would fix nothing.  





Putting term limits would get rid of the good guys nd expose you to more candidates that have zero history to really judge them on just like obama.  more candidates would get away with telling the people what they want to hear and then doing something entirely different.





To change two faced and corrupt politicians the PEOPLE need to impose term limits through primaries and elections.  That way we can keep the good ones.  The only way to have a good government is to keep the people you can trust and toss the people who betray you.
Also I think it is a good idea to get rid of term limits on the presidency.  The fact that we HAVE to change presidets every two terms is a lot of the reason republicans get the blame for bad policy.  Bad policy speaks for itself and the people reject the asssholes who institute it.  Plus term limits on a presidency do not allow a good momentum to run it's course when we have a leader we can trust.  Things don't get done.  sure you can talk about what if lbj had three terms  or what if some other douche had three terms.  What if clinton had four terms ect.  





Well if LBJ had more terms he would have gotten voted out like carter did when it all came crashing down.    Then what?  Then Reagan comes in.  He has eight years of weallth building.  After that eeight years he would have won another term and yet another.  After his first eight ears of awesome don't you think it would have been easy for him to tell the people "you got the economy you wanted from my policy now give me a congress where we can reduce government and make it even better"  He would have been able to do more because the people had enough proof over the years to trust him.    Clinton never would have happened and neither would the CRA revamp that created this recession which Obama seized control through.    Even clinton would have lost to a republican after his scandal and if not he would have lost to a republican due to his housing bubble popping and we would be talking about how a housing entitlement destroyed the economy and reducing government rather than having this communist puke Obama telling people it was conservatism and pushing us into socialism.





Our country would bee a lot different if we had been able to keep a leadeer we trusted.  
Term limits have already been the death of us through the presidency and making congress the same way will put the nail in the coffin.  Nobody is held accountable with term limits and every politician will behave accordingly.

 

That's obviously not going to happen, so fail.



 

well then the country is doomed to forever have corrupt two faces politicians.



forced term limits will affect the congress wworse than they do the presidency.  where exactl have term limits in that office done any good?  legislators don't get anywhere near the constant monitoring that the president does yet we can have a self serving back dealing usurping corrupt motherfucker for president.  Just think how much damage the organizers can do by putting sleepers into congress like they put Obama into office since every seat becomes available within short order.





if the people wont throw out the bad ones then nothing can stop them. Laws especially.  And everyones last term will be a nothing to lose term.  No reason to listen to the people when you are certain our job doesn't depend on it since your fired already.





I fail to see why everyone here is worried about the lame duck congress yet can't translate that into why term limits is a bad idea.  It is hypocritical.





 

I am opposed to congressional term limits, but I would very much be in favor of no more than two terms consecutively.  I.e. candidate H wins twice, then must hold off through the term of candidate K, then H can run again/win two terms, etc.



I am also in favor of something along the lines of a rule that if someone holds a particular office, then nobody in their family within 5 or so degrees of separation may hold the same office, under any circumstances; that way, no more dynasties.  No Bush Sr followed by Bush Jr, no Hillary after Bill.



Both together would have eliminated the Kennedies' hold on power, etc.

I am almost certain that given time and no term limits reagan would have been the peendelum swing that could have undone a lot of past presidents bullshit.  look how long that economic boom lasted. if he had four terms he could have done some serious damage to the big government which would have brought about even more prosperity and further put isus on the "right" track. The people loved him and he would have gotten more of what he wanted if he wasn't forced out.   Since he wass forced out though the people were forced to lose someone they all believed in and the media was able to come in and say "look at the big debt he made"  if he was still president he would have been like "okay now lets cut down this government bullshit and balance the budget now that everyone is working and inflation is down" and the media wouldn't have been able to convince the people that it was a bad idea because he had built trust.

Are you high?    There should be term limits for every electable position in the U.S.  I also feel that one should not be able to campaign for an electable position while currently serving in an electable postion.  There are far too many bozo's out ther spending their last 2 years of a term running for a different position.  They should be concentrating on the position they were elected to.  Term limits would stop the career jackasses from staying in power for 30 plus years.

if career jackasses are in power for 30 years it is because their constituents have been voting for them for that long and like it or not they are doing what they are supposed to do.



