The longest serving Congressman was John Dingell. He served from 1955 to 2015.

He

was a Michigan Democrat. He once said that the single most important vote he ever had was for

the sweeping 1964 Civil Rights Act. He also played a key role in the creation of Medicare. He

was also an early supporter of Obama’s health care act. He was truly a man who served this

country and the people who are living in it, (BBC News 2019). So why are we talking about this

man when we are discussing if members of Congress should have term limits. If there were term

limits, then quite possibly John Dingell, wouldn’t have been able to do what he did. John Dingell

is an example of someone who was in politics a long time and made it better. He is a one in a

million example. Most of the time members of Congress try and hold on to their position longer

than they should. There are many examples of members in Congress who out stayed their

welcome and it cost America. There needs to be term limits because of these three reasons; we

need new and fresh ideas, the younger generation needs to show that the country will be in good

hands, and people need to finish while they are ahead.

The first reason that there needs to be a limit on the amount of terms someone can serve

in Congress is because we need new and fresh ideas to come forth. It is often said that insanity is

doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. That is what is happening, when

Congressman can keep running for the same position. We are not allowing new and fresh ideas to

come forth. When we stop new ideas for coming forth, we are stopping the growth of America.

The world is a changing place and if America wants to stand a chance, we must change as well.

I recently read an article that said that sixty percent of the congressional staff is made up

of millennials under the age of thirty, (Shea 2018). Millennials don’t want to stand around and

do nothing, they want change. But for change to come, we must get new people into Congress. In

the race for president in the year 2016, Bernie Sanders was top contender for the younger
generation. The reason for this is because he promised change. He wanted to change America.

But as we know, he didn’t win. That is because the real people in power don’t like change. They

want to keep doing the same as we have always done, because it has worked for them. But, in an

ever-changing world doing the same thing isn’t going to work forever. “With more millennials

taking an interest in running for office, the political climate will soon change to follow their lead.

For example, more millennials are concerned with economic debt, largely because most of them

carry a large amount of student debt. Paying off that debt has largely become millennials’

priority, rather than following the traditional American Dream. As a result, many millennials now

believe the best way to enact change is to join the government and find a solution.” (Shea 2018).

The last reason that we need to have term limits in Congress, is because people need to

finish while they are ahead. When someone has been in politics a long time, often their ideas and

decisions are based on what other people want, not what’s best for America. Some people living

in Utah would say that Orrin Hatch should have gotten out of Congress a long time ago. This is

because he let the ideas of others overshadow what was important to the people of Utah.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President JFK, once said “I can see both sides of term

limits, and I think, in different positions, term limits make more sense than in some others,”

(BrainyQuote.com). Term limits is either something that you are for or against. Either you

believe that it is a positive or a negative. I believe that setting term limits is something that can

help America look different to the world. It can show that America knows how to value new and

fresh ideas, it shows that the raising generation is in control of what the future will hold, and it

shows that people know when its time to quit. Yes, I do believe, just like Caroline Kennedy said,

there is a time and place for term limits and serving in Congress is one of them.
Works Cited
“Longest-Serving US Congressman John Dingell Dies Aged 92.” BBC News, BBC, 8 Feb. 2019,
www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47167558.

Shea , Lucy. “There Are More Millennials In Government Now Than Ever Before.” [FKD], 17
Jan. 2018, www.genfkd.org/more-millennials-in-government-than-before.

“Term Limits Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/topics/term_limits.