I would think that the founders would have considered this and as they are more intelligent than we are now, it may not be the best. Law
Makers need to be able to follow there law to the end which can take 5+ years now. I think fixing the election system would be better as I do t think these long termers were voted in by the people.
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Iām not sure I can be convinced otherwise, but senator or rep that has been in office for a long period of time becomes genuinely disconnected from the reality of those they ārepresent.ā No longer do they wake up having the same concerns as their constituents.
Having term limits, IMO, will keep elected officials āgrounded,ā so they maintain a connection and realistic āpulseā on what their respective community needs.
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Another great point. I get the idea of, āwell, I served so I should get x/y/z benefit.ā However, if x/y/z benefit is provided for a lifetime, then multiplied by how many people receive that same benefit, there becomes a huge economic problem in funding/supporting that benefit.
Who typically gets stuck with the bill? Taxpayers.
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yes that would also line up with Presidential Election if you force them all to be re-elected in 2028
Each State should set there own term limits for their representatives. This is not popular but itās the only true way to properly do term limits. The States are sovereign and should not be mandated by a federal policy or an amendment to US Construction to limit their terms of their representatives.
YES. THIS. No decades and decades long career politicians, that defeats the purpose of representatives being in touch with grassroots issues.
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Itās worth noting that many Federal servants move from job to job, elected or not, which perpetuates cronyism - a real issue in Federal service. Suggest that no elected official - not just Congressmen/Senators - may be elected to the same position more than twice, and no individual may stand for re-election who has served more than 10 years total in Federal service.
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Term Limits certainly have a great appeal, and I thought this was the Foundersā one fatal flaw. But then I learned the Founders didnāt simply overlook something that obvious - the Founders had term limits in the Articles of Confederation but chose to get rid of them in writing the new Constitution: the Founders saw holding regular elections as term limits, limiting each office to a specific number of years until this elected had to stand for election again.
There are 3 issues I have with Term Limits as I have had more time to learn, unlearn, relearn and reflect on these past 6 months:
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It eliminates the good guys too. We need them. Thomas Massie, James Comer, Byron Donalds, John Kennedy, Jim Jordan, etc - these are the kind of legislators we need around. I get we have some who have been there forever - and agree itās a problem. However, no doubt there are election integrity/corruption issues in those districts where they are elected. There is also a controlled corporate/legacy media issue, and a uniformed electorate, which go hand in had as well.
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It creates lame duck legislators at scale. A Lame Duck is an official in the final period of office, after the election of a successor: as a lame duck, the president had nothing to lose by approving the deal. With term limits, a lame duck official is in their last term for their entire term last term, not just the end of an election cycle where they lost which would have little impact. They are lame duck for an entire legislative period of either 2 years or 6 years where they no longer worry about an election, not accountable to their electorate for re-election. And it is worse as there would be groups of legislators in this same final term, for instance, if the hard core Left Squad is collectively in their last term together - what sort of havoc could they wreak?
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It further emboldens and empowers the permanent bureaucratic government, the deep state establishment. The politicians become even more fungible, ie, replaceable by another identical politician, mutually interchangeable. The same like-minded type politicians will still get elected in the district, by the same corrupt elections and uninformed electorate. The quality of candidates will surely degrade as they become more puppets than they already are in many cases. And those politicians cycled out by term limits will just become lobbyists or join companies that they have helped along the way no doubt, particularly in their final term, and they would still get a hefty pension no doubt.
There is more to fixing politics than limiting the terms of legislators we donāt like. We need a better informed electorate who are more engaged and paying attention to the politics happening to them, and address corruption in elections.
I just urge everyone to reflect and consider that there may be more aspects, unintended consequences, and deeper agendas at play by those playing a long game in efforts to undermine our U.S. Constitution who would benefit in ways we have not considered - because we are not evil. Our efforts should be focused on Restoring the Constitution, not changing it, by helping to create a more informed electorate and securing the integrity of our elections.
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The main purpose of the difference in term lengths between House reps and Senators is so that representatives (2 yrs between elections) are more likely to listen to a constituentās concerns and grievances and take action so they get re-elected. A senator (serving 6 yrs before re-election) is meant to take a step back and not be as easily swayed by the people so they donāt make snap decisions.
In that same vein, I think appropriate term limits are 5 terms for representatives and 2 for senators
Its not just the senators and representatives, its there staff members as well. Why do you think they all have there family and close friends as staff. There the ones getting royalties for life as long as that bill, medication, food, and everything else.
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Absolutely agree
I didnāt know that the founders had it in the articles of confederation. Thatās an important piece of information.
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This needs to be one of the 1st things to happen. For example Senator Sanford Bishop has been in office since 1993. He needs to go! If the same corrupt people remain in those positions nothing will change. He should not be allowed to run again after this term.
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We absolutely need term limits. I am in favor of a 2 term limit and 3 years max per term.
I would go with 12 years max as that allows a senator to serve two full terms.
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Did you mean maximum instead of minimum?
Bought and paid for politicians should be prosecuted for stealing from the taxpayers and collusion.
Elections in that district should be scrutinized, and for any of these forever seats. If there is corruption or cronyism that is keeping a candidate in place then a change in candidate would likely put in place a crony who is similarly aligned and the apparatus around that office would not change.
Absolutely there should be term limits. We need to keep the government fresh and with innovators who will strive to make our country what we need.
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I propose to reduce your idea of 10 years length to eight years length. These changes must go into the constitution so they cannot change them later on.