Term Limits in U.S. Government

Term Limits in U.S. Government Mark P. Petracca's idea that "government should be kept as near to the people as possible chiefly through frequent elections and rotation-in-office" is quite common in early republican thought and generally agreed upon by the America's revolutionary thinkers. Although the debate over limiting legislative terms dates back to the beginnings of political science, it was not until the 1990's that the doctrine began to be taken seriously when voters …

…possible...", imposing term limits on legislators is clearly an invalid method to accomplish this goal. The founders purposely excluded rotation-in-office from the Constitution because they felt no need to include such a statement when voters already levy term limits on congressmen through elections (Jackson-Lee 8). Congressional privilege and power is derived from seniority. If states restrict congressional tenure they ultimately place themselves in a weaker political position of power relative to states who choose not to.