The US Federal Government Should Pass a Term Limit Amendment

I. ConstitutionalityI unfortunately am going to have to drop this point because of its irrelevance to this debate. I had created my round 2 argument for another debate that didn't have "constitutional amendment" in the resolution and failed to take that out here. It is irrelevant if an amendment is constitutional or not. II. Experience My opponent is committing another fallacy in claiming that term limits will solve many of the problems plaguing Congress today, that new blood will "get things moving and changed. " However, this is false. Take for example, healthcare. States without term limits have a higher healthcare reliability score than do states with term limits:"Overall, the average [Best States for your Health] ranking for the fifteen states with term limits is 31st in all three rankings. The average ranking for the 35 states without term limits is 23rd The reason term limits have such a significant effect on the health of a state’s population may be because term-limited politicians don’t have the time to come up to speed on complex health issues. "[1] So it's not like term limits help solve issues. Almost every job fits into a tiered system where people with more experience hold more responsibility and authority. But with term limits, there is no one with experience to take those positions. All the legislators are freshman so no one has any job experience. No business would boot all employees after 10 years- this just amounts to preventing the accumulation of experience. Congress shouldn’t operate like that either. "It takes most new legislators about four years to learn the intricacies of the legislative process, the social organization of the House and Senate, the details of government, broader issues, and how to balance everything with the needs of their districts and the expectations of their party,” he said. “By the time they gain this knowledge, they only have a relatively short time to utilize their knowledge before their term limit expires. In addition, the absence of experienced legislators precludes learning from more experienced peers. ”"[4]And it's also not like term limits prevent new blood from entering Congress. In 2010 alone, 54 incumbents were defeated. [2] And finally, as I said earlier, politicians will always be less responsive during their last term in a term limit system. "In a system of a fixed number of terms, a certain percentage of the Congressmen are lame ducks during their final congressional term, and the people lose their leverage to keep their Representatives on good behavior. "[3] This obviously leads to a less efficient term and Congress. Term limits do not increase effectiveness but actually decrease it through less experienced politicians and less responsive politicians. III. Power Shifting My opponent has again failed to provide any sources or evidence to support his claim. I have already shown that lobbyists will just simply adjust to the quickened timetable of finite terms in office. They are skilled enough to ensure that they maintain their influence despite the shorter term-limit. [5] Therefore, term limits do not reduce the amount of corruption and lobbying in Congress. Corporations and individuals will simply shift to the next Congressman, which will easily fall to them due to his lack of experience. And like I said earlier, term limits give more power to lobbyists. [6]In the end, term limits do not accomplish any of the goals they are set out to accomplish and have many unintended consequences such as a less-prepared legislature and greater corruption. And they are undemocratic. Clearly, there should not be a constitutional amendment providing term limits to Congressmen. Sources [1]: . http://pgionfriddo.blogspot.com...[2]: . http://en.wikipedia.org...[3]: . http://federalexpression.files.wordpress.com...[4]: . http://newsok.com...[5]: . http://www.soyouwanna.com...[6]: . http://ozarksfirst.com...;