Throw the Bums Out – Walter S.Topp

I keep seeing posts and memes in support of term limits for members of Congress. It appears that term limits for Congress is a popular idea. This is somewhat confusing, as I always thought that terms were already limited. I am sure I read somewhere that representatives serve two-year terms and senators serve for six years.

If a member of Congress serves longer than a single term, isn’t it because voters want them to continue in office? Incumbent officeholders still have to run in elections to remain in office, right? If voters are dissatisfied with someone’s performance, can’t they elect someone else?

So, by imposing term limits, are we saying that voters aren’t competent to select their own representatives? If so, why hold elections at all?

Or are we saying that experience in Congress is automatically undesireable? Do we prefer other professionals to be inexperienced? Emergency Medical Technicians? Nuclear power plant operators? Auto mechanics? (“Wow, that’s a complicated piece of engineering there, Mr. Jones. I’ve never actually seen an engine like this. I did read a little about them when I was in school last year, so let’s take a look. Please hand me that hammer and step back…”)

Is there data that shows that inexperienced legislators are more effective? Actually, there is data, based on the experiences of state legislatures which have already implemented term limits, and the data does not support the idea that term limits reduce corruption or otherwise improve the performance of legislators. In fact, there is evidence that less experienced legislators are more dependent on lobbyists and other interest groups.

There are plenty of problems with Congress, starting with the fact that there are no real incentives for bipartisan cooperation. Changing out the people working in a wildly dysfunctional system is the political equivalent of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic as the ship fills with water.

Term limits probably won’t hurt much, except in cases where effective and popular legislators are prevented from running for re-election and are replaced by inexperienced legislators who rely on special interest groups to help them ‘understand’ complex policy issues. But as a means of improving Congressional performance, they are a simplistic and ineffective answer to a complex problem, and any energy expended advocating term limits is effort that could be better used elsewhere.

February 28, 2019