4 Reasons We Should Have Congressional Term Limits and Do It Now

Last updated on: December 21, 2017 at 11:01 am by Guest Contributor

4 Reasons We Should Have Congressional Term Limits and Do It Now 2017-12-21T11:01:35-05:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Trump_address_to_joint_session_of_Congress

The follow excerpt was written by Dan Greenberg for the Heritage Foundation.

It is difficult to overstate the extent to which term limits would change Congress. They are supported by large majorities of most American demographic groups; they are opposed primarily by incumbent politicians and the special interest groups which depend on them. Term limits would ameliorate many of America’s most serious political problems by counterbalancing incumbent advantages, ensuring congressional turnover, securing independent congressional judgment, and reducing election-related incentives for wasteful government spending. Perhaps most important, Congress would acquire a sense of its own fragility and temporariness, possibly even coming to learn that it would acquire more legitimacy as an institution by doing better work on fewer tasks.

1. **Term limits secure Congress’s independent judgment.**In one of the few cases where Congress itself has established term limits, service on the House and Senate intelligence Committees is limited on the grounds that long-term membership might cause Members to develop a loyalty to the intelligence bureaucracy that would undermine their ability to exercise critical and independent judgment over it. This mandatory term limit is based on a sound theory of human conduct, but it deserves wider application; in an age where scores of federal agencies and special interests continually lobby for funding, there is a very real danger that Congressmen will become enmeshed in a culture that is overfamiliar with the federal government and insulated from the communities they ostensibly represent. Public sentiment in favor of term limits is likely influenced by the fear that Congressmen will become captured by this alien federal culture, as well as by frustration with the sclerotic representation that results from incumbents of all political stripes routinely getting reelected.

Click NEXT for more!

Image Credit: Office of the Speaker [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Uncategorized

Previous Post

December 19, 2017

Feds Spend $3 million to Try to Make the US More like the Netherlands

Next Post

December 21, 2017 Guess What the #1 Government Problem Was in 2017?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In what town did Jesus grow up?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jericho Bethlehem Jerusalem Nazareth