Our founders didn't like the idea of career politicians but never supported ignoring the will of the people if the people wanted to KEEP their representatives.  They left it for us to decide when someone is self serving rather than serving the people.  It works better that way.  Otherwise every congress critter has nothing to lose in their last term .
 

Between millions and millions of dollars in lobbying from big corps, unions and other groups and Gerrymandering, term limits is about the only thing that put the brakes on runaway government.



The Founders never intended government service to be a lifetime job and they CERTAINLY never intended for a Political Class to emerge and become the new Aristocracy.



They would have gone to armed revolution AGAIN to get rid of the infestation we have in government today LONG, LONG ago.



Short of somehow dismantling the lobbying system and forcing redistricting to be strictly along population lines, term limits is about the only thing that will put an end to this bullshit, short of <CoC Violation>

Constitutional Term Limits....

It's the only way to do it....

Level Playing field, for all 58 states.....

Oh, wait......

It's 50 states......

FBHO, BTW....

If we had term limits, we wouldn't have scum like Kennedy, Schumer, Pelosi, Boxer, Reid, etc.  They would have to go get a job like everyone else and live under the rule of law like John Q. Public.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Even George Washington refused a 3rd term

1 term limit is my current mood.

No fucking career politicans of any form.

FWIW, he refused to run again because of his ill health, and he did not want to set a precident of "president for life;" he wanted to set the example of a peaceful transition of power, while the sitting president was still alive.



Plus, the stress killed him.



 

Bad idea.  Go read the Federalist Papers....I think #'s 14-18, and 42-.......47, I think?  They go into it in some depth about the difficulties and negative gov't function that would arise from such things.



 

That is exactly why there should be term limits.  No dictators for life.

those millions and millions of dollars will buy new candidates. just like the hundreds of millions bought us Obama.  term limits wont change a damned thing about that.  Might even make it worse since non politicians would become more normal in elections.  pretty easy to create an image for yoursefl when there is no background to prove otherwise and lots of money thrown down makes it that much easier to build a hero from a zero.





The founders intended for the constitution to be followed.  They intended general welfare to be within the enumerated powers.  They intended state commerce to mean keeping states from having trade wars withing the union.



Never did they display that term limits should be imposed . Just that people should beware of candidates who are corrupt.  Term limits will not stop any of the problems with this country. Not even one bit.  Only we the people can do that.  It can be done but it has to be done through our first amendment. We have to win the battle of ideas and elect people who have the stones to turn that into legislation AND KEEP THEM while voting out those who don't represent us well.  
 

Only problem with the "2 terms then break for 1 and run again" is that it would become a revolving door.  During their "break" they would simply go to K Street or some MSM outlet and continue to have a hand in government, then run again.  It would be easy to see it devolve into a "tag team" sort of deal with a group moving back and forth over time.
Maybe more than 2 terms but then NO running for a higher office, serving as a bureaucrat or working for a lobbying firm.  Think tank or media well, not much you can do about that.
To use the Starship Troopers reference, a "term of service" after which you've done your duty for country and are expected to behave as a Citizen, not a fucking parasite dug into the body politic for the rest of your life.
 

i agree, it's a voter problem and people like jim demint shouldn't be restricted to one term.

i was a former term limit advocate btw

I do not fucking care.

We have tried the lack of limts, we need to try to opposite.  The current wide spread corruption in all parties cannot be any worse than politicians who don't need to seek re-election.

I understand we need a balance between service and accountability to the electorate wrt to voting, but it has turned into shit, lets try something.

people seem to forget what is killing this country. it isn't corruption.  it is the belief that goverment is there to "help"  ad redistribute wealth and protect you from yourself.





