If I could sneak into the Library of Congress with some kind of magic liberty pen and scribble one legally binding amendment on the bottom of the constitution, it would probably be this:  “No Person shall be elected to the House of Representatives more than three times and no person shall be elected to the Senate more than two times.  The term for a member of the House is hereby expanded from two years to four years.”

You stick that amendment into the constitution and this country would become a very different place.  One reason it’s so hard to make any progress in Washington is because too many politicians are worried about protecting their jobs-for-life.  A member of congress can never stop running for office since because they have to face a primary and an election every two years.  Maybe that made sense back in 1787 when life moved a lot slower but two-year terms are just causing chaos in 2013.  I’ve had this term-limits/expanded term compromise stuck in my head for years and I was actually able to put it to use recently.  I have a singer/songwriter friend named Anna and together we created a term limit-themed entry for the Looking@Democracy video contest.  Challenge Post just announced the winners and the judges gave our little video a $5,000 Honorable Mention prize!  Here it is.

Honorable Mention.  Prize:  $5,000:

Anna did most of the hard work of course but I hung the giant American flag so I’m calling this a team effort.  I shot that video with my new Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lens and I’m really happy with the results.  Because the lens is so fast, I basically just opened up some windows and put up a single light to fill in some of the shadows.  I was also able to set my ISO at 100 which means the image is sharp and grain-free.  So be sure to watch that video in HD for the full effect.

The Looking@Democracy contest was actually pretty huge.  In total they received more than 400 entries and there were $100,000 in prizes.  There were 7 honorable mention awards worth $5,000 each.  First place was good for $25,000, 2nd was $20,000 and 3rd was $15,000.  All the entries had to explore a topic related to democracy in America.  Here’s the video that won the grand prize:

Grand Prize Winner.  Prize:  $25,000:

If you feel like over-loading on democracy-themed contest videos, you can see the rest of the winners here.