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My own aversion to term limits comes to some extent from my distaste for procrustean measures generally. This is enhanced by knowing that the Bass family of Texas is known to put big money into the idea, and, to a lesser extent, that this is George Will’s favorite remedy for anything and everything that is wrong with politics.

The better reason is that term limits would have and will truncate some potentially sensational legislative careers. Lyndon Johnson’s, Mel Laird’s and Dave Obey’s come to mind. What would they and others like them have done post term-limited stays in Congress. Good, worthwhile things no doubt.

At a more personal level I can recall the Wisconsin attempt to put limits on sheriffs’ terms. This was easily thwarted. The sheriff was limited to two consecutive terms. When he reached that limit, his wife ran to succeed him, and then he came back for another two terms. A process that could and did go on as long as the marriage partners did.

On the other hand, I have become a better-late-than-never fan of President James Polk. He imposed term limits on his presidency when he announced during his campaign that he would serve only one term when elected in the mid-1800s. He was responsible for getting Oregon and Washington from the powerful English, and California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas from the scattershot Mexicans. So much for the disadvantage of the lame duck status that accompanies term limits.

To get back to the emerging advantages of term limits in this day and age, there are several:

1. The focus of the term limited can shift subtlety or strongly onto the job they were elected to perform instead of on keeping the job.

2. Dispassionate redistricting to increase the number of seats truly in play becomes less threatening. The paralyzing phenomenon of a permanent majority composed of invincible incumbents should gradually disappear.

3. The need for money to hold on to seats which are temporary becomes less desperate. Would politicians with a predetermined life expectancy be less likely to be for sale? One could hope.

4. Most important–particularly at the city council, county board, state legislative levels–these offices would become what the founding fathers envisioned: avocational diversions for citizens who have real jobs and real lives instead of sinecures, lifelong careers for a largely professional (mercenary?) class.

What the specter of term limits promises is more ideas, daring, and long-term thinking for those lower level legislators who are more ambitious for higher office and for the majority who will be more concerned about creating a government that works and that is devoted to improving the human condition instead of providing career jobs for them and their fellow incumbents.

The scales are tipping.

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