Who is for term limits on US Representatives and Senators?
I think many to all of us are, including myself, for various reasons.
Besides the difficulty of those in power trying to hold onto it, what (if any) practical difficulties do you foresee?

I absolutely agree with term limits.

Problem is passing it because those who don't want to leave won't vote for it.

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Might result in a lot of laws being rather poorly worded from lack of experience. (Unintentional loopholes.)

Would result in more crazies/gadflies running for office.

Could result in wild whipsaw changes in policy direction.

Would change bribery and graft, who and how payments get made, not sure if it would mean more or less total, but it might make it much easier to engage in. Thinking that in party politics the bribes might routinely be secured before the campaign funds are released to the party candidate.

Of course depending on what the limit is would make a difference. Such as three terms lifetime total or three terms in a given office.

One thing it would do is make some foreign diplomacy harder as diplomats from other countries would always be dealing with new faces.

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Make Congress a 4 year term like the Senate has. And limit both to 8 years like the President has.

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Old James

Make Congress a 4 year term like the Senate has.

??! What people think they know .... :D

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more casos it seems . What if the person is a good polly . Yeh i know there few and far between but there seems to be no need for it you can always vote them out .
Limits are only good for setting the times between elections they do nothing else but can cause more problems .

4 years is a tad long but ok . As for senate well here it's 6 years i think way to long and i do agree they should be shorter and held at the same time .

but saying that if we had done that we would still have Abbott as P.M so maybe it's better the way it is .

The labor party has been able to stop a lot of things Abbott wished to do because they did not hold the Senate and if things where changed then it may have been a different outcome for our country .

I would ask why is the question being asked in the first place and who is asking for it to be changed .

know that and then you may see that it's not what it seems .

Ask yourself this what if one of your good presidents was able to contue would your country be better ! I think yes so maybe having Limits of only 2 terms has done more damage than good .Maybe 3 terms would be better or no term limits and leave it to the people to decide .

It's no long right to use the excuse of the masses are not educated they are and are better educated than all before them to the point if you took a person with high school education back just 50 years they would ace any test put before them and outscore anybody from 50 years ago .

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All for term limits here....
The problem ask I see it that exists now is that once elected, some pols get into the mindset that they have got it made, in like Flynn, and are now untouchable because they have a do nothing job for life.

Perhaps some more honest folk would get into it if everybody realized up front that this is not a lifelong, live off of the taxpayers gig.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I'm not sure what problem term limits fixes. Tell me exactly what problem is caused by the lack of term limits?

I'm not sure what problem term limits fixes. Tell me exactly what problem is caused by the lack of term limits?

Gary has hypothesized in this thread some good and bad possible outcomes.
You can respond to that or add good and bad possible outcomes you can hypothesize your own.

What limits exist in other countries?

Why did the US impose a 2 term limit on Presidents after FDR?

I'm not sure what problem term limits fixes. Tell me exactly what problem is caused by the lack of term limits?

Gary has hypothesized in this thread some good and bad possible outcomes.
You can respond to that or add good and bad possible outcomes you can hypothesize your own.

What limits exist in other countries?

Why did the US impose a 2 term limit on Presidents after FDR?

No, I want to know, what is it intended to fix. I mean, if you advocate for term limits it means that having people constantly run for office somehow causes a problem, what is that problem? Or is the fact that people keep voting for the same guy the problem? If so, why is that a problem.

I'm not sure what problem term limits fixes. Tell me exactly what problem is caused by the lack of term limits?

Gary has hypothesized in this thread some good and bad possible outcomes.
You can respond to that or add good and bad possible outcomes you can hypothesize your own.

What limits exist in other countries?

Why did the US impose a 2 term limit on Presidents after FDR?

No, I want to know, what is it intended to fix. I mean, if you advocate for term limits it means that having people constantly run for office somehow causes a problem, what is that problem? Or is the fact that people keep voting for the same guy the problem? If so, why is that a problem.

Here's one very big problem it causes: most running already hold some office. The campaigning for the 2016 Presidential Election is stretched out more than a year and I suspect that period is lengthening. If they already hold some other office, that means their attention to their current position is greatly diminished.

Nor do I believe that a longer time to campaign means we'll get to know our choices better. There are plenty of sources out there to distort the truth and they have as much time to get their story out there as do the ones trying to get the truth out there.

I have advocated 6 year - 1 term limits for all Federal offices. Rotating on a 2 year partial renewal. Except for president --0ne six year term. Same for Supreme court.

Here's one very big problem it causes: most running already hold some office. The campaigning for the 2016 Presidential Election is stretched out more than a year and I suspect that period is lengthening. If they already hold some other office, that means their attention to their current position is greatly diminished.

Yeah but term limits aren't going to fix that. That just means that there is a limit on how often someone can run for office, but while they are running for office and they already have a job, this conflict between the old job and the campaign will arise.

Nor do I believe that a longer time to campaign means we'll get to know our choices better. There are plenty of sources out there to distort the truth and they have as much time to get their story out there as do the ones trying to get the truth out there.

