If we are going to pass laws that affect people's lives, we have to expect people to come in and tell us what effect that is going to have. But interest groups have a carrot and stick for every member of Congress. The carrot is financing them. The stick is working against their reelection. Those are powerful motivations for more and more spending.
Term limits is no panacea.
This constitutional amendment process in and of itself certainly is not a panacea. But what it will do is give us a chance to deal with these problems, to ameliorate the cult of spending that we have all fallen into in this town. In the first place, it will open positions. People will know that certain positions will open from time to time, and if they ever want to serve their country a little bit and come up here and look after the interests of their children and do the right thing, they do not have to go up against some well-entrenched incumbent who has all the money he can possibly use because that is where the money flows. They can say, yes, I have done something with my life already.