Hour 1: Term limits for Congress?

It is currently 613 on this Thursday morning, July 16th. It's hot. It's 78 degrees. It's going to get hotter going up to 93 eventually. And just a slight chance for a shower here or there. Same thing tomorrow. And then Saturday chance for showers builds up to about 40 percent, but not a washout by any means. So you'd be able to get the grass cut, catch up with the chores and all that kind of stuff as we plow through the dog days of summer. Aaron Dusso joins us now, Associate Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Indianapolis. Morning. Aaron, how are you? Good, good. How are you doing? I'm all right. I want to talk about term limits because from 1954 to 2026, as you well know, the seat that Lindsey Graham just vacated with his untimely passing was held by only two people. And that kind of says a lot. Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing in our country that's the beacon of life for democracy that you can have a situation where more than half a century one person serves in the Senate. So I want to ask the audience that at 504-2601-1870, should Congress have term limits? Of course, whenever we talk about it, somebody ultimately says we already have term limits and they're called elections. Is that accurate? Well, I mean, that is the mechanism by which we're supposed to hold our representative responsible. And, of course, if we have term limits, we're breaking that connection because, you know, the person who would be a lame ducked their last term. And if that's two or six years, you're talking about a time where they can do seemingly whatever they want. But yet that same logic would apply to the presidency, would it not? Right, and that was actually one of the arguments back when you made the change the Constitution to half-term limits is that the president would then be forced to be a lame duck. And actually we've seen it when research that that last four years tends to be less productive for a president. Certainly the last two years, they almost nothing of substance happens to last two years or presidency. What were the underpinnings behind, and I know FDR had been in office a long time, but what were the underpinnings behind the, I mean, constitutional amendment to instill? term limits as it relates to the presidency? I mean, the argument, you know, comes, you know, out of that era with FDR being, you know, in office for so long. Of course, he passed away in office. And so the thought was that this is too long, and there was enough public support behind it. Because obviously, in order to change the Constitution, you have to get two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate, and three-fourths of the state to sign on to that, that this would actually be able to pass because there's a recognition that this seemed to be too long. So tell me about the timing of this going back then to when it passed and FDR's approval ratings coming out of the war. I would think at that time when he did pass, his ratings would have been approval ratings would have been pretty good because we were winning the war. I think the war in Europe was over with or not quite? Right. I mean, ultimately, it hadn't quite completely finished World War II at that point in time. I mean, FDR, his most popularity was when he first came into office. And this is, you know, he starts, you know, with his new deal. And that was his height. Now, we didn't have, we don't have as good surveys back then as we have now, so we can't be quite as precise. But.

that were coming from the states that had term limits would never get anywhere. Yeah, you're exactly right. Because one of the ways you become powerful in Congress is just longevity, because you become the chair of the committee rather than just a member. And being the chair of committees has historically always been critically important. It's actually one of the things that you point to the power of the South that grew throughout the early 20th century because... Ultimately, if you were a Democrat in the South, you won no matter who was running against you. And so they gained these members gain seniority, more seniority than members from the North because they were replaced more often. And therefore, that led to the South dominating committees within Congress and stopped a lot of civil rights legislation from happening much, much later than you would have probably expected to happen. I will pick it up. We come back talking to Aaron Duso, Associate Professor Political Science in Indiana University, Indianapolis, about term limits because the seat that Lindsey Graham vacated with his passing... Only two people had held on to that seat from 1954 to 2026, Strom Thurman before him and then Lindsey Graham, and now it's his sister, and who knows what's going to happen after that. I asked you to text me at 504-260-1870. Are you four term limits or not? Some of the texts that are coming in, not only should there be congressional term limits, there should be a limit to the total amount of time. A person can hold in federal government regardless of how many offices or positions it is. Somebody else simply says yes for term limits. Somebody else says, Good morning, Tommy. I think term limits are bad because I believe it makes government less effective, which adds to voter apathy, which then erodes democracy. However, I think setting age limits to serve would be better. Example for both houses of Congress, you can only serve from the ages of 30 to 60. That's from Ralph in the River Parishes. And then somebody said, I believe Senate and representative should hold only two terms as the president does and a mandatory age for retirement. So what do you all think? 504-260-1-870, there is an argument about institutional knowledge, and if you have a constant turnover, then nothing's going to get done in government. But, of course, you can counter that with, is anything really getting done now? 621 traffic, WWL. 627, Tommy Tucker Carlson, WWO, talking about term limits for Congress after Lindsey Graham's passing. You realize that he was the only guy to hold that seat other than Strom Thurman since 1954, only two people. And does that mean that, you know, the old guard is in and they got grips on power and that the new guard never has a chance? Somebody said a counter to the institutional knowledge argument is that it'll force everybody to recalibrate their thinking. Now that they know their term limited, it'll force them to be more accepting and willing to work across the aisle. Aaron Duce, America, a associate. professor of political science in Indiana University, Indianapolis. What do you think? So if we're asking questions about how policy is made, oftentimes we think about policy being made as an iron triangle. So that'll be your member of your state legislature or Congress, particularly the committee that's responsible for the area. Then you're talking about the government agency at the state or federal level that is responsible for implementing the policy. But then the other part of that triangle is organized interest, i.e. the industry that that's going to affect, and all three of those things get together.

