A "battleground state" in a US election is a state where either candidate might win depending on the appeal to voters and for whom the majority votes. This is the essence of democracy. Shouldn't every state be a "battleground state"? The same should apply to Congressional and Senate Seats. We have Senators serving longer than many European monarchs. Will people with that kind of sinecure ever vote term limits for themselves. Let me go out on a limb and say, "Never!" The European monarchies were cast aside by democracies. We seem to be going in the opposite direction, with democracy subordinated to Senate monarchs. You think I'm kidding? The late Robert Byrd served in the Senate for 51.5 years. The currently serving Chuck Grassley has been sitting there for 50 years. Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years, but the average tenure of a British monarch has been 25 years, and only 17 if you remove her unnaturally long reign. The French monarchs have averaged 20 years, but less if you remove the 72-year reign of Louis XIV. Since 2018 polling, over 80% of Americans favor term limits in Congress. Sheldon Whitehouse, one of our Democratic Senators from Rhode Island for 24 years hollered long and hard for term limits on the Supreme Court, which was too conservative for him. He has never uttered a word about term limits for the Senate. He has also fought to end the filibuster and increase the size of the Supreme Court, but he's mum on that now since his side lost the election! Were they good ideas, or was he just seeking more power? I don't think the founders left King George III to someday serve under King Sheldon I.
No persons identified in this episode.
This episode hasn't been transcribed yet
Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.
Popular episodes get transcribed faster
Other recent transcribed episodes
Transcribed and ready to explore now
SpaceX Said to Pursue 2026 IPO
10 Dec 2025
Bloomberg Tech
Don’t Call It a Comeback
10 Dec 2025
Motley Fool Money
Japan Claims AGI, Pentagon Adopts Gemini, and MIT Designs New Medicines
10 Dec 2025
The Daily AI Show
Eric Larsen on the emergence and potential of AI in healthcare
10 Dec 2025
McKinsey on Healthcare
What it will take for AI to scale (energy, compute, talent)
10 Dec 2025
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View
Reducing Burnout and Boosting Revenue in ASCs
10 Dec 2025
Becker’s Healthcare -- Spine and Orthopedic Podcast