Nashville Scene

Ms. Garrigan writes:
But the full effect of the two-term limit (eight years) for Metro Council members that Nashville voters have overwhelmingly approved by ballot is being felt now more than ever. As a result, a number of seasoned council veterans have been dispatched to early retirement on the golf course. Their learned diplomacy and useful knowledge of just the right person to call about those smelly Dumpsters in the alley are lost to constituents forever.

I will agree with her on the point in the full article that the current Council has been very uncivil and behaves badly with some frequency. Councilmen in office for 30 years isn't a good solution either.

I think that the bad behavior by government officials is just one more example of the vulgar nature of our society. We see it on the news, on reality TV, on sitcoms, in churches, in the mall, at home... why should we expect anything more from our elected officials?

Term limits in and of themselves are not the root cause of all the evil and uncivility in Nashville. See our fine state legislature for examples.

State Senator John Ford from Memphis... who has more illegitmate kids that can be counted, has attacked photographers, a state trooper, and Memphis utility workers. The lack of term limits have kept a wonderful upstanding citizen such as Senator Ford in office.