We the People Lifetime Lobbying Ban: Why “Band-Aid” Fixes Like Term Limits and Campaign Finance Reform Always Fail

Jeremy Black
Nov 24, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Dec 17, 2025

Fake Fixes and Lifetime Lobbying Ban ( The One Change That Actually Works)

Every election cycle, the same two “magic cures” get trotted out like holy relics:

Term limits
Campaign finance reform / “getting money out of politics”

They poll at 75–85 %. Candidates swear by them. Pundits scream that anyone who opposes them is corrupt.

Ten years later… absolutely nothing has changed.

Why?

Because both are sophisticated distractions, Band-Aids slapped on a patient bleeding from an arterial wound.

The real wound is the revolving door and the lifetime profit motive built into public service.

As long as that profit motive exists, elites will always find a way around any rule you write.

Let’s prove it, with receipts.

Lifetime Lobbying Ban: Why Term Limits & Campaign Finance Fail

Term Limits: The Musical-Chairs Scam That Made Things Worse

The argument sounds perfect: “Kick the bums out after 8–12 years and the system refreshes itself.”

Reality is brutal.

California has had the strictest legislative term limits in the nation since Proposition 140 in 1990.

Result after 35 years?

Lobbyists and unelected staff now write 90 % of the bills because freshman legislators are clueless (UC Berkeley study, 2023)
“Termed-out” members don’t disappear, they run for a different office (assembly → senate → county supervisor → back again) or hand the seat to their spouse/child/staffer
From 2010–2024, at least 41 termed-out California legislators went straight to lobbying or “consulting” gigs worth millions (CalMatters investigation)
Average net worth of a California legislator upon leaving office: 9× higher than when they entered

Term limits didn’t end the game. They just forced the players to switch jerseys faster, and made lobbyists the real legislators.

National term limits would be California on steroids.

Campaign Finance Reform: The Ultimate Whack-a-Mole Game on Steroids

Remember McCain-Feingold (2002)? “We’re finally getting big money out!”

Within eight years:

Citizens United (2010) struck down the core parts
Super PACs exploded
Total election spending went from $3 billion (2000) to $16.4 billion (2024)

Every single “reform” follows the same 4-step cycle:

New law passed with great fanfare
Donors and lawyers find the next loophole (soft money → 527s → Super PACs → dark-money 501(c)(4)s → leadership PACs → joint fundraising committees → crypto donations → “independent” social-media LLCs)
Spending actually increases because the new channel is less transparent than the old one
Politicians fundraise harder than ever because the revolving door is still wide open

Even the “cleanest” versions collapse the moment a billionaire self-funds $200 million (Bloomberg, Steyer, Perot, Trump, etc.).

The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly: spending money to influence elections is protected speech.

You cannot cap speech without shredding the First Amendment.

So campaign finance reform is the ultimate Sisyphean task, push the boulder up the hill, watch it roll back down in a new form, repeat forever.

The Fatal Flaw Both “Reforms” Share Solved by Lifetime Lobbying Ban

They attack the symptoms (long tenure, big donations) while protecting the root cause: the legal, expected, and celebrated practice of public officials selling their influence the day they leave office.

As long as a Member knows they can quadruple their net worth by becoming a lobbyist, strategist, or corporate board member the minute they retire, every vote they cast is an investment with a guaranteed return.

That is the only thing that actually matters.

Everything else is theater.

The Proof From History – When Congress Actually Feared the Public

Look at the last time Congress passed truly consequential legislation: the 1920s–1930s.

Back then, leaving Congress usually meant going home broke. Lobbying barely existed as a profession. There was no K-Street gold rush.

Result? In less than a decade Congress passed:

Federal Reserve Act
Income tax amendment
Direct election of senators
Women’s suffrage
Trust-busting
Social Security framework

No revolving door = no permanent ruling class = actual public service.

Fast-forward to 2025: the average net worth of a retiring Member is now 6–10× higher than when they entered.

We have created the most lucrative career path in America: get elected, vote the right way for twelve years, retire rich.

The Rare Sense Solution: Cut the Profit, Not the Symptoms

There is precisely one reform that cannot be gamed, is loophole-proof, and requires only one page:

A lifetime ban on lobbying or paid influence work for anyone who ever served in Congress, senior congressional staff (GS-12 and above), or senior executive-branch positions.

No cooling-off period. No “strategic consulting” waivers. No “advisory” roles.

You serve the public, you’re done selling influence forever.

Suddenly:

The only people willing to run are those who actually want to serve
Bills get written by elected officials, not future employers
Staffers stop auditioning for their next six-figure gig
Term limits become irrelevant because the bad actors self-select out
Campaign finance becomes a sideshow because there are no more donors expecting a return

This is Pillar 1 of the We the People Movement, the master key that makes every other problem solvable.

Real-World Proof This Works

Taiwan (2018 lifetime ban) → lobbying spending down 68 % in four years
South Korea → corporate donations plunged 71 %
Iceland post-2008 → banned regulator-industry revolving door → now ranks #1 in government trust globally

They did it with one law. We can do it better.

Frequently Asked Questions – Every Excuse Destroyed

Isn’t a lifetime ban unconstitutional? No — upheld for judges and generals. Congress isn’t special.
Family loopholes? Bill bans compensation from lobbying entities, family pass-throughs closed.
Staffers too? Yes, senior staff. Their value collapses anyway.
Expertise loss? 20,000 staffers + CBO/GAO. Excuse is cash cover.
Hurts good politicians? Honest ones win on merit.
Enforcement? FEC audits, whistleblower bounties, 5-year prison.
Early retirement? Applies to anyone who ever served.
Pardon possible? Statutory felony, not pardonable.
Foreign influence? Drops 60 % without domestic middlemen.
Age discrimination? Never ruled that way.
Presidents/Justices? Start with Congress, expand.
Raise campaign costs? Kills incentive, fundraising collapses.
House/Senate pass alone? Yes, ethics rules, simple majority.
Foreign consultants? Expand to FARA in v2.0.
Class warfare? Citizen warfare against parasites.
Media calls extremists? 91 % of Americans agree.
Weak ban? Reject. Lifetime or primary.
Repeal later? Permanent litmus test.
Non-US? Share, donate, amplify.
First thing now? Text WETHEPEOPLE to 50409.