Dixon letter: Term limits

I have decided to waste one of my letters to reply to Raul Labrador’s “Congressional term limits are necessary to ‘drain the swamp’ ” opinion piece (Feb. 8). He has introduced a proposed term-limit amendment of six two-year terms in the House AND two six-year terms in the Senate. With the AND, that means a total of 24 years. He praised George Washington’s presidential decision of two four-year terms, and I suggest that no one should serve in Congress more than eight years total in a lifetime. That could be any combination of House and Senate years. Example, one two-year term in the House, and one six-year term in the Senate. Then leave. Go home.

I suggest a better idea, from the book “The Second Founders.” Leave the swamp. Every 12 years on the national ballot, allow the citizens to vote to decentralize Congress out of Washington to a glassed-in electronic office in their home districts in their states, where they can debate on live TV, vote, but be available in person to their constituents, every day. They wouldn’t need two homes, would be safe from a massive wipeout attack, could be with their families, and be neighbors again.

This story was originally published February 19, 2017 at 5:59 PM with the headline "Dixon letter: Term limits."