Mark Levin has written a new book talking about the constitutional challenges we face today. In his book, The Liberty Amendments, he explains the problem and then proposes a constitutional remedy.

One problem this nation faces is the fact that too many members of Congress serve too long.  Since there are no term limits for Congress, some serve for decades while a few voluntarily term-limit themselves. The reelection percentage for the House of Representatives is over 90 percent, and the reelection percentage for the U.S. Senate is over 80 percent. Ronald Rotunda (Chapman University law professor) explained that the “turnover rate in the House of Lords has been greater than the turnover in the House of Representatives. There was even more turnover in the membership of the Soviet Politburo.”

Part of the problem is gerrymandering. As I have often said on “Point of View,” the voters may choose their senators, but in the House of Representatives, they choose their voters. State legislatures construct safe House districts. Add to that the power of incumbency (patronage, publicity, fund-raising events), and you have virtually no turnover in the House of Representatives.

Term limits apply to those in the executive branch. Thirty-six states have term limits on governors. The Twenty-Second Amendment limits the President of the United States. It would make sense to have some limit on those who serve in Congress. Certainly they should be in office long enough to gain expertise but not be in office so long that they essentially forget the will of the people they are serving.

His proposed amendment says: “no person may serve more than twelve years as a member of Congress, whether such service is exclusively in the House or the Senate or combined in both Houses.” This amendment is an attempt to return Congress to a place where citizen legislators serve for a time and then return to the people.

We may disagree about whether twelve years is the right limit, but I think we can all agree that some members of Congress have been there too long. I’m Kerby Anderson, and that’s my point of view.