• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Should Their Be Term Limits?

blackjack50

Banned
DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 14, 2011
Messages
26,629
Reaction score
6,661
Location
Florida
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Conservative
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Yes = Because they don't support ALL their constituents
 
*there, not their

With that out of the way, I have mixed feelings on term limits. While I'd like to put a cap on how long a senator or congressman can be in their office to cut down on corruption and prevent gridlock, I worry that putting such laws in place might also take good representatives out of office when there are no quality candidates to replace them.

Worst of all, I feel like term limits would be taking a bit of agency away from the voters who approve of the job their representative has done over the years.
 
Last edited:
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.
 
In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.

Huh. I'm significantly less divided on this issue now.
 
No, it would ensure even more "lame duck" crooks that care only about themselves and their after office career offers. Why not break your campaign "promises" if you have no shot at re-election regardless?
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes.

The entrenched inhabitants of the swamp work to promote their own interests and ignore the good of the people.

The ideal is to have citizens serving the American people in the Congress.

The actual is that the American People serve the thieves in the Congress.

In 2012, for the first time in history, the Majority of the members of Congress were millionaires.
 
In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.

So your contention is that term limits are bad because they foster corruption? How is that any different than what we have now? At least with term limits, the bums are eventually kicked to the curb.
 
In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.

Most of which could be handled by simply including a clause that states that no congresscritter can hold any fed. office once their term is over. The idea is to have a system where we get rid of professional politicians and get back to citizen statesmen.
 
*there, not their

When you spell something wrong...autocorrect doesn't usually check grammar. I can barely type a normal sentence because I hit 2 buttons at once on my phone ;)


With that out of the way, I have mixed feelings on term limits. While I'd like to put a cap on how long a senator or congressman can be in their office to cut down on corruption and prevent gridlock, I worry that putting such laws in place might also take good representatives out of office when there are no quality candidates to replace them.

Worst of all, I feel like term limits would be taking a bit of agency away from the voters who approve of the job their representative has done over the years.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So your contention is that term limits are bad because they foster corruption? How is that any different than what we have now? At least with term limits, the bums are eventually kicked to the curb.

The problem is, they are not kicked to the curb. The corruption is enhanced. At least that has been the result of term limits as practiced in California. I see no reason to believe the same wouldn't happen on the Federal level.

For example:

California lawmaker wants to pare six-figure pay for state boards - LA Times

California Senate leader Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) announced Thursday the appointment of former Democratic Sen. Ellen Corbett to a $128,109 post on the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board, but one lawmaker is trying to put an end to such soft landing pads for political insiders.​

I could post dozens of additional examples. As the article states, some are trying to address the issue, but the chances of doing so, at least here, are ZERO.
 
Most of which could be handled by simply including a clause that states that no congresscritter can hold any fed. office once their term is over. The idea is to have a system where we get rid of professional politicians and get back to citizen statesmen.

I truly like the idea in principle. Absolutely.

But like everything else in government, it seems, such seemingly simple approaches never pan out the way they were intended.

I have even read arguments about the Constitutional question of limiting time in public office. Don't know where that goes, or has gone, but perhaps there is something to that. After all, it took the 22nd Amendment to limit the Presidential term in office.
 
In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.

Greetings, ocean515. :2wave:

Excellent post, ocean! :thumbs: I always thought term limits was a good idea until a few minutes ago when I heard the "other side" - you - who has been through it. Is there any way on earth to keep politicians honest, short of seriously threatening them? :doh
 
Greetings, ocean515. :2wave:

Excellent post, ocean! :thumbs: I always thought term limits was a good idea until a few minutes ago when I heard the "other side" - you - who has been through it. Is there any way on earth to keep politicians honest, short of seriously threatening them? :doh

Hi Polgara :2wave:

I trust all is well with you.

It seem "Honest politician" is truly an oxymoron. In California, voters have tried all sorts of things to force more honesty and transparency on politicians, and they seem to thwart every move.

We tried to remove politics from redistricting, only to have the Dems do an end run on the Public Commission voters authorized to handle the task.

https://www.propublica.org/article/how-democrats-fooled-californias-redistricting-commission

At this point, I don't have an answer. Perhaps that conclusion is the result of what has happened in California, and it may not play out the same way elsewhere. I wouldn't bet on it.

As I see it, it's better to have these corrupt politicians in place where they can be seen, than to constantly see them farmed out to commissions and other influential high paid government jobs where they only serve to complement the institutional corruption that already exists throughout the State Legislature.
 
I supported term limits for the longest time. But the more I have learned about the negative unintended consequences, the less appealing the idea has become.
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

100%. it is proven that the longer they are in congress the less efficient they become.
this is due to special interests etc ...

4 terms in the house and 4 terms in the senate is long enough to accomplish what you want.

if you can't accomplish what you want in that time then you really don't need to be in congress.
 
In theory, term limits seem like a good thing. Allow an elected official to serve a certain amount of time, and then move on to allow fresh faces and ideas to be introduced.

In practice it is any but that.

California enacted term limits, and it turned into a festering pot of back room deals, payoffs, and little more than seat jumping as the same elites jumped from one office or legislative office to another.

