Term Limits For Legislators
When the Constitution of the United States was adopted in 1789, it was without direction regarding term limits for legislators. At the time, professional politicians were unheard of, and the idea of someone serving for more than one or two terms was unlikely. So the Constitution did not formally address the issue of term limits, although it was understood that officeholders would limit themselves to one or two terms and then return to private life (1).
With the advent of the modern state, however, came the making of Congress as a career, and thus the voluntary removal of oneself from office, as envisioned by the founders, is no longer regularly undertaken in the United States Congress.
The structure of the Congress supports members who have held office for several terms thereby undermining the idea of the citizen-legislator put forth by the founders. Instead of citizens who will soon return to the community that elected them, professional Congress-people spend more time in Washington than in t heir home states, and usually make Congress their career. What has developed in recent years, in response to congressional careerism, is the drive to impose limits on the length of time someone may serve in Congress. Currently, advocates of term limits are calling for two terms in the Senate, and three in the House. It is possible, then, for a member to serve six years in the House, twelve years in the Senate, eight years as Vice President, and eight years as
President, a total of thirty-six years. It is not unlikely, therefore, that there will continue to be career politicians. The issue is not about total time that one may participate in government, rather it is about how long one may serve in a particular capacity. Term limits enjoy popular, but not political, support, thereby polarizing the electorate and the elected. This paper will discuss the popular support for term limits, the arguments on both sides, and draw conclusions about the need for Congressional term limits in the United
States
Support for term limits encompasses close to three-quarters of the
American population (2). The question is why. The simple answer is that the
American people no longer trust a system they view as corrupt and biased towards the few. But the issue is really not this simple, nor is its basis of support.
While on the surface it is corruption and bias...
... middle of paper ...
...'s Path to a
Representative Congress" U.S. Term Limits Foundation Outlook Series July, 1994
Vol.3 No.2 www.termlimits.org/index.shtml
Fund, John H "Term Limitation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come" Policy Analysis
No. 141 October 30, 1990 www.cato.org/pubs/pas/policyanalysis.html
"Term Limits Excellent New Strategy" The Florida Times Union October 1, 1996 www.termlimits.org/index.shtml Jacob, Paul "Choosing Term Limits" The Washington Times August 7, 1996 www.termlimits.org Jacob, Paul "Whose Government is it Anyway?" www.termlimits.org/index.shtml
Kolbe, John "Term Limits Sledgehammer" Phoenix Gazette June 7, 1996 www.termlimits.org Levine, Herbert M. Point-Counterpoint: Readings in American Government St.
Martin's Press, New York. 1995
Nelson, Lars-Erik "A Very Special Class of Federal Employee" The Washington
Post January 5, 1996 www.termlimits.org/index.shtml
O'Connor, Karen and Larry J. Sabato American Government: Roots and Reform
Allyn and Bacon, Massachusetts. 1996
Petracca, Mark "The Poison of Professional Politics" Policy Analysis No. 151
May 10, 1996 www.cato.org/pubs/pas/policyanalysis..html
The Continental Congress, renamed the Confederation Congress after the Articles of Confederation were ratified, was not an ineffectual body. It led the United States through a war against Great Britain, gained independence, negotiated the Treaty of Paris, and set up an unprecedented system of government. Ultimately, however, this government did not solve many of the new nation’s problems. The ruling document of this Congress, the Articles of Confederation, created a government without the power necessary to perform the tasks it was charged with and claimed the states were sovereign nations while depriving them of essential powers.
In the diet, there are 512 members of the House of Representatives, chosen from 130 election districts, with one exception elects from 3 to 5 representatives. Each voter has one vote, but 3 to 5 candidates who receive the largest amount of votes are elected, and serve for 4 years unless the parliament is dissolved before the term expires. The house of Counselors consists of 252 members who are chosen for 6-year terms, where they most likely will serve their full term.
Members of congress have three specific goals. The one that seems to be the most important
The United States Congress was created by the framers of the Constitution as the most important part of the legislative branch of the national government. The Congress was set up with a bicameral structure composed by the House of Representatives or Lower Chamber and the Senate or Upper Chamber. According to “Origins and Development” and “History of the House”, two descriptions of the history of the Congress, both chambers assembled for the very first time in New York in 1789 and then moved to Philadelphia in 1790 where they stayed for 10 years. In 1800 the Congress moved to Washington, DC; however, it was not until 1857 and 1859 that the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively moved to their current meeting locations in the Capitol after its restoration due to the British invasion of 1814 that burned the building. With more than two centuries legislating, the Congress has acquired great expertise in governing the country and meeting the Constitution’s mandates. Yet, in order to accomplish all its tasks the Congress has a very well-defined structure and very specific ways to proceed. Indeed, in order to undertake the most important of its mandates, “to enact law”, the Congress has a rigorous procedure that is combined with some of the different structural elements of Congress which indicate the direction that bills must follow once introduced. One of the most important of such elements is the congressional committee structure.
