Will we let term-limited politicians hook us again?

“The last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it.” — Rodney Dangerfield

Perhaps the three most consequential political lies perpetrated on and believed by the American public public over the last three decades are:

• Trickle-down, supply-side economics benefits all of the people, even the lower and middle classes. A rising tide lifts all boats.

• We needed to invade Iraq because it had weapons of mass destruction.

• A terrific way to take back our republic is to insist on term limits for elected officials.

I want to focus on No. 3 because a I still read a lot of Facebook memes suggesting term limits as the panacea to our electoral woes. Too many of us bought into that farce in Michigan more than two decades ago and all we’ve seen instead is the further deterioration of a once-great republic. Even the ringleader of the term limits movement in 1992, State Senator Glenn Steil, changed his mind after serving two terms in Lansing.

And in Allegan County, because our state representatives may serve only a maximum of three two-year terms, we’ve seen the quality of legislators since the retirement of Paul Hillegonds in 1996, go into free fall. The merry-go-round of Patty Birkholz, Fulton Sheen, Bob Genetski, Ken Yonker, Cindy Gamrat and Steve Johnson (the book is still out on Mary Whiteford) revealed that every one of them was first elected by less than 50 percent of the voters. Even worse, they all did virtually nothing to make the quality of our lives any better.

Now comes the approaching contest for 26th District State Senate, which includes all of Van Buren and Allegan Counties and Gaines Township and the City of Kentwood in Kent County. Senator Tonya Schuitmaker, who also has failed to distinguish herself in Lansing on our behalf, is term limited, so the floodgates have been opened for two former state legislators who are itching to get back to the legislative trough in Lansing.

One is Bob Genetski, the ethically challenged legislator who was once caught drunk driving, who ran for county clerk and less than a year later decided to run for senate and who just recently spread the false, cancerous vitriol about teen-age Parkland shooting victim David Hogg.

The other is term limited legislator Aric Nesbitt, who hails from Lawton, the same home town as Schuitmaker. Nesbitt, like Genetski, intends to leave a public job, in this case state lottery commissioner, if elected. This leads me to believe Genetski is unqualified to be county clerk and Nesbitt is unqualified to be lottery commissioner, so they want to get back to the Lansing trough that will provide them with $80,000 a year for as many as eight years.

Voters must understand the disturbing pattern in our post-term limits era. Those who have been retired artificially from office simply find another way to further their political careers. Some, like Schuitmaker and Birkholz, move a step up and run for the senate. Some just go a different arena — such as Genetski to county clerk, Yonker to county drain commissioner, Rep. Tom Hooker to township supervisor. They take advantage of name recognition to get another job. Voters sadly swallow the ruse hook, line and sinker.

I hear tell that the Gongwer News Service, which has been a Lansing watchdog for decades, is calling Nesbitt the favorite in the primary and in the general later this year. It won’t matter because it appears the two ex-legislators are cut from the same cloth. They’ll give us plenty of smiles, handshakes and baby kissing, but very little in actually helping common everyday working stiffs.

And don’t bother asking about roads.