Jumping Jim Jeffords
by Rense Johnson, Chairman, Citizens for Term Limits
Jumping Jim Jeffords, the flip-flop frog, flits from lily pad to lily pad, seeking personal political promotion by declaring himself an Independent instead of a Republican, leaping nimbly from the Republican lily pad to the Independent lily pad. Is there a Democrat lily pad in Jeffords’ future? Only when it suits the ambition of you-know-who.
If we had had congressional term limits in place twenty years ago, Jeffords would never have gotten this far. Given Vermont’s proclivities for liberalism it is unrealistic to suggest that he would have been replaced by a conservative. But under term limits the replacement senator would never have gained the prominence enjoyed by Jeffords, and thus never been tempted to use party-switching to his own personal advantage.
Many other members would be history by now under a constitutionally term limited Congress. How many of these losses would we mourn1? How many would be irreplaceable2?
A by-product of term limits would be the death of the seniority system, which now keeps the moss-backs hanging on. Is seniority what the Framers intended? Why not merit-based leadership?
1 Only those who take seriously their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
2 None
