Knowing the Limits
When America’s founding fathers composed the Constitution two centuries ago, they created the legislative branch to write and enforce laws to better the nation. Since then, congressmen and American citizens debate whether or not the Legislative Branch has upheld its original job of benefitting the people. This concern developed out of a growing public perception of government corruption. In an attempt to address this concern, the possibility of enforcing term limits on congress has come into debate. Ultimately, the long-term desire is to restore confidence in and the productiveness of the legislative branch of government. If congress enforced term limits it would not purge corruptness from government, rather it would negatively …show more content…
“But as countless students of Congress have demonstrated, the linchpin of the case for term limits—the desirability and feasibility of ending legislative careerism and retuning to the citizen legislature originally conceived by the Founders—fails in every key dimension” (Mann). How does it fail? First, it fails to solve the problem of career politicians. Currently, in America, fifteen states enforce term limitations on their congressmen. By analyzing the state’s results Norman Ornstein, a political scientist for the American Enterprise Institute, observed that, “the limits amplified the corrosive effects of ambition on the legislators, who focused from day one on how to best use their limited time as a springboard to their next post” (Ornstein). Only having office for a limited amount of time, the transient desires of congressmen become their main concern. Furthermore, this short-term mindset has the potential to negatively alter the effectiveness of congress. Thomas E. Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in governance studies believes that if congress enforced term limits it would not just affect congress but America’s political system as a whole (Mann). In fact, this potential harm to the political system would show through in the current democratic electoral
When America’s founding fathers composed the Constitution two centuries ago, they created the legislative branch to write and enforce laws to better the nation. Since then, congressmen and American citizens debate whether or not the Legislative Branch has upheld its original job of benefitting the people. This concern developed out of a growing public perception of government corruption. In an attempt to address this concern, the possibility of enforcing term limits on congress has come into debate. Ultimately, the long-term desire is to restore confidence in and the productiveness of the legislative branch of government. If congress enforced term limits it would not purge corruptness from government, rather it would negatively …show more content…
“But as countless students of Congress have demonstrated, the linchpin of the case for term limits—the desirability and feasibility of ending legislative careerism and retuning to the citizen legislature originally conceived by the Founders—fails in every key dimension” (Mann). How does it fail? First, it fails to solve the problem of career politicians. Currently, in America, fifteen states enforce term limitations on their congressmen. By analyzing the state’s results Norman Ornstein, a political scientist for the American Enterprise Institute, observed that, “the limits amplified the corrosive effects of ambition on the legislators, who focused from day one on how to best use their limited time as a springboard to their next post” (Ornstein). Only having office for a limited amount of time, the transient desires of congressmen become their main concern. Furthermore, this short-term mindset has the potential to negatively alter the effectiveness of congress. Thomas E. Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in governance studies believes that if congress enforced term limits it would not just affect congress but America’s political system as a whole (Mann). In fact, this potential harm to the political system would show through in the current democratic electoral