#20 A ONE TERM LIMIT ?

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Until now, all my thinking about Congressional Term Limits has revolved around simply reducing the current system of unlimited reelections to a ‘reasonable’ two or three terms of the current durations (2 yrs House, 6 yrs Senate). My preference has been determined by pragmatism, i.e. that this would not be so scary or traumatic a change for the voters, and therefore more likely to win acceptance than a more drastic change to the system. To me, term limits of almost any kind is a great idea, and we do not need to be too clever about how we do it.

However, a couple of my more enthusiastic correspondents have urged me to consider a single term limit, which they claim would have a number of very attractive advantages were it to pass into law:

a. It would totally eliminate the officeholder’s concern for reelection, so that he/she would be freed of the need to campaign for his next term, and therefore more focussed on doing the right things for the country.

b. Lobbyists and other special interests would have no ability to control the officeholder with campaign contributions. (On the other hand, what might they come up with next?)

c. The officeholder would feel no need to ‘bribe’ his constituents with ‘pork’, and would therefore be more likely to do for them what they really need him to do.

d. It would eliminate the seniority system and the mediocrity it fosters.

e. It would eliminate careerist professional politicians from Congress.

The only trouble is that this seems too good to be true. And it probably is.

For one thing, we would probably have to increase the duration of the House term from 2 years to 6 or 8 years to make it worthwhile to run for the office. Similarly, we would have to increase the Senate term from 6 years to 10 or 12 years, just to make it different from the House, which has always been known as “the people’s house”, while the Senate has been known as "the cooling saucer".

Note: If both houses have the same duration, then arguments would arise to merge them into a unicameral legislature, which is a whole new can of worms.

And this ‘can of worms’ is exactly the prime difficulty. That is, if it is so hard to get a simple thing like plain term limits to pass, how much more difficult is it going to be to pass a major change in the shape of our government?

I firmly believe that a simple term limits law would give us some of the advantages of each of the features listed above in a, b, c, d, and e, without incurring the major voter resistance that would arise against the ‘one term’ limitation.

So, I say KISS (keep it simple stupid!). But thanks guys, for trying. Don’t let the PERFECT be the enemy of the GOOD.

This is Nelson Lee Walker, and I believe we really need Congressional Term Limits.
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