[450] in libertarians
Re: Term Limits
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Mon Dec 5 21:37:23 1994
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
Date: Mon, 05 Dec 1994 21:35:02 EST
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU>
|> One of the issues we have talked about over the list in the
|> past is term limits. Vernon is a big fan, and I like the idea
|> myself. I should mention, however, that there was an article in
|> Sunday's NYT which pointed out that just about every political office
|> in Mexico, from president on down to mayors, is restricted to one
|> term. No re-elctions. It hasn't done much to reduce the power of the
|> polticians, they just keep moving upward.
The term limits idea is not so much about reducing the power of the
politicians as it is leveling it. It allows the voters to have more
fair representation as each district's legislator is more or less of
the same order of power as everyone else's. Yes, those who move
up will keep their contacts and some clout, but they'll be at the
bottom rung of any senority system.
It is difficult to compare other countries' experiences to our own
anyway. E.g. most other countries have more multi-party systems than
we do, and don't do that well. The fact is, that no other state's
political system is any better than our own on the whole. This
kind of comparison then will only lead to the status quo becuase
"it might get worse if we try to change it." Yet we know from
plenty of indicators that the status quo is not that great either.
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| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT OE, Rm 5-329b | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
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