Term limits ought to apply to Every. Single. Person serving in Congress. Including me.
It’s just wrong that someone could make a long-term career out of elected office, especially on the federal level. Some have defended life-long politicians by saying, “We need those folks because they know the system and keep things running.” That’s bunk.
What we need are people who serve in Congress for a sensible period of time and then are REQUIRED to get out. Because with each passing year, the allure of Washington makes it easier and easier to lose sight of your district back at home.
That’s why I’ve proposed a Constitutional Amendment – H.J. Res 12 – that would limit the number of terms someone could serve in the House or Senate. It’s also why I’ve said from the beginning that I’d only serve for a reasonable amount of time in the House before term limiting myself voluntarily.
We can obviously debate how many terms are reasonable. (After all, it does take a couple of years just to get your feet wet, so to speak.) But the bottom line is that serving in the House or Senate should be a temporary privilege, not a career choice.
Will this Constitutional amendment go anywhere? Are most politicians really going to vote themselves out of a job down the road? Perhaps not, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.