, however, require a Constitutional Convention and an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  Is America up for change on such a grand scale, I wonder??? I know I am!

The Theme of Resonance Predominates

The theme of "Resonance" predominates this time of year, from my perspective anyway.  As the seasons begin to change, yet again, I find myself contemplating the theme of "Resonance."  The idea that if we stop and listen to our inner voice a profound truth will resonate deeply within our being.  The season of Autumn has always resonated deeply within me for some reason.  I feel so grounded, centered and at peace during the Autumnal months.  My mind and heart always seem to clear, and the profound questions about "the meaning of Life" and "the purpose of our Being" just seem so obvious to me at this time of year. This is the season of the Harvest, so I suppose this might have something to with the contentedness I feel this time of year? This is the time of year when that which we have sewn throughout the year becomes ripened for harvesting and consumption.  Maybe this in turn has an impact on the ripening of truths within our hearts and mind?  In that respect, perhaps it is fitting that the mid-term elections occur at the time of the Harvest.  Which begs the question, what are the things that resonate with you at this time of year? What are the benefits of your harvest, with respect to self, family, friends, community and the larger country as whole ... with respect to the world, the entire planet?

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What will you reap from your own personal Harvest this year? And given an honest evaluation of your Harvest, what Truths now begin to resonate within your own being?

I challenge you to turn off the NOISE! Turn off the television and radio, log-off the social media, close the newspaper and take a quiet walk out among the glorious Autumnal displays unfolding around the country.  Once you are immersed within the honest quiet of nature ask yourself the above questions once again: "What will you reap from your own personal Harvest this year? And given an honest evaluation of your Harvest, what Truths now begin to resonate within your own being?"  As you walk along in the cool crisp Autumn air, surrounded by a glorious array of vivid colors, sights, smells and sounds, you may actually surprise yourself to find your answers to the above questions are somewhat different than what you had initially decided upon in the presence of worldly noise and filters. 

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Now for a political aside (click here to ponder politics, w.r.t. the mid-term elections,  for a moment).  After all, it's been awhile since I have written about politics.
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So as your walk amongst the bounty of nature draws to its inevitable close, please consider one final thought.  This thought being that the most enlightened of individuals among us, spiritually speaking, are those who can first and foremost BE true to themselves. Belonging, purely the sake of belonging in the absence of rational thought, is highly overrated in my humble opinion.  It also just may be the biggest part of what's wrong with America today.  Listen to your inner voice and to thine own self be true .... Now that is the place you go about changing the world from, one ripple at a time.

Investment in "our future"?

The latest omnibus spending bill passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by a ham-strung President leaves my mind absolutely reeling?!  The signing of this Bill into law is the kind of moment when space and time --past, present and future-- collide to create lasting ripples in the ever-expanding universe.  I guess my initial optimism, when Congress succeeded in passing a 2-year budget authorization --something not done since 1996-- a few weeks back, was premature.  Don't get me wrong, I am overjoyed that our military men and women are getting a long overdue pay increase.  Also relieved to see that our decaying and antiquated military is now on a firm standing for a much need reconstruction and modernization expansion.  This new budget, with increased military spending, will go a long way towards strengthening our national security.  That being said, curbing a decline in our military might is only half of the national security equation.  Our nation's outrageous and growing national debt poses an equally dangerous threat to our nation's security.  This is why it is imperative that all unnecessary spending on pet/"pork" projects be zeroed-out in Congressional budgets moving forward [Carly Fiorina talked about this in the 2016 Republican Primary, the need to return to a zero-baseline budgeting to account for where each and every dollar of spending is going].  The time to get our fiscal house in order is long past overdue, and the "pork" spending tacked onto this most recent omnibus spending bill in the 11th hour truly sickens me.  I had hoped for a time that with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate that we would finally begin to reign back in unnecessary spending toward the end of getting a handle on our nation's ever-expanding debt. At the very least, I thought that never again would Republicans pass a massive bill without "knowing what's in it", but I guess the lessons learned from Obama-care were short-lived? Not to worry though, Congress gave themselves a pretty decent pay-raise?!?

Trump should have vetoed this spending debacle and then drug the lazy-inept Congress back to Washington D.C. to clean up their mess.  Surely, the military could have waited another week or two after waiting this long? But then, I forgot how terrible the Republicans are when it comes to playing "Chicken."  And what about those 'humanitarian' Democrats fighting for the rights of innocent children brought into the U.S. through no fault of their own? The Democrats dropped DACA recipients faster than a hot potato when the opportunity to advance their own political agenda --national insolvency-- came around.  DACA recipients and immigrants alike really need take a long hard look at the party that claims to support them.  Thankfully, I think people are finally starting to realize the Democratic party is just using them to get votes in an effort to maintain a stranglehold on power while throwing out crumbs every now again to keep their voting base in line.

Nancy Pelosi was quoted in a press briefing after the Omnibus Bill's passage as saying "This Bill is an important investment in our future."  When what this Bill actually does is saddle our future [our children] with an insurmountable legacy of debt, while pushing our nation ever closer to the edge of insolvency.

If I were President Trump I would call on Republicans in the U.S. Congress to publish a complete list on the "us.gov" website of all the "pork" contained within this monstrous bill, along with the name of the Congressman/woman responsible for the unnecessary addition to our national debt.  The only way to truly clean up "the swamp" is to restore accountability to government.  By publishing this list, "we the people" can see who to hold accountable for unnecessary expenditures and who to vote out of office in the next election cycle.

3/29/2018  Heard today that Congressman Ron DeSantos, of Florida, is working with other members of the House of Representatives to introduce legislation that would amend the U.S. Constitution to allow for a Presidential line-item veto.  This news troubled me at first, mostly because my mind wondered at all of the many opportunities for abuse in the scenario of a full blown line-item veto, but apparently this newly proposed amendment would only grant the President the power veto line-items pertaining to spending. That is to say that this line-item veto would allow the President to put an end to "pork" spending measures tacked onto a bill in the 11th hours, thereby helping to reign in unnecessary spending in an effort to begin getting a handle on our national debt.  Apparently the last attempt to introduce a line-item veto --in the 1990's By Newt Gingrich-- passed with a 2/3rds majority vote.  The problem was that this change was not put forth in the form of an actual amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but rather as a statutory power.  This is the reason the initial push for a line-item veto was not upheld by the Supreme Court.