The
issue of term limits – be they congressional term limits or state
legislative term limits – is a movement that Mississippi voters have
consistently rejected at the ballot box despite claims from term limits
supporters waving popularity polls
that wide majorities support the concept.
My experience has been that while popularity poll respondents may like term limits, Mississippi voters do not.
Now in Mississippi, a respected, retired U.S. Army combat medic and
current physician assistant named Ron Eller is leading the advocacy for
U.S. Term Limits in our state. Eller ran as the Republican nominee
against longtime Mississippi Second District U.S.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Bolton, in the 2024 election after
unsuccessfully seeking the GOP nomination in 2022. Thompson was
re-elected in 2024 with 62% of the vote.
To be specific, U.S. Term Limits is seeking the adoption of a resolution
by the Mississippi Legislature to call a constitutional convention for
the states to propose a congressional term limits amendment. To be
successful, 34 states must pass a specific resolution
that addresses congressional term limits.
People have been trying to implement term limits on members of Congress
and in multiple state legislatures across the country for decades.
Republicans were the last to attempt it nationally during the “Contract
with America” push in the early 1990s, but the
effort failed.
The elections after the CWA push saw 23 states limit service in their
state’s congressional delegation. But in 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court
overturned congressional term limits in the landmark case U.S. Term
Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, ruling that state governments
can’t limit the terms of members of Congress. Specifically, the
majority opinion written by the late Justice John Paul Stevens argued
against “a patchwork of state qualifications” for U.S. representatives
and called that consequence inconsistent with “the
uniformity and national character that the framers sought to ensure.”
Term limits are a tired political concept whose time has come and gone
and come again. Donald Trump has been all over the place on the issue of
term limits, first opposing them, then advocating for them in the
closing days of the 2016 presidential campaign.
In 2024, he threatened to support them again.
During the Democratic primary in the 2020 presidential campaign,
California hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer’s failed fringe
presidential campaign. Steyer still poured large sums of his own money
into supporting the term limits push to no apparent avail.
State voters have consistently rejected term limits. In 1995 and again
in 1999, Mississippi voters rejected two separate term limits
initiatives, each by a margin of about 55 percent to 45 percent. Why?
Mississippi voters weren’t willing to give up their right
to return competent, familiar public servants to office, from their
local supervisor and justice court judge to their congressman and U.S.
senators. Mississippi has not enacted state legislative term limits.
The problem with Steyer’s position, and those of other Democrats who
support reforms including term limits and elimination of the electoral
college, is that those positions empower large urban states like
California to the detriment of smaller rural states
like Mississippi.
At the heart of the term limits battle is the notion that voters don’t
have enough sense to choose their legislative representation and that,
because of that perceived inability to make the right decision, we need
the political baby food of term limits to restrict
our choices.
What term limits accomplish is putting wealthy special interest groups
who can afford to bankroll campaigns for unknown candidates in charge of
choosing who our lawmakers will be.
It's clear to me that the very manner in which the term limits fight is
being waged - in which U.S. Term Limits will swamp candidates who sign
their pledge first with campaign cash - indicates everything that’s
wrong with the notion of term limits in the first
place.
Term limits guarantee that frequent turnover will place unknown
candidates before the voters who need campaign cash. Where will they get
it? By agreeing to tote the water of the single-interest and special
interest lobbyists who control that cash. Politics
becomes even more a contest of fundraising, not of innovative policy
ideas and ideals.
There’s a reliable way to limit the terms of every politician whose name
appears on the ballot. Use that high-tech thing called the vote.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
31 comments:
You can’t tell me federal term limits at 18 years is a bad idea. 3 senate terms. 9 house terms. There isn’t a single person in congress that needs to be up there longer than that.
BULLSHIT!
If the state and national legislature were made up entirely of patriots like Rand Paul and Thomas Massey then I could see the benefit. But it is instead a bunch of traitorous, corrupt sellouts to foreign nations (GOP/Israel -DNC/China) and the Globalists Central Bankers, with very little regard for the needs and concerns of the taxpaying citizens.
if they gave a shit about us then we would have zero infrasticture issues in the USA but instead they’ve sent trillions of dollars of aid to Israel and Ukraine, while Iraq and Afghanistan have better roads, bridges, and schools than Mississippi. Lets not even get started on how much we pay for in Europe and Asia.
When have voters had the opportunity to vote on this?
Place it on the ballot as a single item and lets see how it goes.
Do some research.
Term limits are the only way anything will ever change. Two house terms and one senate term is enough. No special retirement system, they are part of the Social Security system like everyone else. Without the worry of being re-elected then they will be able to make the difficult decisions that need to be made to get the nation’s finances in order. The path we are on will end in disaster. Those in Congress now know it put figure they will be long gone when disaster strikes so in the meantime they prosper leaving the vast majority to suffer from their inaction.
term limits - age limits - ballot initiative - easier way to remove corrupt politicians
Just call him Status Quo Sid.
