Term limits on Senators and members of the House?

Discussion in 'Political Science' started by PARAMONOS, Mar 12, 2012.

  1. PARAMONOS

    PARAMONOS New Member

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    The more I study political science, government, history, and my own personal feelings, I repeatedly come to the question of whether Senators and members of the House of Representatives should have stricter limits on their terms.

    What would it be like if we only allowed individuals no more than 2-3 terms for both Senate and the House members?

    What would it be like if Americans demanded lower pay rates for these servants to our nation as well?

    Wouldn't bills and such move faster through the house? Wouldn't secret combinations between well established political figures suffer? Wouldn't corruption dwindle as much as it needs to?

    What do you think are the pros and the cons of this? Would this be a good limitation of government?
     
    Trinnity and (deleted member) like this.
  2. Trinnity

    Trinnity Banned

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    This debate has been visited many times, but I think you may be right. These people get so entrenched, they become too powerful and learn how to steer power and money to others to get it back to themselves. It's an abuse of power. It becomes a way of life for them.
     
  3. parker

    parker New Member

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    I think that term limits are a horrible idea.

    Why can't people continue voting for who they choose to?
     
  4. toddwv

    toddwv Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Yes, please. Term limits for everybody.

    Hell, I even think we need to put a 20 year limit on SCOTUS.
     
  5. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    Since so many people want term limits why do they keep voting for the incumbents election after election? The vote is the term limit. Use it.
     
  6. hiimjered

    hiimjered Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    One reason for this is because the party puts the same person up term after term as their choice. If you want a Democrat (or really any kind of liberal) you have to vote for whichever person the party puts up - which will usually be the incumbent if possible. If you want a Republican (or in many cases any kind of conservative) you have the same problem. So many voters have to choose between an incumbent that matches their values or a nominee that opposes them.

    Term limits force the incumbent's party to put up a new nominee, giving voters of the same leaning as the incumbent a chance to vote in a fresh candidate without voting against their political preferences.
     
  7. Phil

    Phil Well-Known Member

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    In Massachusetts in 1994 the state voted in a referendum to limit the terms of their Congressmen and Senators, but reelected every one of them, including several that would have been forced to leave according to the law.
    Since the Supreme Court voted down those state laws it would take a constitutional amendment and guess who votes on that.
    I propose such an amendment, with 15-year terms for senators with a limit of two and seven-year terms in the House with a limit of five.
    That way senators will consider the right way to vote on things for half their careers and congressmen for one-fifth of their careers.
     
  8. Kranes56

    Kranes56 Banned

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    I don't think that a term limit would be good, but not being able to serve 2 consecutive years in a row, would be better.
     
  9. PARAMONOS

    PARAMONOS New Member

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    The general voting system is fine. But look at the districts that they map out. Totally illogical and ridiculous in shape in order to cover certain areas.
     
  10. toddwv

    toddwv Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    If you mean two consecutive terms in a row, I could support that.
     
  11. Phil

    Phil Well-Known Member

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    I also support a law that would make congressional districts approximate geometric shapes.
     
  12. Kranes56

    Kranes56 Banned

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    That's what I meant.
     
  13. hiimjered

    hiimjered Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    The more I think about it, the more interesting that idea is to me. An "incumbents may not run" rule will shake up congress and eliminate any thoughts of career safety that people might have. It would be most valuable in the senate, since it would level the playing field and bring equal representation to all of the states.

    More importantly, incumbents could focus on governing instead of campaigning.
     
  14. Kranes56

    Kranes56 Banned

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    That's basically why I would support something like this.
     
  15. tkolter

    tkolter Well-Known Member

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    You can vote people out anytime you get the majority of of votes for the other guy or gal, you don't need term limits.

    In fact it takes time to learn the job and more importantly senior elected members of our government have power but its also a mentoring situation they guide the new members of office.

    The way you avoid the issues your concerned about is get people to vote and do so in a considered manner knowing the issues, I would say if anything make civics education more important in schools and among the public at large.
     
  16. hiimjered

    hiimjered Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    You can vote the incumbent out by voting for the other guy, but that fact doesn't help at all.

    The incumbent was elected by a majority of the population because he claimed values and intentions that matched a majority of the population. The "other guy" will most often be of a different party and claim values and intentions very different from the ones the incumbent claims.

    In the end the majority of the population has the choice between re-electing the incumbent who at least claims to have the desired values or to elect a person who claims different values from what is desired.

    In the end, you don't really have the option to vote out the incumbent, unless you are willing to vote directly against your own values and desires.
     
  17. IgnoranceisBliss

    IgnoranceisBliss Well-Known Member

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    I don't like the idea of mentoring myself. I don't want my Senator/Congressman to be influenced by a senior member. It's "Washington" politics and partisanship that is often taught to the junior members of Congress. A "senior" Congressman with 20+ years of service wields too much power. I think something on the order of 2 five year term restrictions would be appropriate.

    On the discussion of mentoring, I think it would be wise to have some sort of system whereby a brand new member of Congress must serve as the Chief of Staff of the outgoing Congressman for a year period. This would allow the incoming Congressman to learn the ins and outs of the office without becoming too connected to life long Congressmen serving as mentors.
     
  18. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    I completely agree with term limits for senators and representatives. I think the Supreme Court should remain a life appointment though.
     
  19. gophangover

    gophangover Well-Known Member

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    That's just trying to get rid of democracy. Voters have a constitutional right to have whoever they want for their representative. What's sad is, voters keep re-electing those that are the problem instead of electing those that would fix the problems. There's no cure for stupid.
     
  20. gophangover

    gophangover Well-Known Member

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    Six years max for Supreme Court judges. That way we don't get Alzheimer patients making ridiculous rulings. Nobody should have that kind of power for that long. And the judges should be elected not appointed.
     
  21. Junkieturtle

    Junkieturtle Well-Known Member Donor

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    I think the life appointments are great. It removes any pressure from a judge from having to act in a certain way or get removed. It also means judicial decisions don't swing wildly back and forth as each side loads up the SC every 6 years depending on who is president.
     
  22. gophangover

    gophangover Well-Known Member

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    If judges were elected it wouldn't matter if the prez was a con or a lib. And they wouldn't have to all be elected at the same time, just three every two years.
     
  23. hiimjered

    hiimjered Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    There really isn't a good choice. Consider this year's presidential election. If you are a democrat, a progressive or a liberal but don't feel that Obama is a good choice for the job, you are out of luck. You can either vote for Obama, vote for a conservative republican or throw your vote away with a third party. You can't vote Obama out without giving the next four years over to a candidate with the opposite ideology.
     
  24. PARAMONOS

    PARAMONOS New Member

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    Is there any logic (beside campaign logic) whatsoever in the shapes of these districts?

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    Should Gerrymandering end?
     
  25. Someone

    Someone New Member

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    There isn't a good way to get rid of gerrymandering. Ultimately if you want evenly populated congressional districts, someone will have to make a choice about how it's shaped. Well, those decisions will always be driven by political factors, and there's basically no way to do that other than perhaps simply handing it over to a computer program to solve--a proposal that would never be accepted by any state legislature.
     

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