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EDITORIAL: We Don’t Need Saving, Thank You!

Published July 30, 2008


Trends in our modern society seem to be fixated on saving us from ourselves. Products and policies are constantly being formed and re-formed to protect us from our own negligence. Labels glued to every product shout out seemingly obvious safety warnings to us: ‘Caution, coffee is hot’; ‘Plastic Bag Is Not A Toy’; ‘May Contain Peanut Products’; ‘The Door Is Ajar’; to name a few. At best, many of these things are simply annoying and unnecessary; at worst, they are insulting and invasive. One of the more outrageous examples of this, perhaps because it is such a hot topic this week, is Nevada’s term limits law.

Like many of the efforts to save ourselves from our own choices, the idea of term limits may seem to have merit on the surface. Given the common (perhaps unhealthy) disdain that the public has for ‘politicians’ it is an issue that has easily gained traction with the electorate. Historically, the push for term limits has been put in motion by partisan politicians (on one side or another) who face a very popular, and unbeatable, incumbent opponent. But whether you are talking about the 22nd amendment limiting a President to two terms of office, or the current term limit debacle that has thrown the Nevada state primary elections into chaos; term limits are just a bad idea.

Term limit laws assume that politicians are generally bad and that all elected officials eventually become corrupt. They seem to argue that the honor and good intentions of our public servants have an expiration date. Thus term limits claim that, like dairy products in a grocery store, our officials should be automatically rotated and replaced on a regular basis through a system that is completely independent of the electorate. Needless to say, this is a rather pessimistic and counter-productive view of our system.

Even more disturbing, term limits assume that the electorate is not smart enough to determine a good candidate from a bad one. Term limit laws seem to imply that, given a choice in a fair election between a good candidate and a corrupt incumbent, the public will not be able to resist re-electing the corrupt incumbent. Thus, we need to be saved from ourselves.

This is nonsense. For proof, just look at the sorry state of the Clark County Board of Commissioners for the past twelve years or so. Do names like Dario Herrera, Mary Kincaid-Chauncy or Lance Malone ring any bells? And that just names a few. It is admittedly outrageous that so many instances of gross corruption and dishonesty should have taken place. But one thing is clear, it was not term limits that finally solved the problem. The slime and grime of that era was eventually flushed out on its own through a natural, unhindered process. The voters certainly didn’t need a law to save them from the overwhelming urge to vote for those folks again.

On the other hand, look what our term limits law has gotten us this week. Friday, on the very eve of primary election early voting, the State Supreme Court created tremendous confusion by throwing about twenty able people off the ballot because of term limits. Our good County Commissioner, Bruce Woodbury, was among this distinguished list.

It is true that Woodbury has been elected by his constituents over and over again for 27 years. But there is a good reason for this. And it isn’t because the voters felt compelled to do so by their own stupidity. Rather it was because Woodbury has honorably and honestly represented his constituency during his seven terms of office. It is impossible to overestimate Woodbury’s contribution during his years of service. No one denies with any credibility that he has been an exemplary public servant. So, do we really need to save ourselves from re-electing such a man? On the contrary, who could blame the voters for electing Woodbury to that commission seat for as long as he can continue to sit upright in it?

The term limits law has succeeded in doing just the opposite of what was intended. It has flushed out the most honorable of public servants. After so many years of humble and quiet service, Woodbury has been dropped from the ballot like last week’s expired milk. And the voters have nothing to say in the matter.

Unfortunately, Moapa Valley residents may feel the biggest sting of all from this turn of events. This community desperately needs a strong voice pulling for us on the Commission; a voice that carefully listens to our unique needs, respects our wishes and represents our rural values and political leanings. For 27 years we have had that voice in Woodbury. But now the term limits law has told us that we have depended on that voice for far too long. To save us from ourselves, the law is depriving us from that option. And, we are told, it is all for our own good.

This is tantamount to disenfranchisement. Given the vast make-up of District A and Overton’s miniscule part in it, it is quite possible that we will end up with a Commissioner who does not share our values or political ideals. Under those circumstances, a new Commissioner might feel less obligated to really listen to, understand and represent our unique rural interests, in the way that Woodbury has always done. “After all,” he may say, “their votes didn’t elect me, why should I care what they think?”

And so that is the predicament in which the 1996 term limits initiative has gotten us. Only now do we see that this statewide effort to save us from ourselves has backfired, as it was always bound to do. And rather than saving us from ourselves, the initiative has shot us right in the foot.

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK!

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