European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 20, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday october 20, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary George will limit legislative terms and unclog system Denver a i have changed my mind. Myriad forms of evidence have driven me to the conclusion that my opposition to limitations on the number of terms legislators a local state and National a can serve is mistaken. The evidence concerns such disparate matters As municipal garbage collection interest groups in Sacramento and 8,331 bounced personal checks on the House Side of the u. S. Capitol. Colorado a enactment of limits last year rebutted the assertion that limits Are merely a partisan ploy by republicans who Are unable to beat democrats in fair fights. Colorado a senators and six members of Congress Are evenly divided Between the parties and its legislature has Republican majorities in both Chambers. Also in Washington state Liberal democrats Are prominent in the drive to enact limits More stringent than Colorado a retroactive limits. If constitutional by 1994 they would retire All of Washington a eight congressmen including speaker Tom Foley. Furthermore 70 percent of americans favor limits. Of course an even higher percentage of legislators oppose them a even though the president and a majority of governors live with limits. True Many great careers Are Long and Long legislative careers would become impossible. However More Talent is excluded from Public service by clogging the system with immovable incumbents a and by the atrophy of the talents of incumbents once interested in things other than Job Security a than would be lost by term limits. It is said that interest groups will have magnified influence if a a rookies replace a experienced professionals in Legislatures. But then Why in 1990, did so Many California interest groups fight so fiercely against the term limits passed by initiative because those interests have the incumbents of both parties who get the Lions share of Campaign contributions wired. The interests panic at the thought of any disruption of the relationship of Mutual aggrandizement that exists Between career lobbyists and the permanent government. When a City like Philadelphia near bankruptcy is unwilling to save Many millions of dollars by privatizing garbage collection the inescapable conclusion is that Public interest is being sacrificed to the convenience of elected City officials protecting their Long term relationship with the municipal employee unions. Term limits would break the nexus based on Long careers in electoral offices. A Mark Petruccy of the University of California Irvine argues that the professionalization of politics is incompatible with the Core values of representative government. Professionalization entails a relationship Between a a experts and a clients a roles that disconnect and distance professionals from what James Madison next oof of the Chute folks is bi61&m Fol Yow rubber Check called a the communion of interests and sympathy of sentiments that should exist in a Republic Between the elected and the governed. Increasingly Congress creates problems its members then Rush Forth to  Congress creates programs which entail bureaucracies then members act As ombudsmen intervening on behalf of grateful constituents. Today so permanent government justifies its permanency by its complexity Only a experienced professionals can navigate within it. The complexity supports ancillary professions a layering and lobbying. Lawyers and lobbyists guide Mere citizens those pathetic novices through the labyrinth of the Leviathan the a experienced professionals have erected. Members of the House of representatives were putting their excessive pay in their amazingly Friendly private Bank a the members Bank that had not penalized their rubber checks. They bounced so Many because they do not think like they do not think they Are like other americans and they disdain the rules and Laws governing other americans. Besides their private behaviour mimics their proves Uil behaviour. These a experienced professionals sum govern by writing trillions of dollars Worth of government checks against insufficient funds. It is called deficit spending. To govern is to choose. A Legislatures primary duty is to budget. Careerism has rendered the professional political class unwilling to make hard choices a the Only important kind. There Are Many questions about term limits. How Many terms Are appropriate can states constitutionally limit the terms of their congressional delegations if not How can the political class be brought to Heel Are term limits Quot undemocratic if so so what Why did the founders not establish limits what will be the sociology of Legislatures when service in them cannot be a career Only a leave of absence from real life what kind of person at what Point in life will run Washington Post writers group David Brode curbing legislators service is shortsighted the term limits bandwagon is rolling. The California supreme court has upheld the constitutionality of the curbs on legislative service approved in a voter referendum last november. Washington state voters apparently Are poised next month to slap even More stringent limits on All their Federal and state officials. Closer to Home eminent pundit George f. Will has publicly proclaimed a change of heart and is paddling furiously in newspaper columns to commentaries and a forthcoming Book to get out in front of this wave of anti politician anger. It is a tidal wave. One Dike burst when six of the seven California supreme court justices ruled that the initiative barring anyone with eight years service in Sacramento from Ever returning is a Quot reasonable Protection against an Quot entrenched dynastic a legislature. Another Barrier will Likely fall in Washington state on nov. 5. Polls show a big majority of voters favouring term limits initiative 553. Unlike the three states that passed term limits last year Washington would count past service against the limit. That would bar popular democratic gov. Booth Gardner from seeking a third term next year and Force the retirement in 1994 of speaker of the House Thomas s. Foley also a Democrat and every other member of Washington a influential congressional delegation. Foley says that state limits on Federal tenure Are a Flat out unconstitutional a but that question has yet to be litigated. Will the author of men at work a Book celebrating the skills of professional baseball has concluded that in the presumably simpler game of government we suffer from a surplus of a experienced  were there fewer people thinking about re election will says government would spend less. Deficits would disappear. That would be wonderful a if it were True. But As will himself has persistently and correctly argued much of the blame for the runaway deficits of the �?T80s attaches to Ronald Reagan a term limited chief executive whose budget proposals added trillions to the National debt. No one knows whether term limits would induce tighter budgets a or what else they might do except change the cast of characters in government. 1 suspect that a rapid turnover in Congress and the Legislatures would shift Power to the executive Branch of National and state governments and to unelected bureaucrats and legislative staff members. Inside Congress i believe term limits would Likely weaken the influence and Protection Small states gain through seniority. Washington state would obviously lose clout if Foley were forced to retire. That example is not unique. Wisconsin democratic rep. David obey argues that if term limits were applied a few big state delegations would divvy up the leadership slots and a states like mine would never see a committee chairmanship  that is plausible a but it May be wrong. All this suggests that the unintended consequences of term limits need much More examination than they have received in the current climate of anti politician Fervour. Conservatives of All people should be cautious about promoting such fundamental change without looking at the consequences. But two things Are Clear. One inevitable result of term limits will be to Cut Short the careers of talented elected Olti vials who retain the Confidence of their constituents and have years of capable service still to give. No serious advocate a including George will a denies that Stark fact. Another consequence has not been seriously weighed in the debate a the effect on citizenship. The Republican form of government rests on a compact Between citizens and their chosen leaders. Those officials owe the Public a defense of their stewardship if they wish to remain in office. But citizens have a reciprocal duty to hold them to account. The founders believed that elections were the proper device for the discharge of these Mutual responsibilities. But by introducing an alternative effortless and indiscriminate Way of changing office. Holders term limits not Only kill an incentive for officials to serve Well. They also Tell citizens they can have the benefits of democracy without any exercise of vigilance Over their elected officials. Term limits Promise an e Fibril Ess Republic a democracy without Active citizenship. That Promise is false. Let me offer an analogy George will should understand term limits Are like telling the Home plate Umpire he need no longer Call balls and strikes a he Only has to count the pitches and when the total reaches 20, the inning is Over. Its a was to wreck the game. Lug i  tar a a a i bup