and are going to be the things that make policy. And so if we just term limit people, we're just affecting one point on that triangle. And so we leave the other two in place. And then so it's not clear that this effect will really have a positive one because what you do is you reduce the institutional knowledge and particular policy area knowledge of the person who's sitting in the legislature, whereas the industry and the bureaucrats all have the same knowledge and they've been there for decades in many, many years. There's a, you know, if we're thinking of concern about policy, there's real concerns there. Well, we're talking about when we talk about policy, the way the government works or about writing new laws, because a lot of times the lobbyists themselves write the laws, don't they? Oh, yeah. I mean, and actually it's in both instances. So it's writing new laws, but then it's also oversight over how the laws are implemented. In both those cases, you kind of depend not only on the member of Congress, but you're going to have, you know, the bureaucracy itself is going to be there, you know, talking about this. And then also organized interest, they never stop lobbying. So it doesn't stop at an election. They're there every single day. They're the ones testifying, you know, before Congress. And so they're not going to be term limited at all. Their knowledge is going to be, you know, static. So what would it take if we were to have term limits? How would that have to start? Well, the only way really I think is going to happen is if you have an actual Constitution amendment that passes Congress. And so we can kind of just wait for that to happen. In theory, you could have a constitutional convention, but it's never happened. So the way it's going to have to happen is going to be through Congress. And so that's almost certainly not going to happen either. They'd have to get together and say, you know what, guys, it's been a good run, but let's limit ourselves the two terms each. And then we'll go back to doing whatever it is we do, and we're not going to make this the family business, and we're not going to pass seats down from whatever to whatever. And we're not going to be senators or representatives for 35, 40 years, and that's not going to happen. No, they're too busy trading stocks on Wall Street. Exactly. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Aaron Duso, Associate Professor of Political Science at Indiana University. Indianapolis. We'll talk to Mike Strain, and we come back. Time now, WWL First News. It is 6.45 quarter till 7. I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Thursday, so much to the point that I was even putting my garbage out, Mike Strain, and my neighbor said, what are you doing? A day early. What? But I should have known that because you hadn't been on. And you come on every Thursday. So how could it have been Thursday if Mike Strain hadn't been on? Well, at least he wasn't a day late, right? That's true. Every way you go, you should have been there yesterday. Yeah, exactly. So I guess I was doing all right. How you been? Man, I've been extremely well. Thank you. Thank you. I tell you what, we've been getting a lot of rain. It is wet out there. It is, Mike. I got to talk to you about watermelons because I don't know what I did, but I bought one tasted like a cucumber. You ever had a watermelon taste like a cucumber?

