|
|
Government Reform: Terms Limits Redux - the Old Religion Lives
February 26, 2003
The Moose has little patience for reforms that truly do not reform government. One such example is term limits. The ides is that limiting the term of politicians keeps them from accumulating two much power. That makes sense on the surface, but the idea falls apart with a little examination.
In the past, Republicans were the most prominent supports of terms limits, especially when the GOP remained the minority in the Congress. It was believed that terms limits would give the GOP more open seats to contest and aid the Republican effort to regain control of Congress. Reality, however, didn't bear that out. The real reason the Democrats maintained their control of the Congress during the Republican 1980s is because they won 57% of all open Congressional races during that decade.
Without term limits, the GOP won control of the Congress by smashing the Democratic majority behind the leadership of Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America. The old term limits religion had clearly been refuted and shown to be practically obsolete for those who supported it only as a means to a GOP majority. The Republican congressional majority has been maintained by winning open seats more often than the Democrats and also the help of some good old-fashioned gerrymandering.
But the old term limits religion never dies. The Moose read with great interest and fascination the latest term limits screed in Rational Review by Stacie Rumenap, executive director of US Term Limits. Ms. Rumenap sums up the thesis of the term limits religion according, "Most establishmentarian-type politicians bitterly oppose term limits. That's because term limits curb the power of career politicians and open the door to a less power-hungry breed of representative."
While that may be convincing for some, it fails to hold up under any scrutiny. The Moose laments the trend in local government, the "professionalization" of local government that has transferred much real power OUT of the hands of elected officials and INTO the hands of appointed, unelected, and unaccountable "professional" managerial staff. Term limits are yet one more idea proposed by the "let's run government like a business" pseudo-reformers. Government is government and business is business and they are very different for good reasons. Terms limits in reality does decrease the power of politicians but transfers that power to the Congressional staff. When the average congressional staffer is on Capitol Hill longer than the elected member of Congress, Real Power transfers to the unelected fraternity of Career Congressional Staffers, who stay on to work for the next term-limited member of Congress.
This is not reform at all. When power is taken away from the elected and given to the unelected, the people lose their power to control their own government. Does the Moose have to remind anyone how popular the term limits religion remains with the K Street crowd? Think about that.
Previously from The Moose
The New Democrats Get It
The Bull Moose Archives
|
|
|
|
