Congressional Term Limits

[ElectionsGuy]

Yes for me.

12 years. 2 terms for Senate, 6 terms for the House. That would be my ideal plan.

[Lief 🗽]

Term limits are a stupid horrible idea.

[ElectionsGuy]

Term limits are a stupid horrible idea.

You know you can just disagree with the idea instead of insulting it.

[H. Ross Peron]

No, opposed to any term limits.

[LeBron]

I would only support them in the case we give term limits to the Supreme Court Justices as well. I'm very skeptical that if some Congressmen or judges stay in office for too long, they'll either become corrupt with power like LoBiondo or others have or simply just become senile which is very questionable for a lot of aging Reps, Senators, and Justices currently.

There are a lot of Americans who would prefer right now to just have all 535 Congressmen to be thrown out of office and that could only ever happen if they 1. Lose re-election   2. Resign   3. Are impeached   4. Die while in office so very minimal chances overall unless the gerrymandered lines magically disappear.

I wouldn't expect for the congressional regulations to be strict though. Perhaps 15 terms (30 years) for a Congressman, 5 terms (30 years) for a Senator, and a retirement age of 70 for SC Justices in addition to that.

If we're a so-called nation with a "separation of powers", than the legislative and judicial branches should get term limits to. Not just the executive branch.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

No (D).

I understand the reasoning for the idea of Congressional term limits, though. What I don't understand is this whole retirement age business. Having had a position for an excessive span of time is one thing, but what, exactly, supposedly makes old people qua old people no longer fit for service as a Supreme Court Justice or some other office to which it may be applied? I have never understood why some countries have this.

[Indy Texas]

Yes for me.

12 years. 2 terms for Senate, 6 terms for the House. That would be my ideal plan.

Yes, I also refuse to be operated on by surgeons with more than 12 years of experience and would never get my hair cut by a barber who had been working there more than 12 years. Because we need outsiders to shake things up! Rabblerabblerabble!

Seriously, putting a cap on institutional knowledge in an institution with as steep a learning curve as Congress is a recipe for disaster. Do you really think Congress would work better if everyone who had been elected prior to 2002 were no longer there?

[politicallefty]

No (D). Term limits should not exist for elected positions. I don't believe there should be term limits for Congress and I think the 22nd Amendment should be repealed. Elections are the only term limits we need. I would support strict term limits for the judiciary though, such as an 18-year term for a Supreme Court Justice.

In terms of the House, we could easily have far more competitive elections with nonpartisan redistricting. However, the voters should have the ultimate say on whether someone should stay or go.

[Franzl]

Term limits are a stupid horrible idea.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Term limits are a stupid horrible idea.

[Miles]

Strongly against; its important for some states/districts to have seniority and term limits are just arbitrary.

[minionofmidas]

US seniority rules are just as arbitrary and moronic as congressional term limits.

[PJ]

Term limits are a bad idea. If you want to eliminate political corruption, control campaign spending.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

No (R).

[RogueBeaver]

No, opposed to any term limits.

[TNF]

No, opposed to any term limits.

This, but support unconditional recall for every race.

[Hatman 🍁]

Term limits are anti-democratic. Which is a rather ironic truth.  They take the right away from voters to re-elect someone they may support.

[TDAS04]

No (D)

[Smid]

Term limits are anti-democratic. Which is a rather ironic truth.  They take the right away from voters to re-elect someone they may support.

I like the old saying: "I support term limits, I call them 'elections'"

When the voters think their representative has served for long enough, they have every right to remove them at the next election.

[Redalgo]

Yes - set it to serving only one term but make the duration of said terms longer. I'm really not going to be shy in my elitism here when I say that Americans are awful at deciding when to replace their representatives - leaders whose seats in practice appear to be safe an overwhelming majority of the time during campaigns for reelection. Assuming a representative doesn't do anything incredibly stupid, is fortunate enough not to be stung in the media by a nasty scandal, is competent at manipulating capital to their advantage, and represents an area that generally favours their party, he or she can stay in power for about as long as they like once there. Or at least that's how it seems to be in a great many districts. Limits would be less helpful if voters were more active in civic life and well-educated in politics but I don't foresee that changing anytime soon.

Imposition of term limits is not a particularly important goal to me, and I could probably be swayed to a different stance without much difficulty, but for now I'm extremely dissatisfied with the States' electoral system and consider this one of the things that ought to be changed.

[Antonio the Sixth]

No. What we need is a fair redistricting system where 90% of congressmen aren't packed into safe seats.

[7,052,770]

Surprised by the overwhelming no votes.  It's always good to have new people coming in instead of the same old circle-jerk year after year.  Plus, with a 2-term limit, Senators wouldn't be so beholden to the idea of ensuring their reelection over all else.

[Hatman 🍁]

Surprised by the overwhelming no votes.  It's always good to have new people coming in instead of the same old circle-jerk year after year.  Plus, with a 2-term limit, Senators wouldn't be so beholden to the idea of ensuring their reelection over all else.

You're surprised by the support of democracy here? Hmm...

[Goldwater]

There was a time when I supported them, but I later realized that it was just a knee-jerk reaction against politicians and there really was no logical reason for me to support them. So no.

[SPC]

I'm generally opposed to term limits since it only encourages Congressmen to have even less responsibility for their actions. Additionally, since I see the legislature as being a lesser evil than the executive, I would prefer not to take an action that would weaken the legislative branch, as congressional term limits would likely accomplish.