The Importance Of Term Limits Of Congress

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.

Term limits, thus provide an escape from the Faustian bargain that voters face: they know that returning an incumbent for another term may help their district, but in the long run it has dire institutional and national consequences. Voters realize even though the Congressman is doing good things for their district soon they will need someone new. They know long-term officeholders become less vulnerable because they come gradually to identify their interests more and more with those of the federal government. There is a strong relationship between length of legislative service and votes in favor of more public expenditures.

There are several arguments that speak for Congressional term limits. To begin with, term limits were contained in America’s first governing document, the Articles of Confederation. Back then in the eighteenth century this tool was chosen by the founding fathers to avoid long-term political careerism and the abuse of the power legislators hold. Following this statement it becomes clear that term limits are needed at all levels of government, however it is especially vital to apply them to Congress for numerous reasons, some of them being large electoral advantages exercised by

Imposing Congressional term limits for the members of the congress would be a terrific idea. This is because if the Congress knows that their position in Congress is limited, they will get things done. Mark Levin, author of The Liberty Amendment stated that no person may serve more than 12 years as a member of congress. 12 years is enough for Congress to pass new laws. Now if the propose law has not been approved by the other members of the Congress by the time their term is over, then the next person that steps up can continue to pursue the law. No members should stay longer than they are supposed to. The term limit is necessary because there are other people in power that has been there for more than a decade. It's true that some of them

Congress is an organizationally decentralized unit of the legislature and has more power than any other branch of government. To be decentralized is to “distribute the administrative powers or functions of a central authority over a less concentrated area or to disperse something from an area of concentration.” Congress does so by composing itself of two houses, the House of Representatives and the Senate. It has two houses because “the small states wanted equal representation in a one chamber legislature” and “the more populous states, on the other hand, wanted a two chamber legislature.” (pg.248)

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

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

When the United States was founded, the theme behind the new government was to establish an efficient system without doling out too much power to any one person. The Founders intended to prevent a rebirth of tyranny, which they had just escaped by breaking away from England. However, when members of Congress such as Tom Foley, who served as a Representative from 1964 through 1995, and Jack Brooks, who served as a Representative from 1952 through 1994, remain in the legislative system for over forty years, it is evident that tyranny has not necessarily been eradicated from the United States (Vance, 1994, p. 429). Term limits are a necessity to uphold the Founders’ intentions, to prevent unfair advantages given to incumbents, and to

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.

and congress have in our democracy. The people elect members of the House while members off the senate are chosen by state legislators and how members are the house serve a term of two years while members of the senate have a term of 6 years. How congress have the power to rise and regulate the army and the navy, and declare war while the power of the senate can only ratified treaties, accept or reject presidential nominations. The congress and the house of representatives are significant in our democracy and how they continue to play a significant role in our democracy.

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

John Dingell, a member of the United States House of Representatives, served fifty-nine years and twenty-one days at this position. With no term limits set for the federal legislative positions in the United States, is this representation becoming redundant? Term limits can potentially be crucial in political reform of the United States that would bring new perspectives to federal legislative positions, warrant regular federal legislative turnover, and reduce incentives for wasteful election-related federal spending. Term limits can also pervert the entire understanding of what democracy is, by substituting the people’s will with term limits that may go against what the people want. United States federal legislative term limits have previously

First, congress salaries are very heavily bashed on by the public. An average congress member attains a salary just shy of $100,000. Many members of congress start off making roughly $80,000-$90,000 annually. Therefore, an abundance of people argue that their salary is too high. Although they have a decent salary to sit on, they aren’t overly wealthy. In contrast, members may work their way up in power, yet don’t generate much of a raise other than a few thousand annually. Back when the constitution was being formed, many of our nation’s top builders predicted a president leading the USA. Granted the president description was extremely vague, we soon realized how powerful presidency and high powers truly are. After several presidencies and wars, among other awry events, we quickly discovered the roles and objectives of these political leaders. Furthermore, the role of presidency has been altered greatly over the course of time. The separation of power ultimately led to the creation of a two-party system. Lastly, the issue of re-election arises. Re-election rates have generated a fair amount of complaints among American’s. The idea of limiting terms for congress members has become a common thought. If this followed through, it may generate mixed feelings for our country. Everybody has different stances on our nation’s higher powers, but perception is critical, depending on the

I think there should be a limit for the amount of time someone can represent their state, or how long someone can make big decisions for the citizens of the state they represent. In this essay I will tell you the reasons I believe there should be limits and why. We should have term limits because, a lot of voters have lost confidence in our Congress, there is also too much bias in Congress, and my final reason is we need to elect new members of Congress so we can get people with a fresh set of eyes and who have new ideas. “Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation, to ensure the integrity of our voting process,” Hillary Clinton. I think that we should limit the amount of terms U.S. Senators and Representatives is because after studies show that 70% of voters think disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

James Madison states in Federalist 48 that “The legislative department is everywhere… drawing all power into its impetuous vortex”(Will). Congress corrupts with power and the only way to stop this is to impose term limits on the US Congress. Term limits are laws that keep one politician from being in Congress for too long. Term limits are on the rise with the public, but are hard to get accepted in Congress. Because of this, the last time a bill that proposed term limits was even voted on was on May 26, 1993. Many wonder why term limits were not originally put in the Constitution but term limits were not needed when the Constitution was written because most founding fathers were not career politicians, now many are career politicians and an amendment to the Constitution is needed. Term limits should be implemented in the United States Congress because they help prevent corruption, provide beneficial turnover in Congress, have public support, and, contrary to popular belief, they can be implemented easily.