Today I would like to talk about another key issue in today's political sphere: Term Limits.
Term limits on congress is a controversial idea proposed by many populist political leaders such as Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and others.
But will it work? Will it really keep politicians accountable?
Now my view may not be very popular, but I ask you to hear me out. If you read my writings and stories, by now you should know that I do not make assertions without evidence. I think everything through very carefully. So please, I ask you to merely hear me out.
While I agree with the general goal of term limits, which is congress being more accountable to their constituents, I do not think this change will bring about this end.
There are many problems that term limits would create or contribute to if enacted.
The first problem with term limits is that effective lawmakers are kicked out of office for simply serving, not because they were awful lawmakers. While Congress today is mainly a failure, there are experienced, effective lawmakers who push forward innovative new ideas, procedures and the like. Congressmen such as Dan Vitter, Don Young, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio [1] and many others would have to go home not because their constituents were dissatisfied, but simply for existing and holding the position of congress for a certain period of time. With this in mind, I would ask any proponent of this reform, why serve the people who voted for you? If you know that no matter what you do during your final term, that you won't be able to run or face voters wrath in the coming elections, what reason do you have not to follow your own interests?
I think another thing we can do to make an educated decision on whether to have congressional term limits would be to see how it has effected governments where it was enacted. One such state is California. It did absolutely nothing to change the political system, nor did it solve the problems it aimed to solve.
“The authors [PPIC] find that term limits altered—but did not revolutionize—the type of legislator who comes to Sacramento. Specifically, Proposition 140 accelerated trends of increasing female and minority representation that were already under way in California. Rather than representing a new breed of “citizen legislator,” however, new members after term limits behave a great deal like their precursors. Many have local government experience and run for another office—for an Assembly or a Senate seat—when their terms expire. Careerism remains a constant in California politics.”
“The effects on Sacramento’s policy making processes have been more profound. In both houses, committees...screen out fewer bills assigned to them and are more likely to see their work rewritten at later stages... In addition, legislative oversight of the executive branch has declined significantly. The authors’ interviews with members and their staff revealed a widespread sense in Sacramento that something needs to be done soon to provide more stability and expertise to the Legislature’s policy making process. Yet there are continuities in the Legislature’s internal operations as well. For example, leaders remain central to the process, and term limits cannot be blamed for Sacramento’s intensifying partisan polarization.”[2]
What happened in California because of term-limits? You’ll notice three things from this research. Careerism remains a constant, fewer bills were being screened, and there is a lack of legislative oversight of the executive branch. Is this really what we want for our nation? Or, instead, do we want to learn from California’s mistakes and write a more effective and concise series of laws that would take care of the harms of the current system while at the same time not causing any damage?
Another issue we run into concerning term limits is that there is no guarantee of better congressmen. Proponents of term limits speak very grandly about how new faces and new blood will change the system. However, they fail to realize that there is simply no guarantee of a better congressman, or even a younger congressman. New faces will only make it harder to learn the congressional rules that are already in place. In fact, there is no evidence whatsoever that the newer congressmen will be better than the old ones. Congress will still continue on, corrupt as ever, funded by corporate organizations and having impossible benefits over their challengers. The only difference is that the Congressmen will be there for a shorter time and have less experience.
Finally, I will leave you with this article by US News, affirming my allegation that term limits will not help our nation. “States that have restricted their legislators’ time in office have seen no clear benefits but rather some unexpected negative results. There is no reason to expect that it would be different for Congress.”
“Some states began placing term limits on their legislatures in 1990, virtually always by voter-approved ballot propositions. Voters were persuaded that term limits were desirable by several different arguments. One of the more compelling was that such limits would create a new breed of citizen legislators more reflective of the public’s will. In turn, this would weaken the grip that special interest lobbyists had on lawmaking.
In fact, the backgrounds of state legislators elected after term limits were imposed closely resemble the backgrounds of those elected before such restrictions. They typically have previous political experience and are more educated and affluent than the voters who selected them. And while term limits have changed the way lobbyists do their business, they have actually increased their influence. The legislators elected after term limits were imposed often lack knowledge of the details of many complex policies and turn to lobbyists for information. These special interest groups actually report that they now work harder “educating” less knowledgeable legislators.” [3]
Im going to do a Pt. 2 where I propose my solution to the problem. There is absolutely a problem in congress, but there is a better solution than term limits.
I hope you enjoyed reading this story! If you did, remember to like a subscribe.
Cheers!
Max
[1]http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-who-are-the-most-productive-congressmen-2014-1
[2]http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_1104BCRB.pdf
[3]https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2015/01/16/states-show-term-limits-wouldnt-work-for-congress