Term Limits

When Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, it was the first time in 46 years that his Massachusetts seat was open for a new candidate to fill.

This made me think about a common debate that has lasted from the founding of our nation to today: term limits.

I believe that our Senators and House of Representatives should have term limits for multiple reasons.

1. A constant new influx of Senators and Reprsentatives would get rid of the "insider Washington" politics game that even candidates themselves complain about when they are running for office.

2. The longer a politician is in office, the more money and status they can garner over time to continually win re-elections against newer and greener opponents running against him back home, otherwise known as the incumbency problem. Term limits would resolve this problem and assure that the vote is truly representative of the constituents' choice and not which candidate had the most money and name recognition to win the election.

3. Continually having new candidates requires voters to pay more attention to the political process. Voters easily fall into the trap of voting for the same man they always have and fail to check up on his actions while in office. Therefore, term limits will help politicize the public more and keep them more involved in their own government.

While there are more important matters at hand for our government to take care of right now, I hope this topic comes to the debate floor again on the Hill.

And that's my two cents.