During one of my morning scrolls on Twitter, I came across a post that I couldn’t believe was true.

“NEWS – Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC-06) is weighing whether to seek another term or retire and endorse his daughter, Jennifer Clyburn-Reed, per The Washington Post,” a post from NewsWire read. “Clyburn would be 86 if re-elected to an 18th term in November.”

On Thursday, it was announced that Clyburn would in fact be running for another term in office.

*sigh*

There are many things broken in today’s political world. But perhaps the easiest part that can be fixed is adding a universal term limit system.

The eight-year, two-term limit system dates back to the inception of our country. Our first president, George Washington, declined to run for a third term, which historians often trace as the origin of the two-term system in the presidency. 

President Thomas Jefferson was perhaps the most vocal proponent of the two-term system, famously writing in his autobiography, “should a President consent to be a candidate for a 3d. election, I trust he would be rejected on this demonstration of ambitious views."

For 200 years, we stood true to that rule of respect. And then came FDR.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the United States’ 32nd president, served a whopping four terms in office from 1933 until his death in office in 1945. His overreach of power prompted Congress to finally codify term limits on the U.S. presidency with the passage and ratification of the 22nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

Thankfully, we have stood true to our laws (though a certain 45th and 47th president doesn’t seem to care about that). But why can’t Congress do something similar for itself?

Well, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that states cannot impose stricter term limits for Congress than what’s listed in the Constitution. In order to impose term limits at the federal level, it would have to be done by way of a constitutional amendment.

So here’s why that won’t happen.

Example No. 1: Did you know that there are 30 members in the House who have held their seats since before the turn of the century?

The longest-serving representative active in the House is 88-year-old Hal Rogers, who has been in office since 1981. There are 17 active representatives over the age of 80, including David Scott, who represents parts of Newton County. Scott has qualified to run for an 11th term, despite public concerns on both sides of the aisle over possible physical and mental decline.

Out of the 432 representatives (three seats are currently vacant), over 150 of them have served longer than eight years in office. 

Example 2: Did you know that there are nine U.S. senators who have held their seats since before the turn of the century? The oldest acting senator is Chuck Grassley, who is 92 years old. Grassley ties Chris Smith as the longest-serving senator, both having assumed office in January 1981.

Around one-third of the Senate has served longer than the 12-year, two-term period.

In other words, why would the Senate vote to change something that they don’t think is broken?

Politicians are meant to be elected by the people to represent the thoughts, ideas and aspirations of our community. They’re also supposed to reflect and adapt to the ever-changing world around us.

With this data in mind, does anyone seriously think that someone holding office since the 80s really reflects our current worldview? 

A good start would be to implement universal term limits for all state and federal offices. Two terms, three terms… Six years, eight years… I don’t care. Just please, no more 50-year strongholds.

But why not stop there? I think local offices would benefit from term limits as well.

This is not to pick on any one person in an office here in Newton County. I know there are folks who have held onto offices for quite some time now. 

If you don’t want to hear it from me, take it from someone who’s served in local politics. Susie Keck, the now-retired Covington city councilwoman whom I have a lot of respect for, said this last year when she announced that she would not be seeking reelection to the Covington City Council.

“I ran on two term limits, and I’m leaving on two term limits,” Keck said. “You get great ideas from new people, especially if they’ve lived in other places.”

I can’t argue with that.

Evan Newton is the managing editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.