This business of limiting the number of terms that an elected official can serve, is PROFOUNDLY UNDEMOCRATIC but probably not for the reasons you think. Whether it be the debate over whether the London Mayor can serve 2 terms or not, that the actual fact that the president of America isn’t allowed to serve more than 2 terms, it makes a mockery of democracy, and here’s why:
What keeps politicians on the straight and narrow? What keeps them allegedly doing “the will of the people”? It’s simply this: the threat of being booted out at the next election. If you do things that are unpopular, you will get voted out, that’s how our western democracy works. But hold on, if you take away that sanction, for example by saying that a politician can’t stand again at the next election, you take away all the controls over that politicians behaviour. Any compunction they may have had due to the threat of losing the next election, is gone, and they can make policy with complete democratic impunity.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that politicians serving for decades is a good thing (I’m actually ambivalent about the idea) what I’m saying that artificially limiting the number of terms they can be in office is a bad thing.
