But consider, that a new Congressman, knowing he's only got one term to do it in, is just as likely to sell it for all he can get down front. Term limits just shuffle the problem from one place to another.
The Founding Fathers had it right from the start: The House members face the voters every two years, and THERE'S your term limits, right there. Keep the good ones in, turn the rascals out, how it spozed to work.
That is done as a matter of course. Don’t reward them with Tenure. A short single term makes them much less valuable and will at least reduce the corruption. It will also change the selection of candidates. More businessmen will take two years off. More normal citizens will go for it. One inducement to corruption will wither and that is the guarantee that if you play along you get to increase your income if you lose your next election by going to work as a lobbyist. The temptations will remain. That is the nature of government work of any kind, but they will be much reduced.