The issue of term limits is returning to the public policy arena in the Texas Legislature.

I’ve long opposed mandated term limits, believing that we already have them. We call ‘em elections, correct?

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/03/08/conservatives-revive-proposal-term-limits/

But not to be dissuaded from limiting the terms of officeholders, conservatives want the issue put to a vote, maybe this year in the form of an amendment to the Texas Constitution. As the story linked to this blog notes, opponents of term limits are posing an interesting argument: Term limits don’t always guarantee fresh voices and faces in Texas government.

Gov. Rick Perry served as agriculture commissioner and lieutenant governor before becoming governor. When was that? Seems like he’s been in office forever. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was land commissioner before moving into his current office. Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson served in the state Senate preceding his current gig. Comptroller Susan Combs was agriculture commissioner. Attorney General Greg Abbott was a member of the state Supreme Court.

The point is that if we limit the terms someone can serve in an office, all he or she can do is run for another office – and probably win. Do we get new ideas? No. We get old ideas in new offices.

Legislators are about as likely to limit their own terms as members of Congress would limit theirs. Some lawmakers say they favor term limits and actually have voted for them. But to amend either the U.S. or Texas Constitution, we need a two-thirds majority of legislators to sign on. Capitol Hill hasn’t done it and I’m not sure it’ll happen in Austin, either – for precisely the same reason: Lawmakers like staying in office and are unlikely to cut their own political throats.

But a larger point is whether we should mandate a turnover if a majority of voters like the job their officeholders are doing. We demand state representatives to run for re-election every two years. Some of them – such as former state GOP Rep. Jim Landtroop of Plainview in 2012 – actually lose their re-election bid. Most of them win, but that’s the voters’ call.

Do we need mandatory term limits? No. We need an electorate that is prepared to make change on its own.