He could have added Mississippi voters have had the opportunity to vote on term limits for state officials on two specific occasions, but it didn't take long to look that up for Sid:
1995: Mississippi voters rejected a term limits initiative by a margin of approximately 55% to 45%.
1999: Again, voters rejected a term limits initiative with a similar margin of about 55% to 45%.
Thinking about the availability of information, in the 90's compared to 2025. I think Sid is wrong on this one. People are way more informed.
Lets try adding it again in 2025 with the access to information regarding the incompetence of politicians. There has been quite the cultural shift in the last 26 years. This is not the same world it was in 1999 when the president was getting a Lewinski.
The people who bitch about politicians being in office too long are the same people who vote to re-elect them time after time. Some of the reason for this is an ignorant electorate. But it’s also a result to be expected in a two-party-only system. Americans don’t vote *for* any candidate; instead, Americans vote *against* a candidate.
Mississippi has no doubt benefited from longevity among our U.S. Representatives and Senators as they have shoveled projects and a lot of pork our way. Our voters aren't going to limit how long a person spends in Washington unless other states do the same thing.
That being said 3 Senate terms and 6 House terms are more than enough. I would be even happier if we would cut the number of Mississippi State Reps and Senators by half. A smaller number of officials in Jackson may actually allow some things to be accomplished.
Agree. Career politicians who grift until they are being rolled in wheelchairs to vote is a bigger threat. Even Mississippi has had a couple. Congress should have term limits, Senate maybe not. That would even things out. All of the problems we have in Washington now would be mostly corrected with effective House term limits.
Sorry, I agree with 8:38. It’s all about how you put it in the ballot. Kinda like the flag referendum that was doomed from the start. It was rigged that way. A reasonable term limits initiative would pass.
Sid, having spent many years feeding from the public trough in service mostly to himself, is always going to pound the table to protect the status quo.
We need term limits across the government everywhere. Biden was in Congress 40 yrs and look how that turned out. No one needs to be in politics that long.
Sid, stop licking Trump‘s boots🍊✝️💩
You have a good point. I have always heard, you vote for the less of two evils. We need a higher class of politician in MS, some people that think about other stuff besides themselves and what they can gain from being in office.
I think I am more tired of “pundits” like Sid Salter. Also, several other types of fatigue as well.
I agree on some points but Thomas Massie is an anti-semite and I assume you are too since you are so obsessed with Israel.
Seniority still matters, so term limits will not work. Must change both
The devil you know, I say, why a devil at all. Surely, with the information that is so readily available, we could select better candidates, but we are talking about fallen mankind.
As long as we have political parties we will not elect honest politicians. No one votes for the person. They all vote for the party. There is a shortage of honest people and expecting a person from a political party to be honest is not that smart. But then the common voter is not that smart either.
Sid is Mississippi's version of Bernie Sanders!!!
No one votes for the person. They all vote for the party.
.....
But then the common voter is not that smart either.
If you are the example of an enlightened voter then we have serious problems.
At a younger age I hated politicians so much that I too went through the pro-term limits phase. Term limits sound awesome but if we think members of congress are corrupt now, how corrupt would they be if we didn’t have the power to throw them out, because they’re constantly becoming lame ducks anyway due to the term limits?
As an example, the 1st and 2nd Amendments are absolutely crucial to the survival of our country, but the sad fact is most people are just too stupid - to not make emotional decisions. Less than ½ of Americans are gun owners so it takes a powerful lobby and the threat of throwing Senators and Reps out of office, to protect the 2A.
Politics is sausage making and will always be nasty. Term limits won’t change this, and would likely make it much worse.
"Only the DEAD have seen the end of WAR" - Alfred Hitchcock
Goddamn, it’s as easy as gravity. If you want somebody out of office, then just vote for the other candidate. If you don’t like the other candidate, well, too bad, so sad. Or you can vote for a third party candidate.
But noooOOOoooo, Americans now think they have to have a law do for them what they don’t have the balls to do for themselves, leaving it to the government to do it for them. That’s what you have now, friends and neighbors. How’s it working out for you?
Sid Sanders!
I want term limits for everyone except the idiot that I keep voting for every term.
Sausage makin' doesn't HAVE to be nasty. Just use better ingredients/non-awful people!
When you understand that every person you meet is flawed in someway. Every person you meet has within them the possibility of falling into temptation. It could be any number of weaknesses that they are susceptible to. A disciplined person that can control themselves is hard to find.
Don’t say “just vote them out”. Candidates are chosen behind closed doors. The state GOP decides who you will see on your ballot, not you. We can’t vote them out. Explain Cindy Hyde-Smith as a friggin US Senator. Term limits are the only hope.
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