Congressional term limits: good or bad idea

[GhostofSparta]

Could a state, Maryland for example, pass a law that states an official running for congress cannot appear on the state ballot X number times?

http://congressionalresearch.com/96-152/document.php?study=Term+Limits+for+Members+of+Congress+State+Activity

In 1990, term-limit advocates began their campaign to limit congressional terms by

changing state laws, amending state constitutions, and passing state ballot initiatives,

rather than by amending the U.S. Constitution. Their strategy was to circumvent the

more difficult and time consuming amendment process at the federal level and go directly

to the voters and legislatures of each state. By mid-1995, voters or legislatures in 23

states had approved congressional term limits. In 1995, however, the U.S. Supreme

Court ruled that state-imposed limits on congressional tenure violate the Constitution and

that term limits can only be set through passage and ratification of an amendment to the

U.S. Constitution. Since then, term-limit supporters have been pressing Congress to

propose a constitutional amendment, encouraging state legislatures to pass resolutions

calling on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment, and campaigning to elect

more candidates who support congressional term limits. In particular, some term-limit

advocates are also working to elect more candidates who pledge to limit themselves to

three House terms and two Senate terms.

And I have a pretty good guess about what the ratio of Stanley Nickels to Schrute Bucks is, too.

Same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.

[techboy]

I know that, in theory, a proposition system could get in the way of a nice political coalition in which all state legislators turn into saints.

So why make things worse? I exaggerated a bit, sure, but tying the hands of legislators is a real problem.

---------- Post added July-13th-2011 at 08:40 PM ----------

In particular, some term-limit

advocates are also working to elect more candidates who pledge to limit themselves to

three House terms and two Senate terms.

They tried this in 1994. Almost every one of them, to a man (woman), suddenly found a reason why they should stay on past their pledge. I think like one representative actually stuck to it.

[Hubbs]

So why make things worse? I exaggerated a bit, sure, but tying the hands of legislators is a real problem.

You're making a whole lot of assumptions to conclude that things are "worse." Those are the assumptions I'm trying to challenge. It kind of defeats the purpose to tell me that tying the hands of legislators is a problem when the entire premise behind my posts is that I don't think that's necessarily true.