Term Limits Quotes

I think we want to see new voices and new ideas emerge - that's part of the reason why term limits are a really useful thing.

As a lobbyist, I was completely against term limits, and I know a lot of people are against term limits, and I was one of the leaders, because why? As a lobbyist, once you buy a congressional office, you don't have to re-buy that office in six years, right?

I didn't want to make it a lifetime thing. I don't believe in statutory term limits, but people can limit themselves if they want to, and that's what I decided to do.

What makes this mentality dangerous is that when the team is held together by careerism and mindless partisanship, individual members are punished for thinking for themselves.

Term limits would make Congress bolder, more independent, and less risk-averse.

Few things infuse a member of Congress with more courage than self-imposed term limits or an imminent retirement. The issues they choose to focus on in their final months say a great deal about what are really the most important issues in the country.

Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.

It's a lot easier to see, at least in some cases, what the long-term limits of the possible will be, because they depend on natural law. But it's much harder to see just what path we will follow in heading toward those limits.

The voting records of virtually every member of Congress reveal that the oath of office is more a ceremonial gesture than a sacred commitment.

Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.

I would like to believe I would not have behaved differently had I not made a term limits pledge, but my own frailties and human desire for prestige and position tell me my term limits pledge did make a difference in how I approached my job in Congress.

The founding fathers never once rationalized getting in power and having control so they could stay in power.

The Governor would serve a five-year term and be ineligible for reelection.

Term limits aren't enough. We need jail.

The permanent institutional expertise class is now no longer the legislators, it's the lobbyists who don't have term limits and are there forever.

Careerism: the self-centered philosophy of governing to win the next election above all else.

The security intended to the general liberty consists in the frequent election and in the rotation of the members of Congress.

You know, you look at term limits, you poll term limits, 70, 80 percent of Republicans or Democrats are for it.

I leave to others the sublime delights of riding in the storm, better pleased with sound sleep & a warmer berth below it encircled, with the society of neighbors, friends & fellow laborers of the earth rather than with spies & sycophants ... I have no ambition to govern men. It is a painful and thankless office.

"I've become a huge fan of term limits," the former aide said, "because Armey and the others in leadership used to be just like you and your crew in their approach to spending. They have changed over the years."

Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of public characters.

During the CPAC conference, Rand Paul told the crowd it was time for a new president and that people need to help make the change. Of course, most people agreed with him, since that's how term limits work.

Statesmen exhibit five key commitments: 1) A commitment to principles above politics; 2) An ability to compromise without abandoning principle; 3) A commitment to truth over spin; 4) A commitment to courage over cowardice; and 5) A commitment, or willingness, to give up power.

If many have their turns to rule, ... this will encourage all men to advance Righteousness and that the Commonwealth will hereby be furnished with able and experienced men, fit to govern.

When I came to Washington, I was troubled to observe so many similarities between the behaviors of drug-addicted patients and my political colleagues. In Washington power is like morphine.

After a time, civil servants tend to become no longer servants and no longer civil.

Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.

The traits in career politicians the public detests most are produced when ego triumphs over principle.

The career politicians in Washington had transformed a government "for the people" into a government for themselves and for special interests.

Career politicians do not have the courage to prioritize spending and say no to demanding special interest groups who do not reflect the best interests of the country.

[I support] term limits for career politicians and the death penalty for career politicians.

No person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in any term of six.

I can see both sides of term limits, and I think, in different positions, term limits make more sense than in some others.

Recently the country has seen too much of our legislators, seeing them as a gaggle of check-kiting, judge-smearing deadbeats who don't pay their restaurant bills but raise their pay in the middle of the night. Many Americans-this columnist included-hitherto said tax increases are justified by the budget deficit now say: Give that mob more money? Never. Not a nickel of new taxes until term limits change the political culture on Capital Hill.

I've declined every congressional benefit I could decline, federal health insurance, the retirement program, the 403(b) program, which I think is overly generous. I've got self-imposed term limits of six terms if I have the privilege to serve that long.

If congress refuses to obey its own rules. If congress refuses to pass a balanced budget. If congress refuses to read the Bills. Then I say, sweep the place clean, limit their terms, and send them HOME!

There are no term limits on His reign. He has always been King and He always will be King. There is no death that threatens the perpetuity of His sovereign authority. There is no usurping of power by a lesser rival to His throne. There are no coups, no revolutions (at least, none that succeed). There is no threat of impeachment. He is a King who rules eternally.

I believe in term limits for presidents because I think that there is no doubt I'm a better president now than I was when I start. I would argue that I am the best president I've ever been over the last year or two. My team is more effective than it's ever been.But what is also true is that number one, this is grueling.

I am for making of terms annual, and for sending an entire new set every year.

Where annual elections end, there slavery begins ... Humility, patience, and moderation, without which every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey.

Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.

It is tempting to believe that social evils arise from the activities of evil men and that if only good men (like ourselves, naturally) wielded power, all would be well. That view requires only emotion and self-praise - easy to come by and satisfying as well. To understand why it is that 'good' men in positions of power will produce evil, while the ordinary man without power but able to engage in voluntary cooperation with his neighbors will produce good, requires analysis and thought, subordinating emotions to the rational.

A constitutional amendment for congressional term limits could never achieve the blessing of Congress; it could be initiated only by the states.

I think we have a Tea Party mandate, and that Tea Party mandate is for good-government type of things, things like term limits, things like a balanced budget amendment, things like read the bills for goodness sakes, things like that maybe Congress should only pass legislation that they apply to themselves as well.

Under my contract with the American voter, we are proposing a series of ethics reforms on day one to end government corruption. They include a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.

Watching the debate this afternoon it was apparent they loved term limits in the House - as Brutus loved Caesar.

You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal. ... Government contains impure ingredients - as anybody who's looked at Congress can tell you. ... government practices deceptive advertising. And the merest glance at the federal budget is enough to convict the government of perjury, extortion, and fraud. ... in a nutshell: government should be against the law. Term limits aren't enough. We need jail.

It is easy to see how after receiving this adoration for a term or two most members become convinced they are indispensable.

I apprehend... that the total abandonment of the principle of rotation in the offices of President and Senator will end in abuse.

Those who have been intoxicated with power... can never willingly abandon it.