Currently, members of the Illinois Senate and House of Representatives are allowed an unlimited number of terms. Both the House and Senate have Democratic majorities, and the Republicans are striving to add more conservative members. Maybe it would do everyone much more good just to put term limits on all the seats.
Republican voters may want to put more conservatives into the General Assembly, and term limits would aid the voters in doing so — but it would work with either party. Say a Democratic senator’s term is coming to an end in 2016. Democratic voters will have to nominate a new candidate, and Republican voters will nominate their own, too. The Republican candidate won’t be considered a challenger because the Democratic candidate is not an incumbent. This levels the playing field for both parties and puts control in the voters’ hands.
It’s pretty much the same procedure for the presidency. Why not apply it to other offices, too?
Term limits could be the next step in creating a competitive, equal playing field for both parties as well as the next step in removing the bad politicians from office.
— Sheridan McGuire, Mundelein
