Donald Trump and others say we need term limits for congress people. Do we ever. For dozens of good reasons.

One is that we would get more citizen legislators. That is, people who had successful careers outside of politics. People more likely to be in touch with the likes of you and your neighbors. Hooray for that. There is no question Congress is covered by a bubble.

For me the biggest reason for term limits is Regulations. We simply choke on them. If we had more ordinary common-sense folks in Congress they would not allow the choking.

Anybody who ever got near the auto industry would not allow the wad of senseless forms you have to sign to buy a car.

Anybody who ever worked in the investment business would burn the mountain of regulations that inflict that industry. When you open a simple account your advisor spends half an hour on the paperwork.

Anybody who knew anything about community banks would shoot the guys who wrote Dodd-Frank. That is the monster bill Congress created after our banking crisis. Politicians caused the banking crisis. Politicians. Then they wrote a bill that crushes community banks. While claiming to save banking from future calamities. They got things wrong way ‘round. Dodd-Frank is the calamity.

Even the janitors in community banks know better. They know that 22,000 pages of new regulations are stupid and sinful. They know small banks could never cope with so many nits to pick.

Guys in Congress should have talked with the janitors before they created the monstrosity. Should have talked with businesses that rely on these banks. Should have talked with folks who run these banks. The folks who lend to the folks who run the businesses. The businesses that create the jobs the politicians assured us they wanted to “create”. Idiots.

Am I harsh? You judge. One in five of our community banks has disappeared since Dodd-Frank. Almost no new banks have formed since Dodd-Frank. Entrepreneurs have formed fewer and fewer small businesses.

Ask five small business owners if these banking regulations have hurt them. My guess is that four will say yes, we can’t get the financing we used to. Our bank is handcuffed.

What a wonderful gift our out-of-touch congress people gave to us. Poison for our community banking system. Think how many millions of businesses were stillborn because of Dodd-Frank. Imagine how many never expanded. Imagine how many jobs never saw the light of day. Thanks to Dodd-Frank. Dodd-Frankenstein.

How could politicians be so stupid? Simple. Too few have worked in or owned a business. Too few know the slightest thing about how small businesses operate. Bring on term limits. They might bring more people to Washington who do know such stuff.

Senator George McGovern was in Congress for decades. Had a hand in all kinds of legislation. Ran for the White House.

When he retired he and his wife bought a small hotel in Connecticut.

Within two years the business was bankrupt.

George put some of the blame on the recession of that time. But he put a lot of the blame on the regulations his small hotel had to deal with. They allowed people to file frivolous lawsuits that cost the hotel big money. They forced the hotel to pay people to fill out forms galore. They sucked too many resources from the business of running a hotel.

George, bless him, made a confession in the Wall Street Journal. He confessed that his business was whacked by the sorts of regulations he had helped create in Washington. His confession ought to be stenciled on the desks of every guy in Congress.

“I…wish that during the years I was in public office I had this firsthand experience about the difficulties business people face every day. That knowledge would have made me a better U.S. senator and a more understanding presidential contender.”

The headline for his confession was perfect: “A politician’s dream is a businessman’s nightmare.”

Here’s to more common sense in Washington. Here’s to term limits.

From Tom…as in Morgan.