Saturday, October 18, 2008
George Will - Indispensable Term Limits
I'm in favor of term limit laws.
Americans have voted for them in quite a few places.
Politicians seem to question that wisdom, to the tune of trying to subvert the voters wishes, using other means.
Why am I not surprised?...
Americans have voted for them in quite a few places.
Politicians seem to question that wisdom, to the tune of trying to subvert the voters wishes, using other means.
Why am I not surprised?...
At RealClearPolitics.com, George Will discusses them and a recent New York Times article:
"The Times dutifully reported that 37 governors, 15 state legislatures and nine of the 10 most populous cities have term limits, which remain popular with the people who imposed them: "Recent ballot initiatives to alter them, including one in California in February, have failed."
Two amusing arguments against term limits are that political novices are too susceptible to the wiles of lobbyists, and that term-limited legislators, worrying too much about their next jobs and too little about their current ones, are constantly in campaign mode, thinking of the next election rather than the next generation. The idea that when term limits are absent, these difficulties are absent is refuted by one word: Congress."
