Politicians live in dread of their own constituents approving term limits.
Imagine this scenario: Texas, California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Ohio all approve term limits. The other states do not. The chairs of committees are awarded on the basis of seniority within the ranks of the party which has the majority in either house. Suddenly, you have a situation in which the most populous states assure, with term limits, that their Representatives and Senators never accrue sufficient seniority to either chair the most influential committees, and likely not to even sit on those committees. Instead, delegations of the smaller states (in terms of population) would accrue a growing disparity of seniority, assuring that, which ever party were in control, the delegations of the smaller states would control all the powerful committee appointments.
Actually, in the same spirit as the electoral college, this might not be a bad hedge against majoritarian tyranny. Of course, that would mean that the Congressional delegation from McWhitey's home state would become powerless--but hey, that could be a good thing, too.
joefromchicago wrote:McGentrix wrote:Well, I favor term limits, you don't. That's fine.
Spoken like someone whose arguments have run out before his biases have.
McGentrix wrote:Do you favor the terms limits within the executive branch?
No, certainly not. This nation should be living under the constant cloud of dread that George W. Bush will announce his candidacy for a third term.
No, spoken like someone that recognizes the pointless continuation of the discussion with you.
How do you justify the need for term limits for the presidency, but not for legislators?
McGentrix wrote:No, spoken like someone that recognizes the pointless continuation of the discussion with you.
Then why do you continue to attempt to engage me in a discussion?
McGentrix wrote:How do you justify the need for term limits for the presidency, but not for legislators?
You asked me if I "favored term limits within the executive branch" and I replied "No, certainly not." Exactly what part of "no, certainly not" were you having trouble with?
I must apologize. I misread your response.
