If there are no contested elections, the voters are helpless. This is government preventing hardening of the arteries. In more than two dozen interviews, some Prince George's County residents said they were unaware that county voters had enacted a term-limit law. But many said that they do not trust their elected leaders and that they take comfort in knowing that they can serve a maximum of eight successive years. Politicians are corrupted by power.
Term limits prevents empire-building.
Politicians become lackadaisical. They start to become interested only in fundraising and getting reelected. Yet Carter's view hardly dominates. But Clinkscale said term limits might remove officials who are performing well. Others said they wanted the right to select their elected officials.