Even worse, it allowed the terming out politicos to cash in during controversial legislative actions. They offer themselves as sacrificial lambs to provide cover for other politicos in return for sweet commission appointments and other perks once they leave office.

This is how the recent Cap and Trade deal was passed. Terming out politicos voted yes so those Dems up for reelection could vote no and avoid scrutiny by voters upset with the massive tax increase they passed.

Bottom line, in practice, term limits only encourages the beast.

Bad idea.

Wholly agree with every point here.
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?
Term Limits: Worst... idea... ever.

Pros:
1) Weeds out career politicians. In theory. This is the primary argument for them. Get career politicians out of government and stop them from enriching themselves at our expense.

I think that’s it. <shrug>

Cons:
A) Unknown replacements. Possibly… no, probably… hand-picked by the party, which would be just as bad, if not worse. The average voter is not likely to know who has been chosen for them.

B) Why do we think honest people would magically pop up and replace the dishonest career politicians? Going back to ‘A’ above, we are not guaranteed of any such thing. “Mr Smith Goes to Washington” it wouldn’t be.

C) People are selfish… and too often ignorant and easily-led. People like their own representative because they “bring home the bacon”. People vote their own self-interest and at the expense of everybody else. If people continually re-elect representatives they claim to not like now, they’re still going to vote for whoever promises them the biggest benefit, term limits or not.

D) Due to limited time in service, they’d be even more susceptible to influence and lobbying. We already dislike that career politicians feather their nests over decades. With term limits we’d have unknown people still being wooed by lobbyists and special interests. Human nature being what it is, and with a limited time in which to do any said feather nesting, they’d develop a “Get what I can while I can!” attitude. Short of illegality, they’d be even more outright dishonest. What’s going to happen to them if you the voter disapproves? They’re out in couple years anyway.

E) If California state government is any indicator, it’ll degenerate into “musical political chairs”… people would still elect the same people, just to rotating offices. Ergo, nothing really changes.

F) Takes away a person’s right to vote for whomever they want. This alone should be reason enough.

G) Term limits are lazy. Instead of encouraging engagement and participation, they discourage participation. We want our dirty work to be done for us. You want the politicians to sit up and notice you over the special interests? Reduce the re-election rate from 90% down to 50%. Then, they’d take us seriously.
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
They say it takes 7 years to become an expert in a particular field. I'd think we'd want near experts serving in the various committees. I'm not against limits but they would have to make sense and not turn into another exploitable aspect of government. I'm skeptical of private interests, as well. Certainly the private sector has a lot of expertise but while employed or financially connected to the private entities, it should be assumed that their allegiance is at least divided.
 
I don't know, should Tapatalk have spell correct? :mrgreen:
 
*there, not their

With that out of the way, I have mixed feelings on term limits. While I'd like to put a cap on how long a senator or congressman can be in their office to cut down on corruption and prevent gridlock, I worry that putting such laws in place might also take good representatives out of office when there are no quality candidates to replace them.

Worst of all, I feel like term limits would be taking a bit of agency away from the voters who approve of the job their representative has done over the years.
Nobody is irreplaceable and there is plenty of evidence that show just how big of an idiot some are of every political affiliation.
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. Or I would support a 5 year waiting periods between terms and offices. This would cut down on a lot of the corruption and ensure there is no senior ranking congressmen and senators that run **** and shut out newly elected politicians. Most voters are ignorant when it comes to politics. Some voters want their party to win no matter how ****ed up their party's candidate is.Which is why incumbents hardly ever lose and why they have a low approval rating an a high incumbent reelection rate. Just those things alone mean that elections will never serve as term limits. So it is moronic to say that voting is a term limit. Yeah if we had an engaged public and didn't have die hard party-tards yeah voting would be form of term limits.
 
*there, not their

With that out of the way, I have mixed feelings on term limits. While I'd like to put a cap on how long a senator or congressman can be in their office to cut down on corruption and prevent gridlock, I worry that putting such laws in place might also take good representatives out of office when there are no quality candidates to replace them.

Worst of all, I feel like term limits would be taking a bit of agency away from the voters who approve of the job their representative has done over the years.

Maybe they could allow for multiple terms? Or extension of office with a popular vote?

When it comes to limits on the seat, yes I am all for it.

People like Maxine Waters are too far into the rabbit hole to be of any good to their constituency, much less remember to breath on demand.
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes but I would make it rather long. I think a lot in our government needs revamped. I would also change the terms and make them match. 4 years for both and I think it should be laid out like this.

2016 Presidential Election
2018 Senate and Rep Elections (ALL seats)
2020 Presidential Election
2022 Senate and Rep Elections (ALL seats)
2024 Presidential Election
2026 Senate and Rep Elections (ALL seats)
2028 Presidential Election
2030 Senate and Rep Elections (ALL seats)
2032 Presidential Election

Term limits 16 years (2-4 presidents)
 
Would you support term limits for congressmen? Why or why not?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm in favor of the electorate determining term limits. Beyond that, there should be none.
 
Back
Top Bottom