Was it not ripe? I don't know. Was it just, was it still too green? It did, maybe, I guess, I don't know, but it just didn't taste right. So I had to peel the whole thing, and then I threw it away. By the way, you know these slices that you get that look like a tomato slicer you can slice a watermelon with? You better have somebody like Cam Jim Jordan to lean on that thing to cut it because I don't, it doesn't, y'all don't waste your money on those things because they don't work because it's, that watermelon rind is pretty thick. It is thick, and it's happy. I was leaning on and sitting on it doing everything I could and it didn't go anywhere. So use a knife and be careful. But tell me how to choose a ripe melon because I love sweet watermelon, but I can't find one. Well, you know, normally, you know, you thump it, right? And what you'll do, you listen for that sound. You want to have that sort of hollow sound that resonates. You don't want a dull sound. So if you, you know, if you thump like thumping on the table and there's no sound, it doesn't sound, you know, like that hollowness, then it's not right. And that's maybe, that's why it was probably more like the cucumber. It wasn't just quite right. You know, it might have been a week or so. too early. You know, it might have been picked, was it a, you know, and it might not, was it a local watermelon? It might have been one of them coming out of a card or... I have no earthly idea. I didn't look. Honestly, you know what, not you say that? That might be my fault. I didn't look. Yep, yep, yep. That's why, you know, you may both time, when I buy a watermelon, most time I'll stop and I'll, you know, see a guy with a trailer on the side of the road, you know, an old farmer there. And you can tell he's local because generally the pickup truck would not have made it from Florida. And you go, you know, and sit there and we'll talk and we'll visit. You know, and then we'll thump some. And I said, you show me your best watermelon on the trail, and we'll thump around, and I'll thump around. And, you know, I generally come out pretty well doing that. Boy, that's a good idea. That's what I'm going to do from now on. I'm going to go with the farmer on the road, with the truck that couldn't have made it from Florida. That's right. That's right. And you know what those trucks look like, because I have one. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh, yeah. Yeah, people tease me all the time. Why don't you get a new truck? I mean, that old farm truck works just fine. Just fine. Tell me about mosquitoes, Mike. Mosquitoes are real bad right now. And what we're seeing with this continued rain, you know, that's high humidity. And it's, you know, the days are running in 88 to 92, which is perfect weather for mosquitoes. And so we're very concerned that we may see a surge in mosquitoes. And the thing about mosquitoes, they carry diseases. And what happens is that you may go several years without having a lot of encephalitis, and all of a sudden you have a surge because what happened,

is that encephalitis overwinners and remains in small mammals, small birds, and also in reptiles, such as alligators. And so when you lose that background immunity, and then all of a sudden, it grows and it, quote, spills over. And that's the term we use. It spills over. First, we see it in horses, then we see it in people. And, of course, we're concerned about that because we haven't had a real bad season. you know, for West Nile and Eastern encephalitis. And so with the mosquitoes, you know, good mosquito control, you know, that's worth every penny. Without mosquito control, we could not live where we live. It would be impossible. And so the other thing is that we all need to do our part two, standing water, wherever that's that, in and around your home, in and around the farm. You know, farms are big places, lots of things. They're going to hold water, and everything that holds water needs to be drained. Because what you don't want is to have, again, those mosquitoes growing around you because those that will bite you. But they are really bad, right about dark. And, of course, if you've been out there working, they're attracted to CO2. They're attracted to you if you've been sweating. So, you know, wear long-sleeve shirts. If you're out there, I'll wear a cap. Use a mosquito repellent with deep if you're working out. You know, in the daytime, and it's in you're hot, and if you put sunscreen on, let the sunscreen dry, then hand apply, hand apply. You know, you put the spray on your hands, then wipe your face. But use a good product, whatever you're going to use, because the mosquitoes, again, you don't want to get bitten. And, you know, you don't have to get bitten by a lot of mosquitoes to get sick, just one or two, you know, that has had the virus. Somebody texted in and said, The yellow spot on the bottom side of the watermelon, if it's... The vine is brown and shriveled up in a deep thump, that sucker will be sweet. Yes, no? Yeah, yes. You know, you look at that, well, so you look at the vine, you know, when we're out there, you know, picking the watermelons, we look at the vine, and you want that vine, you know, start shriveling. You know that it's time, and if you look at that yellow spot, the yellow spot is where it's been sitting on the ground. And so it depends on the moisture of the ground, but where it's been sitting. And sometimes, you know, if that watermelon is getting overripe, You know, that's where it will, well, if that watermelon is going to rot, that'd be where you'd see it first under the bottom. But you would see it yellow or kind of that tinging. That's also a sign. But the best sign is a good sum. Mike, somebody wants to know about the Google Mosquito Project and your thoughts on that. Well, I'm not that familiar with the Google Mosquitoa project, you know, frankly. So we'll have to look that up and talk about it. I know they're going to release some mosquitoes that, I don't know, we did a thing on it, but I don't remember either. Somebody else wants to know about Plagman's Parish Produce.

