Any Californian can tell you what happened after we imposed term limits on the legislature. The swamp, the lobbyists, the staffers all those who survived across term limits became the power base.
We cannot allow this to happen to congress.
where the Hell have you been?
Permanent government employees already control 95% of the government no matter who is elected. The few people who are elected have no idea what the permanent government is really up to, especially if they've only been in DC a decade or less.
What, you think your Congressman knows what some OSHA or EPA guy lets slide in return for a few hundred bucks or conversely, enforces a strict interpretation of the rules against company B after taking cash from company A to ignore the same rules?
Promise permanent government people more pay, more time off, and more benefits, and they may lower themselves to making the massive self-perpetuating bureaucracy squeeze out something quicker than usual. Barring what amounts to bribes from the people who get elected, they just roll on and select the appropriate binder full of rules to fish an excuse for their inertia out of and respond to Congressional prodding with.
We need desperately need term limits for Congress (and for the Senate and in fact probably for the judiciary too) but you have brought up an important point, which is that the administrative personnel generally remain in place since they are either appointed or hired and have no limits. This has got to be considered and some mechanism has got to be found to require turn over or to give the elected representatives more ease in firing and hiring these positions.
The administrative state is the true “Deep State,” and these are precisely the people who are causing so much trouble for Trump.
But there’s also the crying-out-for-term-limits Pelosi and other elected octogenarians who would never have gotten this far if they hadn’t had unlimited time to build up power and money to get themselves reelected, and at least Cruz’ bill is a start.
What, that doesn’t happen now?