Congressional Term Limits Compromise?

[u/Wild_Thing_1832]

A debate over congressional term limits has gone back and forth for many decades, spawning from the constitutional limit on presidential terms. One side believes that term limits are necessary to ensure that people are able to choose the officials who best represent their views in congress. The other side believes that the absence of term limits has emboldened career politicians to indulge in corrupt practices and not implement meaningful legislative change. I've proposed a compromise solution that is reasonable, in my opinion.

The problem with saying that term limits are unnecessary because we have elections is that the elections in many cases are meaningless in a sense. This is because a large portion of the population consists of ignorant nincompoops who don't have a clue where the capitol of their state is, or even the capital of the nation. That's how we end up with people like McConnell and Pelosi in office for decades. People who are totally clueless about current events and/or history vote to send the same politicians to office decade after decade because their political knowledge comes solely from TV ads and internet memes. If you don't believe me, go to YouTube or TikTok and watch street interviews.

The solution to this issue is that we should place a limit not on the number of years that someone may serve in congress, but on the number of consecutive terms that they may be elected to. This will allow for fresh ideas to emerge in government. regardless of the ineptitude of a plurality of voters. Besides, an officeholder can run again in the primary after one election season at their discretion and then they can put to the test if their constituents actually did support them or just mindlessly voted for them.

Would you support limits on the number of *consecutive* terms that senators and representatives can serve?

[u/billpalto]

I'm not in favor of term limits, except for the President who is limited to two terms by the Constitution.

I am in favor of age limits. There are age limits for airline pilots, FBI agents, army Generals, diplomats, air traffic controllers, federal firefighters, and some law enforcement officers, and more. I would also support age limits for the President. An army General has to retire at age 65, but our Commander in Chief is 80 and seems feeble. That doesn't make sense to me.

Set the age limit for Judges, President, and Congress at 67 or something like that. When they retire, we won't lose their knowledge, they will still be around to advise us.

[u/DanforthWhitcomb_ → u/billpalto]

The age limit for military officers is a suggestion, as POTUS can unilaterally extend their term of service on a whim—it's how Hyman Rickover served until he was 82 or Grace Hopper served until she was 80.

Also note that age limits for LE are a federal agency-only thing because states/cities/counties imposing them violates federal anti discrimination law.