I agree, campaign lengths are far to long and do more harm than good, but that again has nothing to do with term limits. A solution to this particular problem might actually be campaign finance reform. Put strict limits on how much money a candidate can spend, ban super PAC's and the like, reverse the ruling of Citizens United and you make it pretty much impossible to run an overly long campaign.

Here's one very big problem it causes: most running already hold some office. The campaigning for the 2016 Presidential Election is stretched out more than a year and I suspect that period is lengthening. If they already hold some other office, that means their attention to their current position is greatly diminished.

Yeah but term limits aren't going to fix that. That just means that there is a limit on how often someone can run for office, but while they are running for office and they already have a job, this conflict between the old job and the campaign will arise.

Nor do I believe that a longer time to campaign means we'll get to know our choices better. There are plenty of sources out there to distort the truth and they have as much time to get their story out there as do the ones trying to get the truth out there.

I agree, campaign lengths are far to long and do more harm than good, but that again has nothing to do with term limits. A solution to this particular problem might actually be campaign finance reform. Put strict limits on how much money a candidate can spend, ban super PAC's and the like, reverse the ruling of Citizens United and you make it pretty much impossible to run an overly long campaign.

You can't reverse the first amendment, nor do you want to. But you can put a hefty tax on campaign spending. Might just cure the deficit!

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Here's one very big problem it causes: most running already hold some office. The campaigning for the 2016 Presidential Election is stretched out more than a year and I suspect that period is lengthening. If they already hold some other office, that means their attention to their current position is greatly diminished.

Yeah but term limits aren't going to fix that. That just means that there is a limit on how often someone can run for office, but while they are running for office and they already have a job, this conflict between the old job and the campaign will arise.

This overlooks the campaigning that goes on while holding a job to maintain having that same job.

This overlooks the campaigning that goes on while holding a job to maintain having that same job.

Not really. Say you set the term limit at 2 terms, as with the president, then people are going to seek reelection at least once while in office. Sure, during their second term, they won't be busy looking at getting reelected themselves, but at the same time they do have to be careful about not making it to difficult for someone from your party seeking to get your job after you.

And then there are the disadvantages that Gary did mention, I think in particular experience being a powerful argument against it. Why keep forcing new inexperienced people into office? To add to that, I also feel its unfair to people who feel that their elected representative is just doing a perfectly good job and who WANT to keep him or her in office. Term limits on everything sort of presuppose that people are to stupid to vote out someone who does a bad job.

Florida decided to go with term limits a long time ago when it looked like all states would do it. Because most states don't have term limits Florida and other states that did impose term limits are at a disadvantage when it comes to committee assignments which are usually based on seniority.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

No, I want to know, what is it intended to fix. I mean, if you advocate for term limits it means that having people constantly run for office somehow causes a problem, what is that problem? Or is the fact that people keep voting for the same guy the problem? If so, why is that a problem.

A rather strict term limit will fix one problem... That of the 'career politician' and its consequent corruption.

I have frequently advocated for a strict term limit of one term in one office (elected or appointed)... once...

Serve one term in one office, then after serving your city/county/state/country you go back home and go back to work at your *REAL JOB*.

No, I want to know, what is it intended to fix. I mean, if you advocate for term limits it means that having people constantly run for office somehow causes a problem, what is that problem? Or is the fact that people keep voting for the same guy the problem? If so, why is that a problem.

A rather strict term limit will fix one problem... That of the 'career politician' and its consequent corruption.

I have frequently advocated for a strict term limit of one term in one office (elected or appointed)... once...

Serve one term in one office, then after serving your city/county/state/country you go back home and go back to work at your *REAL JOB*.

In our country it would be ment that we wouldn't have any politicians.
Or at least only a handful.
Our politicians dont know what a *REAL JOB* is:)

Actually our prime minister does and the leader of the left party.
The others...

No, I want to know, what is it intended to fix. I mean, if you advocate for term limits it means that having people constantly run for office somehow causes a problem, what is that problem? Or is the fact that people keep voting for the same guy the problem? If so, why is that a problem.

A rather strict term limit will fix one problem... That of the 'career politician' and its consequent corruption.

I have frequently advocated for a strict term limit of one term in one office (elected or appointed)... once...

Serve one term in one office, then after serving your city/county/state/country you go back home and go back to work at your *REAL JOB*.

In our country it would be ment that we wouldn't have any politicians.
Or at least only a handful.
Our politicians dont know what a *REAL JOB* is:)

Actually our prime minister does and the leader of the left party.
The others...

Kong and Janne make good points.
Don't we have some Representatives or Senators that have been in D.C. since their teens? Anybody ever visit Washington D.C. and here about the "page" program? Anyone that served as a page or in anyway as an assistant to a Senator or Representative and then ran for office themselves ... how can they do a good job at listening to the people if they've been away from the main body of the people for so long?

(If this isn't clear to most but someone else understands, please clarify? I've been pretty exhausted most times this past week or so.)