Members of Congress Should Have Term Limits Essay

For over two decades, citizens of the United States of America have had strong feelings on the subject of congressional term limits- more specifically, the imposition of term limits on Supreme Court Justices as well as the restriction on judicial review. This controversial issue has been further publicized due to the more recent publication of Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Public. Levin, a talk show host, makes his term limit case in his book about several amendments that have been attempted in the past.

Term limits, thus provide an escape from the Faustian bargain that voters face: they know that returning an incumbent for another term may help their district, but in the long run it has dire institutional and national consequences. Voters realize even though the Congressman is doing good things for their district soon they will need someone new. They know long-term officeholders become less vulnerable because they come gradually to identify their interests more and more with those of the federal government. There is a strong relationship between length of legislative service and votes in favor of more public expenditures.

Currently in the United States, we have a system setup where the average citizen is allowed to run for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate as long as they meet specific age and citizenship requirements. According to the United States Constitution, “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen (U.S. Archives 1). Additionally the United States Constitution states that, “No Person shall

John Dingell, a member of the United States House of Representatives, served fifty-nine years and twenty-one days at this position. With no term limits set for the federal legislative positions in the United States, is this representation becoming redundant? Term limits can potentially be crucial in political reform of the United States that would bring new perspectives to federal legislative positions, warrant regular federal legislative turnover, and reduce incentives for wasteful election-related federal spending. Term limits can also pervert the entire understanding of what democracy is, by substituting the people’s will with term limits that may go against what the people want. United States federal legislative term limits have previously

There are several arguments that speak for Congressional term limits. To begin with, term limits were contained in America’s first governing document, the Articles of Confederation. Back then in the eighteenth century this tool was chosen by the founding fathers to avoid long-term political careerism and the abuse of the power legislators hold. Following this statement it becomes clear that term limits are needed at all levels of government, however it is especially vital to apply them to Congress for numerous reasons, some of them being large electoral advantages exercised by

unlimited terms) must be assuaged or tempered by the fear of ‘elective dictatorship’ -a President using the advantages of having extended time in office to win one election after another. Unlimited terms will eventually lead to a dictatorship/monarchy, exactly what our country and Founding Fathers were trying to reject. History shows this to be true with historians often pointing to George Washington’s decision to retire after his second term as evidence that our nation’s founders saw a two-term limit as a protection against monarchy. Thomas Jefferson also contributed to the convention of a two-term limit when he wrote, “if some termination to the services of the chief Magistrate be not fixed by the Constitution, or supplied by practice, his office, nominally four years, will in fact become for life” in 1807. No President, while some did seek it, received more that two-terms in office until Franklin Roosevelt whom won four elections but died in office. After that the governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey, announced support of what would later be the 22nd amendment. He stated, "Four terms, or sixteen years, is the most dangerous threat to our freedom ever proposed." Simply stated, America’s beginnings are based on the rejection of monarchy and cronyism: the 22nd Amendment stops this from coming about by other

No government is perfect and there is no perfect fix. One important step for democratic governments is to have a political efficacy in their citizens, for a robust and competent government. Keeping with this idea of efficacy, there has been a movement for political reform requesting to institute congressional term limits. This essay will address the concept of congressional term limits through research for and against the idea. The review will start with basic information and history of term limits, focus on the positive arguments for term limits, address the counter arguments for term limits, and conclude with an overall analysis of the findings of term limits and if the U.S. should have term limits.

One of the most debated topics in American politics is whether term limits should be implemented for Federal Congressmen and Senators. Currently, members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms and those in the Senate serve six-year terms, but there are an unlimited number of terms a person can run for in these legislatures (Barbour 217). It's important to analyze the arguments for and against term limits for Federal Congressmen and Senators in order to grasp a better understanding of this subject. One argument supporting the implementation of term limits for Federal Congressmen and Senators is that it allows for new blood in the Federal government. Since term limits limt how many terms a Federal Congressmen and Senators can serve, term limits would then cut out career politicians that prioritize their time on reelection then the problems of the constituents.

