Congressional candidate Frank Guinta told a Town Hall meeting crowd in Wolfeboro that term limits are needed in Congress to keep senators and representatives accountable to the people and to the law.
The fact that some representatives have been in Washington so long gives them an “entitlement” mentality that the “rules don’t apply to them,” he said.
“The system was not created to give any one person power for a long period of time,” said Guinta, a former mayor and alderman for Manchester and a former state representative for New Hampshire who has never served more than two terms in any office. “I think we would be better served as Americans if you had people who went down for 12 years and then went home, and you always had a new group of people.”
Serving in Congress should be about service to the American people, but it has become more of a career that is self-serving, he said. America should start having a debate and dialogue about amending the U.S. constitution to require term limits, he said.
When “people 100 years ago used to serve, they would go down to Washington for a period of time--they would leave their farm or they would leave their business, they would leave their family--and trek down to Washington, take their votes, and come back,” he said. “It was financially a challenge and a burden, but it was a responsibility. And I think term limits can create that environment.”
Guinta acknowledged that some good representatives and senators would be sent home due to the restriction, but he asserted that other good people “just as smart and equally as dedicated” would rise to the occasion and replace the people who have finished their term. Term limits would give more people the chance to serve and perhaps even make running for office less expensive, he said.
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