Dear Editor:

It is time we place term limits on federal level legislators and unelected/unaccountable bureaucrats.

I believe many elected officials start their careers with noble intentions. However, once elected, much of their focus turns to reelection. It’s at this point that “towing the party line” takes over and “serving the constituents” takes a back seat.

Reelection is nearly impossible without the support of a candidate’s party, including ever crucial financial support. A candidate can only achieve that by agreeing to the party’s goals — regardless of how those goals affect his/her constituents.

I’ve had many politicians tell me that we already have term limits — that being our ability to remove a candidate by simply not voting for them. The edge held by incumbents is nearly impossible to overcome, much of it due to the reasons cited in the previous paragraph.

Term limits help cut the power of the party’s purse strings and, thus, the power that the party has over candidates. If candidates know their time in Congress is limited, they will be more willing to buck the party system and serve their constituents.

If term limits were needed for the presidency, then they can prove just as valuable for congressional members.

Our best avenue for achieving this goal is supporting a Convention of States (COS). For more information on this and other goals of COS, please visit https://conventionofstates.com/.

Gregory Penfold

Rock Springs