Voters OK of Term Limits
All four of the Commentary articles in today’s (Nov. 8) paper are excellent. I wish to add a point to Tom Bethell’s “Paradox of the Common Pool.” Bethell argues that voters can quite rationally reelect their own federal and state legislators, at the same time voting to impose term limits on all.
A contributing factor that he fails to mention is the effect of seniority. Because seniority plays such a large role in legislative power, the longer a legislator remains in office the greater his ability to direct resources from the common government pool to his own jurisdiction’s benefit.
For this reason, Colorado’s vote to restrict the terms of its congressional delegation is perverse, as it ensures that Colorado’s representatives will be perennially junior to those from other states. If the limit remains, we can expect Colorado to receive a diminishing share of the common pool.
JAMES K. HAMMIT, RAND Corp., Santa Monica
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