Arkansas GOP not so enamored of term limits now that they are in power; trend?

[Snowboarder_Bo]

When I was younger, I thought term limits sounded like a good idea, except that I also thought people should be represented by whomever they wanted: if people wanted the same bloviating gasbag or effectual crusader or whatever to speak for them for 100 years, why shouldn’t they get what they wanted? That’s part of what representational democracy is about, isn’t it?

Arkansas, like a lot of other states, didn’t see it that way and installed term limits.[

More than two decades ago, Arkansas was among the first states to embrace the term limits movement by restricting how long lawmakers could serve in its Legislature. No one championed the movement more loudly than the state’s Republicans, who saw it as a way to loosen the Democratic Party’s generations-old grip on Arkansas’ elected offices.

But now that Republicans have turned the state red, things have gotten complicated. GOP leaders have decided that legislators should be able to stay longer after all.

](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4ba02f73735746b997c6a479167c5902/arkansas-gop-having-embraced-term-limits-now-conflicted)
Term limits are a bad idea for lots of reasons, not just the one I mentioned above; here’s another:[

[House Speaker Jerry] Gillam, a five-year House member who would have been booted next year without the extension, said he has learned the value of experience in getting meaningful legislation done.

](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4ba02f73735746b997c6a479167c5902/arkansas-gop-having-embraced-term-limits-now-conflicted)Surprise, surprise! Politicking requires connections, the ability to make and broker deals, etc. If no one politician has anything to gain or lose by their actions, it seems unlikely that much can get done.

But there’s another likely reason that the GOP leadership would like to see the end of term limits:[

Republicans now control 88 of the 135 seats in the House and Senate.

Philip Blumel, the president of the U.S. Term Limits organization in Washington, said the fight boils down more to between those in power and those who aren’t.

Those Republicans once led the charge for term limits, “once they’re in power they find the prospect of competitive elections a lot less attractive,” he said.

](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4ba02f73735746b997c6a479167c5902/arkansas-gop-having-embraced-term-limits-now-conflicted)Term limits were never, IMO, about increasing participation in government; they were about limiting participation by people that the pro-term limit movement didn’t like.

Gerrymandering is another example, IMO, of actions taken not to provide better government, but to ensure that government only happens at the direction of like-minded people.

Standing on principles doesn’t mean much to some people if it means having to sit down occasionally too, apparently.

[WF_Tomba]

I vaguely remember hearing of some poli-sci research that claimed that less experienced legislators are more easily manipulated by lobbyists and entrenched interest groups. Therefore term limits might increase the power of these groups.

[AlsoNamedBort]

They should make it like the Congress rule for raising salary. If you want to change term limits, in only applies to the person who gets elected after you. Want to put in term limits to get rid of the other party? Fine, but if they keep getting reelected they stay. Want to abolish term limits now that you’re in power? Fine, but you’re still getting booted out.