Term limits: Good or bad?

Let's look at the political system.

The average elected official starts out at the local level. After being elected more than once he/she gets to be on committees and perhaps chair them. This brings more money to their campaigns (and perhaps pockets) and more pork to their districts. They use the fact that they have brought this pork home to their districts as a reason to re-elect them.

When the next position up the ladder opens up, they run for that position. If they are elected to a state position and get on committees and chair them then they make more money and have more power. This encourages  them to run for Congress. Possibly even for the Presidency. That is the normal progression.

If you have lots of money or name recognition, you can skip some of the steps. You can run for Mayor, Governor, or President without doing the grunt work at the lower-level positions.

The problem with continuous incumbency, however, is that after a while the politicians forget who elected them and why. They believe they were elected simply to make more money, get bigger pensions and gain more power.

But who benefits from this  power? They do.  The lobbyists who've supported them do. Like barnacles, lobbyists seek out the most ambitious or most needy politicians and attach themselves for the ride. It is much easier to have influence over people who see you as a means of helping them keep their jobs, or have greater ambitions. You can offer to help finance their run or offer them people who would work for them.

The politicians with power have power to vote a lobbyist's position or keep an opponent from voting against it.

Others who gain from that power are the non-profit organizations that need their funding to exist. On rare occasions these non-profit organizations are even threatened with lack of funding if they do not help in the candidate's campaign.

Who loses from this increasing power?

The average voter who just wants a fair shake in the legislative process. The consumer who wants to see the banks, the credit card companies, the utilities and the cable companies treat them fairly and honestly, and the agencies that exist to protect the consumer, do just that.

If you take a look at the politicians who have committed malfeasance in office you will invariably find that they were career politicians.

So the process that makes incumbency desirable - the ability to gain more power for your constituents - is the very process that makes term limits the smart thing - because the amassed power rarely comes back to help the constituents.

Many politicians go into politics with altruistic purposes, but the system - with their own compliance - beats and corrupts them.