Our Plachman's Parish produce is always excellent, you know, because the thing about down in Placquins Parish, you have that very good alluvial soil. And that is just, that is a big part about produce. And Plaquemus Parish been producing produce. You know, you get down, you know, the renopses, you know, the Begnols and all those families have been doing it, you know, for literally for a century or more. And you've got that beautiful soil. You've got just the right weather. You know, and then, of course, they know what they do, and, you know, family traditions, and it's always wonderful. You know, and then back on the mosquito projects, you know, the releasing of sterile mosquitoes, you know, that is another project to try to decrease, you know, the mating mosquitoes that in addition to using chemicals as well. When it comes to the sugar cane yield and crop and so forth, when do they start harvesting it? They'll start harvesting in September. Now, we do have an issue that we're fighting a sugar cane as we speak. There's a pest that was just identified late last fall called a pasture mealybug. And that particular pest now is something. We had a meeting yesterday with a sugar cane growers there at St. Gabriel, and we are battling that. It came in, start off in Australia, and then it's down in Texas, and now here. So, you know, we are fighting that. We've been working very closely with the Ag Center and with the EPA and our agency. EPA has been very, very helpful and working with us and giving us the ability to treat, you know, for that particular pest. So sugar cane starts. Sugar cane last year we had a record yield. It is $1.6 billion at the farm level, so about $6 billion in the economy. We're hoping for a good season when we're all pulling and working together. Sugar remains good. We have a very good sugar program. And we are the largest producer of cane sugar in the United States. And that is a big deal. And we have the finest research centers in the world. And so sugar cane is a big part of our culture. And we actually manufacture the equipment for harvesting sugar cane and others. That's in Tiburdo, Louisiana by John Deere. You know, so, I mean, we're highly integrated, but as part, we've been, how you say, raising cane for 200 years. And you know where sugar cane farming started, right? You know where it started? Louisiana. Jackson Square right there in front of a cathedral. The Jesuits brought it, and they brought it because they made medicinal rum, right? The Jesuits had to have. They made that medicine. Yeah, medicinal rum, as they said. And then it went into the Farbaugh-Marine area. Then the ottobin Park was an ottobin. You know, that was a big sugar cane form and research area. And so, you know, sugar cane is integral into the history of New Orleans and Louisiana. And we do it better than anywhere else. And so, again, it's a part of our culture. My family used to raise a little bit of cane. They raised cane to make their own molasses, actually. And I can remember my grand uncle when I was a kid out there making molasses. You got to have sugar. You can make ice cream, National Ice Cream Day Sunday. What's your favorite flavor, Mike?

My favorite flavor. You know, I'm thinking about, you know, some of that new bluebell with lava, as you talk about now. Let me tell you. Let me tell you. I've got to try that. That's coming. I'm going to do that. That is just beyond awesome. That is, that should come with a warning label, immediately addictive. Big spoon, right? Yeah, giant spoon. Yeah, yeah. We're going to have talk about that. So I'm going to let you know. Everybody gets their own. Plenty ice cream. Everybody gets their own half gallon. I'm going to tell you what. Thank you, Mike Strain. Have a good day. 655-5-7, traffic now, WWL.