Term Limits or No Term Limits? That is the question.

The benefits and liabilities of term limits should be weighed. Let me have an argument with myself and you can decide the merits of the case.

If we limit an elected official we run the risk of term limiting a devoted public servant and replacing him with a less able office holder, or worse, a crook.

If we reject the notion of term limits, the power of incumbency will allow a slug, who may be a good campaigner stay long after he has any new ideas.

With term limits we would remove from office a Ted Kennedy, a Michael Bloomberg, a Mario Coumo, a Bob Dole, or an Orin Hatch. Well, depending on your politics, you may say, "Yeah so, who cares?" If that is your stand, let me hasten to add, each of these people were competent and trustworthy. You can take issue with that point too. I don't care it's my opinion. In addition there is institutional memory that is lost when term limits are enforced.
But . . .
A Term limit has the benefit of introducing more people into the democratic process. The more opportunities there are, the more people will feel they have a chance of getting into that realm. We will almost certainly see more talent and ideas. When you create a constant need for elected talent you get it.
And . . .
Term limits will mute the power of lobbyists. Lobbyists are useful because they represent the needs of specific groups. But if they have the opportunity to build long relationships with an elected official they can distort the perspective of that official, particularly if they are supplying campaign funds.
And What if;
A person that is term limited out of office aspires to another office? I say why not. If he left his last office as a shinning star he should be able to run for another office. This would not in any way corrupt the term limit principle. In fact this progression would be desirable. The candidate would have experience and be in a fresh arena. He or she would still have to compete without the benefit of incumbency. The other corrupting force is campaign funds. Campaigns should be relatively short and publicly financed

S-o-o-o, maybe the winning combination would be to have term limits and publicly financed campaigns. Hmmmm What do you think?