AmericanFederalGovernmentDisc

Discussion 3 (Complete by Sunday, Nov. 20) Yesterday

The United States Congress needs to have term limits.  There are a number or reasons for term limits to be instituted to include increasing the number of citizens who participate in governing the people, for the people and by the people.  A second reason is to reduce the impact of special interest and lobbyists and decreasing their influence in the execution of the United States government.  Finally, term limits will also reduce the amount of corruption in the government.  The United States government has many problems but these problems can be reduced with the institution of term limits.

                The United States government, beginning with the constitution and the founding fathers attempted to escape tyranny but creating a government that was operated and executed for the people and by the people.  However, the House of Representatives serve a two-year term.  The normal election cycle for offices is about the same two-year timeframe.  Essentially, as soon as a congressman gets into congress they already have an eye toward re-election.  It becomes a continuous cycle and in that political cycle, there is not much room for unknown candidates.  Without regard to political party, an incumbent has a distinct advantage whether it is in a primary or general election due to name recognition, already existing fund-raising contacts and a pre-built team of campaigners.  By limiting the number of terms they can serve, it would decrease the inherent advantages and enable more newcomers to run and serve within the government.  Greenberg (n.d.)

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writes, “Congressional term limits are a necessary corrective to inequalities which inevitably hinder challengers and aid incumbents. Each House Member, for instance, receives nearly a million dollars per year to pay for franked (free) mail, staff salaries, and office and travel expenses. While campaigning, incumbents continue to receive salaries upwards of $130,000 a year, which typically dwarf the income of challengers (who often must resign from their jobs while running for office)” (para 14). 

                Special interests and lobbyists have a place within our political system.  However, there is a certain amount of familiarity that goes beyond strictly professional familiarity and crosses into corruption.  When a member of congress begins to have extended relationships with these special interests and lobbyists, they become committed to the lobbyists interests and begin to lose sight of their constituents’ interests, which is the reason they were sent to Washington D.C. to begin with.  By limiting the exposure of congressmen to the special interest section of the nation’s capital, congress can be more specifically focused on solving our country’s problems without undue influence on them from outside groups.  As Greenberg (n.d.) writes on the topic, “Special interests oppose term limits because they do not want to lose their valuable investments in incumbent legislators” (para. 10).  These risks are easily evident when special interests fight the topic within the government. 

                 The combination of the first two elements of the argument for term limits leads to the final reason, corruption.  The combination of familiarity and special interests leads to corruption of multiple levels.  One of the forms of corruption in the United States Congress includes insider trading and having extended knowledge about the industries

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they are passing laws on or approving of regulations.  Government’s decision can greatly influence stock prices and having early knowledge of what is happening with those companies combined with campaign contributions for those decisions creates a recipe for corruption.  Limiting the terms served helps limit the exposure, need for funding for re-election as well as developing those long-term quid pro quo relationships that force those in congress to forget about their constituents and focus on the election-to-election processes.

The United States Congress needs to have term limits imposed for several reasons.  In order to help combat corruption, decrease the influence of oligarchs and special interests and help decrease corruption are but a few of the benefits of term limits.  It would also help expose and provide opportunities for new faces, new ideas and more involvement in our governmental processes.  The government in this country faces the same dilemma as any other country.  It will take a humble approach to serving in order for them to pass term limits into law and will be a hard sell due to the aforementioned traps built for those currently serving.  However, in order to create something special, it takes new ideas and new people to move beyond where we are now.

References

Greenberg, D. (n.d.). Term limits: The only way to clean up Congress. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://www.heritage.org/political-process/report/term-limits-the-only- way-clean-congress

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