Congressional candidate Tommy Barnes, Senate candidates Jared Hudson and Seth Burton, and Alabama secretary of state candidate Caroleene Dobson have all stated they will work to institute term limits. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) even co-sponsored a bill with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) to institute nationwide term limits.
The issue of term limits is a popular campaign platform that captures voters’ ears. As I have mentioned before, there’s an anti-incumbent fervor sweeping the state and the nation, so if you promise you’ll limit yourself to two terms, it gets people hopeful that they are supporting someone or something different.
As businessman Gerrick Wilkins wrote in an 1819 News op-ed:
Alabama, where trust in government has recently been breached, should lead this reform. Incumbent politicians like U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover), who pledged a 10-year limit but now seeks to extend his tenure, exemplify why this change is essential. By embracing term limits, we can ensure our representatives remain true servants of the people, not careerists entrenched in the Washington bubble.
This is all well and good, but as a 50-year political watcher and a journalist for 15, color me cynical. Term limits are not all they are made out to be. I would even say they are a canard that bamboozles voters into complacency which keeps them uninformed and unengaged.
One of the benefits of Alabama is that our candidates and incumbents make themselves accessible: especially around election season. Sadly, in covering these candidates and races, what I have seen is that they are preaching to the choir – to those who stay informed and engaged. The everyday citizens who should avail themselves of an opportunity to see and question their candidates do not bother showing up. This is why we get entrenched governance. Voters either support the placeholder because they hold it, or don’t vote at all because they’re not informed enough to express their dissatisfaction.
I do not see voting for term limits in Alabama as a way to end the entrenched politician problem; indeed, it will only become more pronounced. History is showing that term limits produce the exact opposite of their intent and are even being used effectively to turn the voting population of the state in a particular direction.
Over the years, I’ve tracked the progression of a red state – which adopted term limits – slowly trending purple, then quickly turning blue. How do I know? Because I lived it in California for 35 years.
California enacted term limits in 1990, two years after I moved to the state. California used to trend reliably red, especially on the national stage. When term limits went into effect, now limiting the State Assembly to six terms and the Senate to three terms, the musical chairs began.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is one example of these musical chairs being used to amass political power. His political career began in 1996, when the San Francisco mayor appointed Newsom to a local commission. Newsom then moved to a regional supervisor seat (like our county commissioners), before becoming mayor of San Francisco in 2004, where he quickly bucked state law and made a show of conducting same-sex marriage ceremonies. This was a decade before the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal. Newsom became lieutenant governor in 2010, served two terms, and then became governor in 2018. The nation has watched what he has done not only to destroy California, but to keep it reliably progressive. Now he plans to become U.S. president.
So when I say musical chairs, Newsom is a glaring example of what too often occurs. Term limits do not rid us of career politicians. Worse, if they’re terrible politicians, term limits all but ensure we don’t get rid of them. Instead, they may fail forward and infect more than just the state.
In any state, if the elected officials have their party’s and donor classes’ blessing, term limits just allow them to move into another “local” role: city council, mayor, commission, etc. Even worse, they become lobbyists, haunting the legislative halls on behalf of special interests.
These people NEVER leave politics. They never go back to their normal lives because they like their political lives more and it best serves their goal of amassing power. What this doesn’t serve is citizen governance.
U.S. Term Limits, the site that advocates for nationwide term limits and tracks their progress across the nation, lists 16 states whose state legislators are restricted by term limits. At least five of these are purported red states. The rest are purple or deep blue. And many are moving toward the progressive category; I believe you can thank term limits for that.
Arizona is an example of a formerly rock-ribbed red state which adopted term limits in 1992 and has seen a battle over the direction of their elected bodies. In 2022, the state elected their first Democrat governor in 15 years. Most of the nation watched what happened in 2020, as well as the battles for the State’s senate races and governorship. As my conservative friends from Arizona tell it, the change since term limits has not been for the good.
I could go on, but you get the gist. In observing many states, I’ve found that, among the ones listed above, they are all fighting battles over who dominates and controls the people, crowding out the actual will of those same people. I believe this is because of term limits.
So, be careful what you wish for … and what you vote for.
Jennifer Oliver O'Connell, As the Girl Turns, is an investigative journalist, author, opinion analyst, and contributor to 1819 News, Redstate, and other publications. Jennifer writes on Politics and Pop Culture, with occasional detours into Reinvention, Yoga, and Food. You can read more about Jennifer's world at her As the Girl Turns website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Telegram.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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