Few things have excited frustrated voters in recent times more than the idea of term limits for our elected representatives in Congress.  At first glance, it certainly seems like a good idea. After all, we limit our President to two terms in office; why not those who serve us in Congress?

First of all, we need a strong Congress that can stand up to, question and outlast presidents, government officials and lobbyists.  Within our federal government, Congress has almost infinite power to decide how much money should be spent where, to make changes to federal law and to restrain the will of the President and his subordinates in the executive branch.

However, it can be prohibitively difficult for any single member of Congress to do anything.  Congress is made up of 535 individuals, each of whom have their own agendas and conflicting ideas.  To ensure that their proposed bills become law, Congressmen must make relationships with their colleagues, bargaining with them to come to a compromise that most of them can support. 

New legislators will quickly find that there is a steep learning curve in understanding the ins and outs of efficient congressional maneuvering – that’s why, whether you agree with their politics or not, long serving members of Congress like Chuck Grassley, Chuck Schumer and John McCain are beneficial to the inner workings on Capitol Hill. They are effective at carrying out their agendas, they understand and love the game of congressional politics and their expertise in their specific areas of policy – areas they have been immersed in for years – is unmatched.

In contrast, new members of Congress take a significant amount of time to fully understand the inner machinations of our vast government; with a monstrous federal budget of $3.8 trillion, countless laws, regulations and resolutions and about three million people working within the government, it’s no wonder that Congress can be daunting for a newcomer.

Instituting term limits would keep many of these veteran legislators from continuing to serve, thus losing the institutional and procedural knowledge they have built up over their years in service. Without their more senior colleagues to lean on for such knowledge, who will the larger number of younger, less experienced congressmen turn to for such information?

While many argue that term limits will decrease the power of special interests in government, the opposite has shown to be true.  In 2010, a study by researchers at Wayne State University revealed that after term limits came into effect in Michigan, the influence of lobbyists actually increased; state legislators were relying on them more for information about topics of bills with which they were less familiar.  We want politicians who can stand up to lobbyists, not ones who look to them when they don’t know what’s going on.

Further, introducing term limits also makes our elected officials less likely to compromise.  Younger Congressmen don’t know their brethren from across the aisle as well as seasoned veterans do, resulting in less personal pull and friendships; these are the roots of bipartisan compromises and deals that our country sorely needs. 

For example, Republican President Ronald Reagan and Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill were drinking buddies and worked together to pass bipartisan solutions; these relationships are far less likely to happen when legislators will only just have befriended each other before their time in office is cut short by term limits.

Ultimately, our representatives are re-elected for a reason, and that’s because a majority of their constituents think they are the best person to represent them in our government.  Taking long-serving public servants off the ballot decreases the amount of choice that we as voters have and, if the best person for the job is the one currently serving, voters should be able to re-elect them.

While term limits can initially seem like a sure-fire solution to rid us of the lobbyist influence and incompetent legislators that plague Congress today, the result can very likely be the opposite, leading us to an even worse place than we are now.  States like Idaho and Utah have recognized this, doing away with their term limit statutes after instituting them. Term limits are not the solution to the problems of our government; rather, the solution is responsible citizens, who choose not to reelect bad politicians and reward good representatives with reelection.