We Already Have Term Limits
The ballot process serves this purpose. Term limits won’t solve the problems with Congress. They would actually create even more.
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Term limits won’t solve the problems people have with Congress, and they would create a host of new issues most people haven’t considered.
Congressmen won’t know anything. All the power and institutional knowledge would lie with lobbyists and staff who aren’t accountable to us, can’t be fired, and whose names you wouldn’t even know.
Public service would cease to be a career and a calling. Serving in Congress would simply be a career stepping stone. Elected officials would spend their entire tenure plotting their next move and lining up their next job.
Term limits violate the principle of “one man one vote.” Imposing term limits supercedes the will of the voters, putting restrictions on who they can and can’t have as their representatives. The citizens of a state or district should decide for themselves. For better or for worse.
Term limits hurt minority interests. If minority representatives are term limited out before they can gain seniority, they can never build stature or accumulate power. What if Jim Clyburn had been forced out in the 90's?
People always say they want “new blood” and “fresh ideas” to “shake things up.” I personally don’t get it. I like “seniority” and “expertise” and people who understand how the system works and how to “get things done.”
There’s a reason nobody runs for reelection saying “look at all the shaking up I did with my new blood and fresh ideas.” They get here, they figure out there’s a reason things work the way they do, and they learn how to do it.
Then they run on “look at what I accomplished.” Because getting things done is what we send them there to do.
