Elections
Term Limits: Maintaining the Good ol’ Boy Network
Term limits don’t disrupt these networks; they strengthen them
Ted Cruz is making his third push to pass a constitutional amendment placing term limits on Congress. Supposedly, term limits will cut down on well-connected, D.C. insiders in Washington.
The problem with congressional term limits isn’t just about what happens after you leave Congress; it’s also about what happens before you even enter politics. The majority of lawmakers in Congress are millionaires, hold advanced degrees, and are considerably less diverse than the places they are elected to represent.
The 117th Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse in the country’s history. Most importantly, we got here without term limits. It is fair to ask if we would have gotten here quicker if we had term limits to push the old, white dudes (OWDs) out. However, research studying the impact of term limits at the state level suggest that the answer to that questions is “no.”
If we can learn anything from OWDs, it’s that they will always put up a fight. I believe that term limits prolong that fight and helps to consolidate power in the good ol’ boy network.
Take my senator, Josh Hawley, for example (please, take him). Before Hawley became a candidate on Missouri’s general ticket he had to win the primary. To win the primary, Hawley had pre-existing connections to the GOP, he was flown to D.C. to audition for D.C. Republicans, and then he had to win over big donors in what the donors called “an interview” process.
Though Hawley ran as a D.C. outsider, the reality is that Hawley was already signed, sealed, and approved by D.C. politicians, and D.C. funding well before he started receiving the key endorsements, PAC support, and big contributions.
Term limits don’t disrupt these networks; they strengthen them.
On the state level, term limits increase the power of political parties to recruit and promote candidates. Candidates’ increased reliance on political party for election decreases their accountability to voters. Limiting citizen oversight in states with term limits increases political polarization and allows political extremism to rise even faster in politics; something that America so desperately needs right now.
I think we need to start viewing term limits for what they really are, an opportunity for political parties to consolidate power over the American people.
