Letter: Want term limits? Oppose incumbents

As far as I know, everyone I know is in favor of term limits for not only Illinois legislators but also federal legislators. I have heard and seen demonstrations to promote term limits for years. However, the legislators, in self-preservation mode, have made it so difficult to enact term limits by either popular vote or petition, it is virtually impossible to do so. The only way I can see to create term limits is simple, and I present this to the populace.

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green Party or Independent, just vote against the incumbent.

By voting against the incumbent you eliminate the possibility of the legislators setting up their paths to corruption. They don't have the time to establish the channels to the lobbyists and the insider trading partners. I makes it much harder for them to cultivate the contacts for the "Kick Backs" for favorable votes. Maybe by doing this we can get some legislators that are really there to serve the people instead of themselves.

I believe the intension of the Founding Fathers was that this is what they imagined, a citizen legislature. Come do your civic duty and at the end of your term, you return to the life you had before you became a legislator.

The only other solution I can see is to start a draft for legislators, just like the draft used to be for the armed services. Each draftee would serve a single term of 6-8 years at a reasonable salary then return home with a pension of maybe 30% of the salary they were paid.

I don't believe that a group like this would pass any laws that are any more ridiculous than some of the laws we have today.

Ken Wuestenfeld

Elk Grove Village