Term limit

A term limit is a provision of a constitution, statute or bylaw which limits the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. An example would be the 22nd Amendment of the United States Constitution which says that no person can be elected President more than twice. Term limits are a particularly important issue in the United States.

Discussion

A popular rebuttal term-limit supporters give to the first argument (above) is that a) it confuses the electoral advantages of incumbency with popularity and b) insuring democratic governance is more important than popularity for the political system. As to the second argument against, term-limit supporters often respond that long terms in office do not necessarily lead to better leadership on behalf of their constituents but rather simply better knowledge of how to manipulate the system for the benefit of themselves and their campaign donors. As to the third argument, they offer the recall election as a means of removing a termed-out politician who seems unresponsive to his or her constituents.

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