preview

Should There Be Term Limits for Congressman and Senators?

Better Essays

Cazenovia College | Should There Be Term Limits for Congressman and Senators? | | | Brodfuehrer, Jason P | 4/12/2012 |

BACKGROUND Currently in the United States, we have a system setup where the average citizen is allowed to run for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate as long as they meet specific age and citizenship requirements. According to the United States Constitution, “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen (U.S. Archives 1). Additionally the United States Constitution states that, “No Person shall …show more content…

Also, how could we protect one aspect of the current system that we have in place so we never have all freshman Senators and Representatives in office. The danger would potentially lead to them possibly be persuaded into corruption by outside influences.
POLICY STATEMENT
The issue of limiting the number of terms that a Congressman or a Senator can seek re-election is a huge hot button issue today. It is also an issue that has a rather large conflict of interest stamp behind it. The reason for this is because our Senators and Congressman are in direct control of whether or not this issue is brought out of a committee and eligible to be sent to the States for potential ratification. There is a Constitutional way to get around the Senate and the House from bringing up this issue, but the problem is that we as a nation haven’t done it in over 200 years. What I am referring to is a state’s ability to call a Constitutional Convention to propose and ratify an Amendment.
During a Constitutional Convention, special delegates from each state would gather in each state’s respective capital and would vote to decide whether or not they would want to ratify the proposed Amendment. While these conventions are in session, a major problem that might occur could

Get Access