Term Limits
Public Service, Not a Career
The Problem
The average tenure of a U.S. Senator is over 11 years. Some have served 40+. Congressional incumbents win reelection at rates above 90% — not because they're doing a great job, but because the system is built to protect them. Name recognition, donor networks, franking privileges, gerrymandered districts — incumbency is its own campaign machine.
Career politicians optimize for reelection, not results. They avoid hard votes, defer to party leadership, and spend half their time fundraising for the next cycle. The institution was designed for citizen legislators who serve and go home. That's not what we have.
What We Propose
Term limits for Congress: 12 years maximum — whether that's six House terms, two Senate terms, or a combination. Long enough to develop expertise. Short enough to prevent entrenchment.
Term limits for Supreme Court justices: 18-year staggered terms, with a new appointment every two years. Every president gets two picks per term. No more strategic retirement timing or lifetime seats that turn confirmations into blood sport.
Grandfather existing members — apply limits to new terms going forward. This isn't about purging anyone; it's about building a system that works for the next generation.
The Trade-offs
Institutional knowledge matters. Experienced legislators understand procedure, build relationships, and know how to get things done. Term limits mean losing that expertise more frequently. The counterargument: lobbyists already have the institutional knowledge advantage — at least with term limits, they can't just wait out reformers.
Term-limited legislators might be more susceptible to lobbying in their final terms, or more focused on post-office career positioning. These are real risks that need to be addressed with strong ethics rules and cooling-off periods.
A constitutional amendment is required for congressional term limits. That's a high bar. But 87% of Americans support them (Pew, 2023) — this is one of the few genuinely bipartisan issues left.