Term Limits For The Senate Essay

For over two decades, citizens of the United States of America have had strong feelings on the subject of congressional term limits- more specifically, the imposition of term limits on Supreme Court Justices as well as the restriction on judicial review. This controversial issue has been further publicized due to the more recent publication of Mark Levin’s book, The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Public. Levin, a talk show host, makes his term limit case in his book about several amendments that have been attempted in the past.

Government exists to serve the people, and not the politicians, American citizens know this. Polls show that Americans want term limitation by margins as high as three-to-one, even four-to-one. Congressional term

Today, career politicians are constantly looking for what will aid them in getting reelected. They become more loyal to their campaign fund contributers than to the people whom they represent. This increases the likelihood of having corrupted politicians in office, as they use the government as a vehicle to further their own career (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 123, 129). George Will, a well-known political journalist, was quoted as saying “[The] worst feature of professionalism in politics is that it obliterates the proper distance between the representatives and the represented” (Kurfirst, 1996, p. 125). Even James Madison agreed that legislators were meant to represent the people, not hold office as a career. In The Federalist No. 57 (1788), he wrote, “From this change of men must proceed a change of opinions; and from a change of opinions, a change of measures.” The lack of new faces in Congress today symbolizes that the American legislative branch is straying from its intended purpose.

Congressional terms have no limits. Controversy exists between those who think the terms should be limited and those who believe that terms should remain unlimited. The group that wants to limit the terms argues that the change will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. Those who oppose term limits believe that we would sacrifice both the stability and experience held by veteran politicians. They also point out that our election process allows the voter to limit terms, at their discretion. While experience and stability are important considerations, congressional terms should be limited to a maximum of two.

Many people who are elected are very well known names, so often reelects. Having term limits gives people a chance to get their name out there and run for positions. According to the site Our Generation, “There is a 94% re-election rate in the House and 83% in the Senate. Because of name recognition, and usually the advantage of money, it can be easy to stay in office. Without legitimate competition, what is the incentive for a member of Congress to serve the public? Furthermore, it is almost a lost cause for the average citizen to try to campaign against current members of Congress.” People are not very likely to vote for someone they have never heard of. That’s why people start out in their states, become politicians and work their way up. If it wasn’t for term limits, then there would be not room for them to advance. The term limits make politicians think about and worker harder toward their objectives. No one is going to get anything done if they have all the time in the world. Politicians have limited time in each position to prove themselves if they are ever to be reelected or move up the line of

What then would be the benefit of limiting the term of a Supreme Court Justice? The reasoning for the limitation begins with the level of contention that becomes present in the United States Senate when a vacancy evolves. For the purpose of enlightenment, we can reflect back to the

Numerous Americans are unaware that by next year, the average age of Supreme Court justices will be 75. Unlike other countries, the United States’ Supreme Court does not enforce the idea of term limits. Once a judge is selected, when they leave the Supreme Court is up to their decision. Supreme Court justices may choose to retire early or die. However, as the judges are getting older and older, their health may intervene with the decisions that are being made. Issues regarding the health of the justices’ would not be a reoccurring annoyance if they were to be swapped out with younger and healthier judges; therefore, term limits are a good idea because there would be more diversity in the Supreme Court, mental and health issues would be reduced, and term limits would be long enough for judges to master the job.

Term limits are a powerful political force and a vital political reform. The movement to limit political terms and thus political power has been steamrolling through American politics for years. Many American citizens have approved term limits for Congressmen, moreover many states and hundreds of cities and counties across the United States have adopted term limits for state and local officials. Such widespread support of the phenomena shows that the public is not satisfied with the prevalent careerism and thinks that amendments to the federal legislature would be beneficial for the Congress and the country as a whole. The below paper will present objective political arguments for and against the Congressional term limits. Firstly, the arguments for the term limits will be presented, the arguments against them will proceed, followed by the conclusion drawn by the author based on the conducted research.

the U.S. Congress to term limits. There are many ways in which this could occur,

If the Supreme Court Justices were subjected to term limits there confirmation hearings would be not as brutal. The Senate would know the appointee

It is a good thing there are not term limits. Election time should be used to elemenate unwanted office members. If someone is doing a good job then there is not reason to changes thing. It is very hard to fix things that are not

Throughout America, there has been many talks of the Supreme Court having term limits. This is an idea that has been talked about for a while now. But it is impossible because of the constitution. In article III it states that “The judges, both Supreme Court and interior courts shall hold their offices during good behavior”. So it is reasonable and can be changed into an 18 year proposal. So therefore, having term limits is a good idea because changing judges more often would result in more diversity, changing judges so much decreases health issues and the majority of the Americans favors term limits.

A common belief across the United states is that congress is not performing as well as they could, or should, be. One solution that citizens often come to, is implement term limits for Congress. Unlike many political debates, this one cannot be clearly divided between republican and democratic viewpoints. Term limits would be a clear message to congress saying, ‘this is the amount of time you have to fix the problems facing this country, and if you cannot do that, we will replace you someone who can’. Though no longer on the federal political agenda, the desire for congressional term limits has steadily grown over time for many reasons. Among these lie the desires to push career politicians out of office, to build trust with the American people, and preventing any sort of greed that might occur in a longstanding politician.

By having a term limit on Congress, there will be a wider age range. This will lead to more “21st century” views. I feel that this is crucial when trying to keep the American political system up to date with society and its continuous changes. Compared to most democratic European countries, America has very few women in Congress. Less than 20% of Congress members are women.

A six year term limit could drastically decrease issues on both sides as politics could improve and not focus on unnecessary reelection issues and Congress will not have to press the president or wait the president out. Not only would it solve current issues, but it could reverse the two term limit that affected the country and politics. Jonathan Zimmerman, a contributor for The Washington Post, informs that, “When they succeeded in limiting the presidency to two terms, they limited democracy itself” (Zimmerman, 2013). Zimmerman explains that the two term limit has affected a principle that should not be taken away and presidents should be allowed to serve a longer term. The discussion for ending the term limit set by congress have been brought up multiple times throughout the years as well and modifying the term limit could be a reasonable solution. Scott Bomboy, an editor for Constitution Center explains how some members of congress have attempted to abolish the 22nd