Government exists to serve the people, and not the politicians, American citizens know this. Polls show that Americans want term limitation by margins as high as three-to-one, even four-to-one. Congressional term limitation is the most important issue of our time because the future direction of our country depends upon it. There is no other way to restore government to, us, the people. There is no substitute for term limits. There are many second steps, depending upon where you sit, but there is only one first step toward turning the country around. It is con...
First there is the House of Representatives. The House is the lowest level of what makes up the United States Congress. Members of the House are made up of state officials. The number of House representatives that each state gets is directly affected by the state’s current population, and so the number changes with each state. There are many duties formed by the House some of which include; introducing bills, bringing up resolutions, offering amendments, and serving on committees. Members of the House are voted for directly by the people of state from which they come. Each representative must be at least
Finkelman, Paul, ed. and Donald R. Kennon, ed. Congress and the Crisis of the 1850s. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012. eBook (tamusaworldcat). Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
When the United States was founded, the theme behind the new government was to establish an efficient system without doling out too much power to any one person. The Founders intended to prevent a rebirth of tyranny, which they had just escaped by breaking away from England. However, when members of Congress such as Tom Foley, who served as a Representative from 1964 through 1995, and Jack Brooks, who served as a Representative from 1952 through 1994, remain in the legislative system for over forty years, it is evident that tyranny has not necessarily been eradicated from the United States (Vance, 1994, p. 429). Term limits are a necessity to uphold the Founders’ intentions, to prevent unfair advantages given to incumbents, and to allow a multitude of additional benefits.
Mississippi was admitted as the twentieth state in the United States on December 20, 1817, and Mississippi’s first two senators took their place in Congress the very next day. Since that time, Mississippi has had forty-five great men represent the state in the Senate. Some have served over 30 years in the Senate while others have only served their six year term (www.mshistory.k12.ms.us). One of Mississippi’s current senators is Roger Wicker.
Since the Constitutional convention the government of the Unites States has being improving the government system. The government has many progressiveness, it went from an authoritarian country to a self-governed country by the people. The politicians has being changing the structure of the government system to a better a much better version of the last one making it a more fair system for the people. For instance, during the convention in Philadelphia congress had develop a more effective and unified constitution than the past. They started the changes of the system to a more complex government system that benefited the people and the states. For example, the congress came up with the idea of making an upper house for the senate and a lower house for the House of Representatives along with the Great Compromise that gave the president a substantial power over the government. The congress did this because after the Americ...
Senate and the House of Representatives ("the house"). The Senate consists of one hundred senators: Two senators from each of the fifty states.
The House and Senate are somewhat different in terms of size, structure and procedure. However, despite their differences, collectively the Congress did make up the “dominant” class of the three branches of government for the 150 years of American government. ...
These values are alive and well in the hearts of the American people, who refresh the system every two years with their votes. The Constitution specifically grants Congress its most important power the authority to make laws. A bill, or proposed law, only becomes a law after both the House of Representatives and the Senate have approved it in the same form. The two houses share other powers, many of which are listed in Article 1, Section 8. These include the power to declare war, coin money, raise an army and navy, regulate commerce, establish rules of immigration and naturalization, and establish the federal courts and their jurisdictions. (Congress the Peoples Branch?, 2016)The question was asked if the authority to make new laws is a strength, how could it be seen any other way. If the common man, business or state were left to regulate themselves we would no longer be the United States; the out-come would be individual parcels of land being run as if they were separate countries. On option to maintain the strength found in the legislature is to, continue using committees in specialized fields. Each committee is specialized in one or two fields to help to draw up new laws in this field. The Senate has 16, and the House has 22 committees. This may not be enough committees to ensure all important
While the power to create laws is still just as vital then as it is now, the powers to regulate interstate commerce, borrow money, and declare war have also become important today. When Congress creates laws, they are enacting measures which they believe are in the best interest of the American people, and continue to maintain the stability of the United States. It is also important for Congress to regulate interstate commerce, as businesses have become much larger and powerful than in the pre-industrialized, agrarian America. The power to borrow money has become increasingly important for Congress overtime, as the federal government’s responsibility has expanded to include many programs, such as welfare programs. With this expansion has come more expenses, and in order to function, Congress must borrow money. The final important power, the power to declare war, is important for Congress as only they can do declare war. The use of force is a way for Congress to protect the American people and other
Congressional terms have no limits. Controversy exists between those who think the terms should be limited and those who believe that terms should remain unlimited. The group that wants to limit the terms argues that the change will promote fresh ideas and reduce the possibility of decisions being made for self-interest. Those who oppose term limits believe that we would sacrifice both the stability and experience held by veteran politicians. They also point out that our election process allows the voter to limit terms, at their discretion. While experience and stability are important considerations, congressional terms should be limited to a maximum of two.