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term limits

Day One Experience

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A woman starts a new job. She has experience in accounting, learning, getting things done; no experience in that particular job in that particular office. Within days, though, she impresses her new boss with her skill and productivity. She knows what to do and she’s doing it.

True story.

Perplexed? Shocked? Can’t happen?

If that’s your response, I’m betting that you’re not anybody who has ever had to leave one job and start another — and make yourself worth your salary in that new job.

I’m betting that you are, rather, a would-be permanent officeholder facing term limits who has just been telling a reporter how long it takes — years, right? — to get the lay of the land. Then, just as you’re figuring out the difference between a bill and a law, boom! comes your term limit. Ergo, no matter how effectively term limits foster electoral competition or thwart political corruption, they must be repealed or at least drastically diluted.

Is that your story?

If so, I suggest that you resign and make way for a more conscientious student of life and work.

Leaders find ways to get a handle on complexities, to prioritize, to delegate. To the extent that knowing about the budget, lawmaking procedures, and so on would be helpful before starting the lawmaker job, how about studying up beforehand? If the budget is confusing, how about talking to policy analysts or accountants? I could get you in touch with some good ones.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

7 replies on “Day One Experience”

All policies, including term limits, have their positive and negative aspects. Regardless of some negatives, it would appear that the most positive aspect of them is to prevent the establishment and continuation of a governmental class.

Eloquently simple, Paul. It should be just that easy! Why can’t elected officials get it. If took years to do a job; I’d be out of one.

Term Limits would help. But one-term term limits is needed to Stop Career Politicians. Incumbents should not be able to run for office! They are the the ones who have warped the election laws to HEAVILY favor incumbents.

Contra JFB, it is not true that “all policies…have their positive and negative aspects.” What would be the “negative aspects” of a policy of protecting individual rights and freedom? Certain these can be mis-defined or inadequately defended. But is there a “down side” to being free as such as opposed to enslaved? Of course it is true that freedom has its critics, who claim “negative aspects” to a policy of leaving innocent people alone. Those criticisms are not valid, however.

Term limits as a policy has no “negative aspects” except insofar as term limits are too lax (one locale just passed 20-year “term limits”). Is a bad thing when an officeholder you regard at good at his job must leave it because of term limits? If he is a man of sound character and principle, he’ll be the first to tell you that he is happy to obey the principle of term limits. That’s because he’s not a power luster, he knows what the term limits are for, and he knows that the job he’s being termed out of is not the last job in the world.

The sad fact is that term limits would greatly empower the underlings. Even if all of the Congress Critters are replaced with new, eager and “right-thinking” individuals they will inevitably hire the experienced, jaded staffers of the former members who will influence the attitudes and temper the zeal of the newbies because most of the changes will be too revolutionary for those who “know how things are done”. (Not get done, just are done.)

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