Wouldn't term limits solve most (not all) of the problems w/ US Govt?

Question

The longer politicians stay in office the more power hungry they become, the more time they are bought/influenced by lobbyists & special interests, and the more corrupt they can become.

If they only got one term there isn't any time for them to get power hungry, to get bought by lobbyists/special interests or to become corrupt mainly because they don't need to money to get re elected.

Answer 1

Term limits also strip experience out of government. There is a learning curve, so constantly turning over office-holders creates more inefficiency. There is no reason to fix something that is not broken. The reason for term limits is to prevent a politician from become so entrenched through favors and payback that they cannot become unseated even when they no longer serve their constituency.

And don't kid yourself -- they were power-hungry to begin with. They'll find a way to build power or future wealth regardless, and if you limit them to one term then they won't have any incentive to do the job they were elected to perform.

Answer 2

I agree it would reduce the cozening up to lobbyist but much of the lobbying is done to affect the agencies in the executive branch, so it would not eliminate the power of special interests. Term limits would also weaken the power of congress vs the President because it takes time and experience to understand how things work and how to get things done and they do not have a large experienced staff to help them. As is often the case with reforms the cure might be worse than the problem.

Answer 3

term limits would be great, i dont buy the experience loss argument, you can always run for Senate, then you could be in the Congress, or maybe a Governor, who knows

but the big problem with term limits is there is NO limit for the lobbyists that tend to know how to warp the system to thier own advantage

that would need to be addressed (taking away thier ability to donate to campagins is the obvious solution)

but theres no agreement on how to do that and enforce it

Answer 4

Elections are Term Limits.... the people voice so to speak

we can vote them out at any time... the term limit argument is about getting rid of the "other guys" representative...

Most research shows that we are happy with our own representatives and see the other guys representatives as the problem.

Answer 5

Term limits would be beneficial.

So would the education of the citizens who vote for them. So much discussion about internation law and the EU and yet most people don't understand the rights afforded to them by The Declaration of Independence and The Constitution.

They also don't see how the Supremes have been allowed to continue to re-write those documents.