WHEREAS, the average tenure of a member of the United States House of
Representatives is 6.5 years; and
WHEREAS, the organization U.S. Term Limits had successfully pushed term limits in state legislatures around the country, but lost at the SCOTUS in Thornton, 1995, which declared term limits unconstitutional, rendering their work fruitless; and
WHEREAS, U.S. Term Limits is now pursuing a Constitutional Amendment via a
Convention of States; and
WHEREAS, while we can all agree that the federal government is bloated,
dysfunctional, powerful beyond its constitutional authorizations, and often pursuing contradictory missions, long-serving Representatives and Senators are not the problem; and
WHEREAS, the dysfunction and problems in the federal government can more
accurately be laid at the feet of “deep-state foxes” and the real permanent political class, such as;
• long-serving, partisan unelected bureaucrats at every level who cannot be fired; and long-serving, partisan unelected congressional and congressional committee staff; long-serving, unelected, highly paid special interest lobbyists who write the bills for the
• long-serving, unelected, partisan congressional committee staffers; rotating,
highly paid academic and crony-capitalist contractor consultants; wealthy,
partisan, issue-oriented foundations that work with and influence the
• administrative, rule-writing, unaccountable bureaucracy, today commonly
referred to as the “fourth branch of government”; and
WHEREAS, our country’s earliest document, The Articles of Confederation included term limits, known at the time as “rotation” but were omitted in the 1789 Constitution in favor of frequent elections; and
WHEREAS, those who stood against term limits in 1789 argued that regular elections by the people could be a better check on corruption than constitutional limits and that such restrictions would create their own problems; and
WHEREAS, Madison wrote in Federalist 53 that the higher proportion of new
representatives swept into office due to term limits could lead to poor decisions and corruption from a wave of inexperienced legislators; and
WHEREAS, long-serving representatives and senators use their tenure to more
effectively advocate for constituents who need to deal with the deep-state bureaucracy than new congressmen who arrive in Washington, D.C. with expiration dates; and
WHEREAS, of all our government employees, only our electeds leave Washington, D.C. and return home to face the voters they have come to know so well over the years of their tenure, unlike the unelected bureaucrats and special interest groups that never leave the swamp to assess or face the impacts of their work; and
WHEREAS, our elected United States Representatives and Senators are the only check on the administrative state-this fourth branch of government-and to limit their service is to limit the voice of the voters. Now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, that the Wyoming Republican Party opposes term limits on our federal elected officials.
BE IT RESOLVED that the Wyoming Republican Party supports making all taxes,
including severance, for wind [and solar] energy equivalent with mineral taxes.
Passed:
Wyoming Republican Party, 21 May 15 SCC