by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: September 14, 2009

Like any other job, getting the job in the House or Senate is just the beginning of the progress toward making a distinguished career of it. Being elected to the House of Representatives or the Senate, showing up to work, and completing a term or two is not the be all and end all of a person's service or accomplishment. There are so many aspects of on the job training, work experience, and working up through the ranks that must be addressed.

A freshman Senator or Representative is required to complete orientation on office and staff management, pay and benefits, navigating the vast chambers of government, and learning the finer points of protocol, traditions, rules and regulations. At the same time, housing, family concerns, and personal issues must be handled. During the term, a vast amount of material must be studied, understood, discussed and acted upon. A massive amount of critical and complex issues and concerns at home and with constituents must be understood, discussed, and resolved. One or two terms is not enough for a representative to become an effective player in Washington.

Term limits is one of the most destructive, corrupt, and actually stupid movements in the history of government. In California, out of state interests, republicans who will never get the majority of the State's votes, and racists fomented the term limits debacle in order to break up a long term group of very popular elected officials who had been in power for a time, led by Willie Brown, the first Black head of the California State Assembly.

First of all, a poorly performing, corrupt, or otherwise unappealing elected official can be impeached, removed from office, or simply not re-elected. Term limits is used to introduce the unfair element of forcing elected officials out of office, even when their constituents are perfectly happy with them.

Second, the recent sex-talk scandal involving a California Assemblyman is proof positive that term limits introduces a perpetual round table of untrained, unprofessional, and incapable legislators who are not in office long enough to craft a proper bill or make a sound decision, let alone work together to solve a budget crisis.

At the national level, term limits will do nothing to end corruption. Instead, desperate and vulnerable legislators will be prone to engaging more in "pay to play" politics. They will be more in need of revolving door jobs with the same firms that lobby them. Term limited legislators will be more inclined to favoring those who contributed to their campaigns or who represent powerful special interests, in order to maximize their personal interests and future opportunities.

Having witnessed the destructive effects of term limits, I insist that such ploys and manipulations that help out of favor political parties and unpopular political interests must be prohibited.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth M Young.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.