The Pros And Cons Of Term Limits

Term limits are not a new concept, as it principles are grounded in the traditional republican and classical liberal models of democratic and limited government. The essence of implementing term limits was to improve the American democracy by addressing certain factors that were attributed to political careerism such as unfair competition and incumbency. With the state legislators becoming more professional, the state capitals attracted candidates who spend their entire careers in political offices. The certainty of re-election without term limits was always assured, as the incumbency carried inherent advantages that were enjoyed by office holders. There have been several disadvantages that have been linked with political careerism. These factors were found to be detrimental to the representative democracy, which forms the basis of the American democratic foundation. However, term limits have shifted the identity of representative legislature, as will be demonstrated in this paper. This discussion draws its purpose from the theme of term limits and its effects on the political and institutional frameworks within the US. In the paper,

However, as Sarbaugh-Thompson, Thompson, Elder, Strate and Elling (2004) demonstrate, there has been as significant shift in the role of lobby groups that spend more time finding resources to educate new legislators. Different interest groups have become stakeholders in candidate recruitment processes. Each year since the term limits were enacted, there has been a significant increase in the monetary contributions by these interest groups. The interaction between the legislators and the lobby groups has been limited owing to the term limits (PowerPoint). However, it has also been established that the interest groups have been the scapegoat of underperforming legislators who hope to re-capture their electoral positions before their stipulated terms