Send Them Home: Life After the Convention

Just shy of 90% of American adults want term limits for members of Congress. That alone should be reason enough to call an Article V convention and enact term limits. Name one other issue in this country that enjoys so much popular support. I’ll wait.

Unsurprisingly, Congress is waiting, too—waiting to give up their power, that is. Despite having placed term limits on the president in 1951, they were not willing to curtail their own terms of office (shocker!).

Reflecting back on the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we learn that many of the signers previously wanted independence but waited until their constituents agreed before acting. Indeed, as President Calvin Coolidge expressed in his speech about the Declaration, “The Continental Congress was not only composed of great men, but it represented a great people. While its Members did not fail to exercise remarkable leadership, they were equally observant of their representative capacity. They were industrious in encouraging their constituents to instruct them to support independence. But until such instructions were given they were inclined to withhold action.”

If only we had followed that model, we would have term limits by now. Full stop. Therefore, the very fact that we don’t is yet another reason why we need them—Congress does not listen to us.

It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine how radically American politics would alter if our federal officials were term-limited. The very structure of our federal system of government would change for the better. No longer would career politicians seek to build wealth off the backs of everyday Americans over 30, 40, 50 years in the nation’s capital. Instead, they would be replaced by true public servants—the kind of leaders our Founders intended to lead the country.

“The movement to limit political terms is steamrolling through American politics,” wrote one policy expert in 1994. “Such substantial public support suggests widespread distaste for careerism in politics, as well as a conviction that continual infusion of fresh blood into the federal legislature will be good for both the Congress and the country.”

“Term limits,” he added, “are a vital political reform that would bring new perspectives to Congress, mandate frequent legislative turnover, and diminish incentives for wasteful election-related federal spending that currently flourish in a careerist congressional culture.”

Too often, we become bogged down in the painstaking process that will lead us to call the first-ever Article V convention. But by looking to the future, envisioning what life may look like after the convention, we may find inspiration for the fight. While Congress will never limit itself, Convention of States offers “We the People” the opportunity to drive the change we desire. To join us in that mission, sign the COS petition below.