I'm John Tanner and I've Been Here Too Long: The Career Politician

I really have a problem with entrenched incumbents in public office, whether it's a small town city councilman or a United States senator. That's why term limits are necessary to restrain politicians who can't keep themselves from running for re-election. I simply don't agree with the argument that voters create term limits by voting someone out of office. An incumbent--especially one that's been there 10 years or more--carries name recognition, a barrel full of pork and other goodies, and a hefty war chest to finance his/her campaigns. It's difficult for a fresh face to compete with them.

If we really want change in Washington and at the state level, we need to get rid of the same old tired people that keep going back there time and again. And the best way to do it is term limits.

One example is John Tanner, U.S. representative of Tennessee's 8th Congressional District. I can't say he's my representative because I've never voted for him, even though he represents the district where I live. He's one of those moderate-to-conservative (or "Blue Dog") Democrats, which is another way of saying he's a Southerner who won't join the political party that shares many of his positions and values but stays with the one that's far left of them. Yet because he's a Democrat, he still votes along with them when the time comes. This is why I refuse to give him my vote (not that he really needs it because he's running unopposed yet again).

(I've always wondered why moderate-to-conservative Democrats are called "Blue Dogs." According to Tanner's Congressional biography, the name came about "because its members felt they had been 'squeezed from the left and the right until they turned blue in the face.'" Learn something new every day.)

In my lifetime, there have been but two men who have represented the 8th Congressional District: Ed Jones and John Tanner. Jones was elected in 1969 and served until his retirement twenty years later. His protege is following the same path and will have served just as long after he's re-elected to his eleventh term this year.

I've always loved history and like many kids, I grew up wanting to become president of the United States. That notion was later minimized when I just wanted to run for either a house or senate seat in the Tennessee General Assembly. I wanted to serve the interests of the people where I lived and considered public office a position where any citizen could--and should--serve.

I don't believe in the career politician, at least not one that dominates the same office for a generation or longer. That's not the way it was intended by the founding fathers. It has resulted in political dynasties of family or party that prevent others just as capable from serving. The Ford family of Memphis is a perfect example: father Harold Ford Sr. served as U.S. representative for 22 years (1975-97) and was succeeded by his son, Harold Ford Jr., who held it until his failed bid for U.S. Senate in 2006. Harold Sr.'s older brother John Ford represented Senate District 29 for 31 years before he resigned after his involvement in the Tennessee Waltz investigation in 2005. And who should run for his vacant seat but his sister Ophelia to keep it in the family.

Unfortunately, as long as there's nothing preventing them from running in each election, the entrenched incumbent will continue to mire the political landscape in Nashville and Washington.