Melanie Merritt asked me today whether I would agree to support term limits in the House and Senate.

Basically, term limits appear to be addressing the problem of lecherous career politicians which, to me, are just a symptom of voter apathy and disinterest. I'm not saying I wouldn't support term limits if the people of my district wanted them, but they don't address the underlying issues that lead to a lack of participation by voters in the election process. Term limits further remove the voter from his/her responsibility to hold elected officials accountable. The flip side of term limits is that good politicians (an oxymoron, right?) are tossed out with the bad, strictly based on their years of service.

Follow up:

Congress members get such a sweet salary, pension, and benefits it's no wonder they want to stick around forever and ever. Not to mention all the power and political clout that comes from years of service in a public office. Let's cut the salaries in half, eliminate the pensions and healthcare first and see who sticks around because they really want to help the country.

The Constitution only mandates that Congress meet once yearly! So why are our politicians behaving like full-time employees? It's fun to hang out and schmooze in Washington when you're rich and powerful! Not so fun if you have to get back home to your day job to put food on the table. If you took away all the perks of the office, most members of Congress would need to move on to make a living.

I already hear you complaining that then only rich people would hold office because they'd be the only ones who could afford it. I make the argument that a rich person willing to do it for nothing is just fine by me. Besides, middle income folks could afford it, too, if Congress weren't in session all year long.

Another issue with term limits in the House and Senate is the committee system in place now is seniority based. Term limits, in theory, may result in committee chairmen who are relative rookies. I agree that there doesn't need to be a Capitol full of career politicians, but one or two of them need to know what's what to be effective. Speaking of the committee system, it needs to be merit based anyway, and not based on seniority, like most well managed businesses in the information technology age.

The issue at hand is how to keep voters involved and caring enough to participate in this process so that 'BAD' politicians are voted out on election day. That is a subject for a whole other post. The answer, though, is not term limits, which puts the election process on near 'autopilot' and disengages the voter from the election process even more.