Entitlements and regulations and mandates are what is killing this country.  Sure term limits might ease the corruption that adds a little bit of pork to these things but the pork isn't the problem. It is the ideas that are a problem.
States and districts that believe in these ideas and don't believe in the constitution and limited government will continue to vote for people that will represent them and those representatives will continue to push these ideas and pass them into laws.  If you can't defeat these ideas then term limits change nothing except that when we find an exceptional candidate that fights for OUR ideas we will lose them and have to roll the dice on a new guy.



toss out pelosi today and someone just like her will be in tomorrow

We don't need term limits if all branches of government are forced to stay within the boundaries of power that the Constitution allows them.

90% of legislation should be state or local.

The Federal Government is not supposed to be a powerful place to rule from, it is supposed to be a place to SERVE YOUR COUNTRY.

The best and the brightest should be sent, those with enough national pride in their hearts to leave their home town for years on end for little to no pay, to be bossed around by the folks who elected them.

Of course I'm the fucking extremist nutcase right wing tea party insurgent because I actually have the gall to suggest that our government play by the rules.

Silly me.

Get rid of the gerrymandering.



Make Congressional districts as compact and contiguous as possible with no regard to race, party, or any other demographic.



And repeal the 17th Amendment.

this has always pissed me off.



 

I disagree.

Pork is DIRECTLY responsible for the passing of TARP, ObamaCare, and nearly every other major piece of legislation.

We, the American People, effectively killed TARP in the House. Congress porked it up  (read bribed the fuck out of people) and sent it back to the House for a Rubber Stamp. It is flat out bribery.

Remember how URGENT TARP was? Well some of the EMERGENCY provisions included tax exempting bow and arrows made in certain states. Seriously. What. The. Fuck.

It's gone from a mere slathering of pork and wasting of money on inefficient government programs to the point that we, YOU AND I, are paying taxes to our government so that they can give 16 million to UCLA to study the effects of teaching African men (not african-american - AFRICAN) men to clean their uncircumcised penis.

They just spent enough money in the last "Jobs Program" to outright buy every mortgage in the nation. What did that get us?

Pork is a problem. Pork is THE problem. Without Pork there are no legal bribes.

Eliminate pork, eliminate lobbyists, and cut the pay to 50k per year without legacy benefits and lets see if the quality of our candidates goes up or down.

Gerrymandering

Campaigning while elected to office, effectively neglecting your elected duty.

Pork

100k+ per year to start with automatic 8% or so raises.

Life long health care and pension benefits.

Lobbyist trips, lobbyist gifts, lobbyist money, lobbyist blowjobs, lobbyists written bills.

Private Jets.

lobbyists to me are no different than the people. they are paid to go speak someones mind about something.  we have the same tpe of thing. heritage foundation for example.  the people donate to them because they do research and present things to our congress to sway their opinions.  lobbying is representation.



It still all comes down to ideas.  the belief that government is a piggy bank is an idea i should have listed above but i thought that fit under wealth redistribution.





My point though is that until the VOTERS change their ideas on what is right and wrong term limits will not result in any difference in how our federal government works.  





stopping spending on shit not related to enumerated powers would be what your looking for in a law to address that issue.  Not term limits.  The only way we will get such a law passed is to win the debate f ideas and convince voters to vote for people who will do it.





 

i think this one might make the biggest difference out of your list.  The wy elections are set up for the house is fucked up.  in the age of technology we should have programs that can calculate population density and road maps to draw districts that just divide people evenly into districts rather than figuring out where to put the line to change election outcomes.  
 

I'm still on the fence about term limits, but I think voters have begun to see how effective we can be if we stand our ground and stick to our principals.

Ask the GoP if the feel us after yesterday's upset.

Both entrenched parties are scared shitless.

that's what i am saying. we already have term limits. it's called voting.  if the people want something different they vote for it.  Doesn't matter how corrupt you are your ass will get fired if your constituents like someone elses ideas better whether it's the primary or general election..    At the moment we are winning the battle of ideas.  People that never voted republican are voting republican.   Term limits wont make that happen.  But a political uprising of the people sure as hell can.  People only become corrupt because the voters put up with it.  



The only way to change things is to convince people our way is better.
 

This.  If we don't have term limits, then we will have same old corrupt politicans (Charlie Rangle for example) still in office screwing the american people over and over and over fuckin again.  WE THE PEOPLE need to hold these fuckers accountable!!!!!  

