3 ms·

My main concern without term limits is when an elected official moves from being popular and effective at their job to being effective at getting reelected. Tho

My main concern without term limits is when an elected official moves from being popular and effective at their job to being effective at getting reelected. Those are very different skills, with the latter risking politicians that are only reelected because of the power, favors, and connections they have collected. Term limits definitely aren't a magic fix, I just see the tradeoffs as worth it relative to my personal concerns.

Goronmon 3y ago
My main concern without term limits is when an elected official moves from being popular and effective at their job to being effective at getting reelected. How does forcing new candidates every number of years ensure that elected officials will be "popular and effective at their job"?
- flagrant_taco 3y ago
  It doesn't. You aren't the only one here that raised similar question, I should have clarified that in my original post. I don't actually like governments creating regulations and drawing lines in the sand. As many have raised with term limits, it isn't a perfect answer and at best bandaids the real problem rather than fixing it. I'd argue that's the case with any regulation emposed on large populations, there are just too many complexities at that scale to draw a clean line. With term limits specifically, I see it as an unfortunate but possibly necessary tradeoff that may at least give us a chance to start fixing the real problem. We both need more time to find the right answer, and we need to remove those who collected so much power and control from the same system that needs to be fixed in the first place.
  - Goronmon 3y ago
    Term limits would also remove anyone with any potential to collect enough power to change the system. And there is nothing that prevents the replacements from abusing the power and control afforded to them in similar or worse ways. They'll be kicked out regardless of what they do, so why care about the long term?
    - flagrant_taco 3y ago
      Effectiveness of term limits would depend a good deal on how the power and control is gained in the first place. I'm of the opinion that much of it is from personal connections, favors, and dirt that can be used as leverage. None of that would easily transfer to the next official. If power is largely collected by the office itself, or the party behind the talking head, then I agree replacing them more often may not help much.

Goronmon 3y ago

My main concern without term limits is when an elected official moves from being popular and effective at their job to being effective at getting reelected. How does forcing new candidates every number of years ensure that elected officials will be "popular and effective at their job"?

flagrant_taco 3y ago
It doesn't. You aren't the only one here that raised similar question, I should have clarified that in my original post. I don't actually like governments creating regulations and drawing lines in the sand. As many have raised with term limits, it isn't a perfect answer and at best bandaids the real problem rather than fixing it. I'd argue that's the case with any regulation emposed on large populations, there are just too many complexities at that scale to draw a clean line. With term limits specifically, I see it as an unfortunate but possibly necessary tradeoff that may at least give us a chance to start fixing the real problem. We both need more time to find the right answer, and we need to remove those who collected so much power and control from the same system that needs to be fixed in the first place.
- Goronmon 3y ago
  Term limits would also remove anyone with any potential to collect enough power to change the system. And there is nothing that prevents the replacements from abusing the power and control afforded to them in similar or worse ways. They'll be kicked out regardless of what they do, so why care about the long term?
  - flagrant_taco 3y ago
    Effectiveness of term limits would depend a good deal on how the power and control is gained in the first place. I'm of the opinion that much of it is from personal connections, favors, and dirt that can be used as leverage. None of that would easily transfer to the next official. If power is largely collected by the office itself, or the party behind the talking head, then I agree replacing them more often may not help much.