Are term limits for legislators a good idea or not?

Answer 1

It's interesting that polls on the subject show that people who support term limits generally like their own representatives, but they want the others out of office. The feeling seems to be that if only we can shorten the time people are in office, the more easily the balance of power will shift our way (whichever way that is). In practice, that hasn't happened at all. In states with term limits, their has been a troubling shift of power out of the legislatures and into the hands of lobbyists. Now that few legislators stick around long enough to really know their jobs, they are dependent on the expertise of people who have agendas of their own. We're seeing more legislation actually written by corporations and introduced in exchange for campaign contributions. In my opinion, regular elections are a sufficient limitation. If people are happy with their representatives, they should be able to hang onto them.

Answer 2

Yes. The longer they are in, the more power they get. I was under the impression that each legislator had one vote for each item. Then I read an article about a freshman Senator who indicated that the "new guys" were often coherced by these older members to vote certain ways or be "blackballed. Our government at work.

Answer 3

Yes.