And we have a winner!!!  This would eliminate a lot of the career politicians.



 

Term limits are exactly what we need. We might need to repeal the popular election of senators even more though.

Of course there should be term limits and for every position in Gov. Keeps the idiots from trenching in and refreshes the system. That's why our congress is so fucked up now! It's why the drunk murderer had to die before his seat was up for grabs.

How can you overlook that?!  

So, you trust voters not to keep voting in bad leaders, but don't trust them to vote in good ones if the current good one limits out?

I would never risk keeping Obama in power for several terms(or life) for the possibility of keeping a Reagan for several terms. Or life. The possibility for evil outweighs the possibility for good.

Too many good men have been corrupted by spending too much time in the cesspool of Washington. The old adage of "absolute power corrupts absolutely" holds true still today. How many disgraced politicians were just elected? By far the majority have been in office so long they have lost touch with reality. The longer they are in government, the more they feel they are the Elite, chosen to rule, and above such pettiness as the will of the people.

No, I will vote for limits on time spent in congress. Maybe I am an optimist, but If Congress is not a lifetime appointment, we might attract leaders who serve for the good of the people, not for their own narcissistic need for power. I would at least like to give it a try. We couldn't do much worse than we do now.

Bullshit, the first thing any politician does is cement his power base. He does this by paying favors for donations. After three or four terms the asshole is a defacto King in his district. Look at that asshole Rangle do you think he is crooked he only has 40 years in office. I got one of the bloodsuckers in my district Ortiz he has held office 30 plus years no one can stand the Douche nozzle but he OWNS the poor coastal district of South Texas.

How about part-time legislators?  

1. Take away the ability to make a good ($165K) living on this job.
2. Do we really need them up in Washington all the time thinking of new ways to control us through legislation and to have a "legislative impact" to justify their existence to voters?
3. It works in Texas - they only get paid a per diem when they are in session - makes it tough to make a career out of a single elected position
4. Congress could then focus on oversight instead of legislating - which is supposed to be a large portion of their job - maybe find out why we spent $800K of stimulus money on "African genital washing" and stop it in the future.

I disagree.  Politicians do myriad gutless things out of the desire to be re-elected.  Ever wonder why Social Security hasn't been means tested, had the retirement age raised, had the cost of living increase reduced, etc., etc., to get it on the path to solvency?  If someone knew they couldn't be re-elected maybe they would sack up and do the right thing.

I cant decide, on one hand no life long politicos I like, but they'd be more apt to fuck us if they were in their last term

Term limits AND your  son,wife,daughter,neice,nephew,brother,cousin can't ever hold the job after you leave office.

You realize that some of the Framers were monarchists, right?

Never understood the fascination with term limits.  If you don't like the guy in office, vote for someone else.  If the voters of a given state or district are perfectly happy with sending someone to Washington for 30 years, its none of your concern.  If you think term limits are such a great idea just look at the train wreck known as the State of California.

I agree with term limits.  Possibly remove incentives like no pay (or minor pay) with no retirement.  

According to the OP mantra, Harry Reid and Charlie Rangle are good people.



Works both way's...



Term limits would get rid of political career minded people and get more private sector people who have actually done something with their lives before entering the politcal arena.

Charlie Rangel just won his primary last night.  Enough said.  

Absofuckinglutly.  Term limits and we need to put a major cap on salary of these elected officials.  I've always advocated a maximum salary for Congress being 15% below the mean average for income in the US.  This would discourage the career politician types.  

Term limits need to be in place at the national level. Politicians lose track of why they are there and forget their true reason for public service. I would love to see a terrm limit on senators and congressman of 3 seperate terms.

Rinse please.

Good.

ETA You wouldn't happen to be a politician would you?

What good guys?





I support term limits.  1 term in office, followed by 1 term in prison.

The voters in Charlie Rangel's district like him.  What the voters in any other district think is immaterial.

If his sphere of influence was limited to his district that would be correct. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Yeah because scum bags like Charlie Rangle and Ted Kennedy spending a life time screwing up our country is a good thing.