How much do you really know about the American political system? Unfortunately, there are parts of the American political system that are not up to the challenges of the 21st century yet. As time passes, society changes. In order to keep the political system running smoothly and doing what it is designed to do, govern our nation, it may need to make adjustments. One of those parts that is not up to the challenges of the 21st century is the ability elect new members to Congress.

The Term Limits and the 1974 Budget Reform are the two reflections for week five. There has been a great debate concerning term limits. Term limits are considered to be the key point in rebuilding the relationship between the government and U. S. citizens. American citizens has lost faith in their government, because the citizens feel they are not represented, but the officials are focused on benefiting themselves. However, term limits can remove good leaders out, who may deserve to stay in office for a longer period of time. “As the authors states that “political bodies do not experience they need when there are limits on how long they can be in office. It also may keep qualified individuals from running for office” (Lee, Johnson and

I agree that term limits may help with the corruption problem, however I also believe that term limits may create a Congress of little experience. In reality, there is almost no possibility that congressional term limits will be enacted. Even if Donald Trump proposed these term limits, such a change would require a two-thirds vote from both chambers or a constitutional convention. And neither the House nor the Senate would agree to placing term limits on

In “Congress and the Quest for Power” by Lawrence Dodd (1977), politicians enter Congress with the sole incentive to obtain power for their own arbitrary reasons. However, this power requires reelection; by being reelected, they are proving that are conforming to society's traditions, creating an air of personal equitableness, and helping themselves gain the the necessary skills that justify the exercise of power. The member of Congress soon develops an incumbent advantage and is no longer afraid of losing his position, whichever one it may be. As the hunt for power and authority continues, he moves through different phases that bring him closer and closer to the end of his goal. For example, the politician will gather up support from the electoral base by doing casework and joining housekeeping committees and legislative and committees that have to do with their district’s needs. If he finds himself successful, he will move on to serving primary committees such as those dealing with commerce, education, and labor. He becomes a legislator and focuses on national concerns rather than the more local ones, gaining power as he does so. If the Congressman is able to get this far in

The absence of term limits in the Constitution was not an oversight, Proposals to limit elected officers to a specified number of terms were introduced at least three times during the 1787 Convention but were rejected, not because anyone deemed term limits to be a state prerogative, but because terms limitation would be redundant, For the most part, short terms would encourage more accountability than limited terms. In his notes on the Convention, James Madison records: "Frequent elections are necessary to preserve the good behavior of rulers. They also tend to give permanency to the Government, by preserving that good behavior, because it ensures their re-election." Two-year terms for the House and other constitutional restraints limited the amount of mischief federal officers might be inclined to indulge in. Federal powers, being few and defined, were well understood, and elected officials who exceeded their mandate, or who abused those

When it came to creating the House of Representatives, a house for the people, the idea of democracy was a good idea. Viewing it as a mini country on Capitol Hill. The House of the Senate on the other hand was not quite designed to be as democratic. Using the idea of the New Jersey Plan, the Senate was created to be a house that was more or less equal. No matter the population of the given state, they are only allowed two Senators, as is stated in Article 1, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution. The Senate would be a perfect

According to archives.gov in the early 1990’s the American people realized there was an issue at hand so a proposal called the “Contract with America” was proposed by congressional Republicans that proposed a maximum term limit for both the House Representatives and Senators. This term limit was a maximum of twelve years, which was very reasonable says washingtonpost.com because it allows them to come back into the office to continue projects that these individuals started in the first term as well as give others a chance to run for office. Even though there was an effort to fix the term limit dilemma the “Contact with America” was not passed allowing the problem to fester and grow like cancer. According to isidewith.com, fifteen states did adopt legislation from this contract that put term limits on their congress members, but since it is not written into federal law many politicians continue to run term after term even when their state tells them they can not. With a number of congress members that continue to run for office, we are seeing less and less new ideas to help the American people and more ideas that will help politicians and other countries that are not our own. Now I am not saying that everything has been bad with our current congress, but just think of where we could