Is Ted Cruz’s Term Limits proposal good for America, or is it just Political?
I think most Americans are pretty sick and tired of career politicians. Instead of treating it like a public service, they get in, bunker in and then secure relationships with members of society that can keep them there. They end up catering their policies to a small number of people vs. the people that put them there.
Ted’s plan would allow a max of 2 terms in the Senate or 12 years, and 3 terms in the House of Representatives which would be a total of 6 years. If you were lucky and maxed out your service, you could be in the House and the Senate for a total of 18 years. While 18 sounds like a lot, 6 + 12 seems odd, and 12 + 12 would be 24 which isn’t that much more.
But is a 6 year limit good? I wonder if the number has a basis anywhere or if it was arbitrary. It would mean that Senators might see 2 Presidents, while many Representatives in the House would only see one. It might make the House a lot less stable than it is now, and for the most part it wouldn’t span Administrations. I’m not sure if this is by design, or if it’s good.
6 year limit would mean many House members would be substantially younger than they are now. This would have a huge impact on committee maturity as well, as it is now many committees are lead by much more senior members. Again, this might be good, but it might also mean that 20 & 30 year olds are running most committees in the house, and might not span the full breadth of our population. I think it would be better for younger people and not as good for older generations dealing with different issues. It could pit generations against each other.
All of these points are just about the term limits, but what about the timing. Would this bill have been good to pass 2, 4, or 6 years ago, or now, 2, 4, or 6 years for now, or does the timing of it give one party an advantage over the other.
Republicans control the House by a large margin and the Senate by a small margin ( 2 votes ), so timing this Amendment now might be highly political and meant to right the system for one party vs. being fair for both parties.
In the Senate,
- 2018, 15 Democratic seats would be impacted vs. only 4 Republican.
- 2020, 8 Democratic seats vs. 11 Republican would be impacted.
In 2018, 75% of House seats would be impacted,
- 155 Democratic seats
- 169 Republican seats
It seems to me that voting on this in 2017 is too political, but voting on this in 2019 might be more fair.
Either way I think it’s a great amendment to debate.
Below is my worksheet I used to calculate the effect of the Term Limit Amendment as it is now.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16yLfNZt3Ad4MO-29vSPanW6r62KI31wwGOTl0eFrrbk/edit?usp=sharing
https://ballotpedia.org/List_of_current_members_of_the_U.S._Congress
