Stop me if you’ve heard this one. A GOP lawmaker in the 90s said he loves term limits and wants to make Congress a “citizen legislature” that will somehow return political power “to the people” by having less-experienced officials serving them in public office.
Said lawmaker gets elected and realizes that lawmakers actually learn things while serving their constituents and can serve their communities better with some seniority. It turn, the official decides to break the old promise and run for re-election beyond the arbitrary, self-imposed limit.
Sound familiar? It’s happened several times recently and we can now add Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) to the list.
Once a leader of Colorado’s term-limits movement, Republican Rep. Thomas G. Tancredo said Wednesday he’s scrapping his pledge and will seek a fourth term. He cited what he called the ongoing threat posed by U.S. immigration policy.
Tancredo said he does not think he is betraying voters.
No, of course not. All he did was promise to “return home” in 2004 and later decide that he didn’t want to keep that promise anymore.
Keep in mind, I don’t actually blame Tancredo for going back on his word. Term limits, to me, are a foolish gimmick that seeks to address a problem that doesn’t actually exist. We already have term limits in every way that matters — they’re called elections. When voters decide someone has had too many terms, they pick someone else.
I do blame Tancredo for making the silly promise in the first place.
My biggest disappointment, though, is that Tancredo will almost certainly get re-elected. He is from an extremely conservative district that has elected Tancredo by wide margins. Bush beat Gore in 2000 in this district by a whopping 23%. Realistically, Tancredo can keep this seat as long as he wants it.
And that’s the problem. Congress would be a better institution without his anti-immigrant zealotry.
But as much as I’d like to see Tancredo out of Congress, I’d still prefer that decision lay in the hands of voters in his district, not some artificial legal mechanism that tells people that they can’t vote for someone simply because he or she has won some elections in the past.