"Anti-establishment" candidates (both D and R) proposing Congressional term limits

[alp227]

CNN reports today that some Congressional candidates of this year are proposing term limits for members of Congress. Those candidates?
- Rand Paul (US Senate, R, KY): "...if elected, he can't see himself serving more than two terms."
- Bill Lynch (US House, D, RI): Lynch is running for Patrick Kennedy's seat and according to CNN "has proposed a 12-year cap in the House and Senate".
- Andy Harris (US House, R, MD): "...should he go to the U.S. House, he'll be out of there by 2023."

A political academic has called this message "political junk food".

David King, director of Harvard's program for Newly Elected Members of the U.S. Congress, said term limits do more harm than good.

"It's political junk food. It tastes good but hurts the body politic in the long run," he said.

Also, in the past incumbency victories have been fairly high, and most Congressional politicians tend to serve usually around a decade: (note: a House term runs for 2 years; a Senate term for 6.)

Re-election rates have hovered around 96 percent in the House and 85 percent in the Senate over the past 10 years, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

The average length of service for lawmakers in the current session of Congress is 5.5 terms in the House and 2.2 terms in the Senate, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Thomas Jefferson, in his Resolution for Rotation of Members of Continental Congress, advocated term limits.

To prevent every danger which might arise to American freedom by continuing too long in office the members of the Continental Congress, to preserve to that body the confidence of their friends, and to disarm the malignant imputation of their enemies: It is earnestly recommended to the several Provinces, Assemblies or Conventions of the United colonies that in their future elections of delegates to the Continental Congress one half at least of the persons chosen be such as were not of the delegation next preceeding, and the residue be of such as shall not have served in that office longer than two years. And that their deputies be chosen for one year, with power to adjourn themselves from time to time & from place to place as occasions may require, and also to fix the time & place at which their successors shall meet.

[HawkerHurricane]

1. I support term limits for Lobbyists.

We have term limits for congress, it's called 'voting the bums out'.

[ToppleTheTeaParty]

2. I see bull and something else. Calling it what it is. Brown & smelly.

These bozos say to elect them & they'll push for term limits. Suuuuure.

Another (R) that did this was down in TN, guy by the name of Zach Wamp. He complained that people went to Congress and stayed there forever. So what do you think he did?

"When he was elected to the House in 1994, Wamp pledged to serve just twelve years (six terms) in the House. However, shortly after winning reelection to a sixth term in 2004, Wamp broke his term limits pledge and announced he would run again in 2006 after all, citing his status as Tennessee's only member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. The pledge was "a mistake," he told the Associated Press in 2004.<10>

Wamp faced Brent Benedict, a computer programmer and consultant. During the campaign, Benedict made an issue of Wamp breaking his term limit pledge, saying that he would hold himself to six terms if elected.<11> Despite this, Wamp was easily reelected.

Following the loss of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the 2006 midterm elections, Wamp reflected on the defeat saying, "For the first six years of the 12 years, we were focused on policy and principles, and politics was secondary. The second six years, politics became primary: raising money, going negative, consolidating power."<12>"
Wikipedia

These scumbags don't keep their pledges. Knowing Rand Paul, (his opthamologist practice is not very hot in terms of $$$), he'll break the pledge.