Term limits are a great invention

We are a country of inventors, from Thomas Edison to Willis Carrier to a couple of Steves (Jobs and Wozniak). A modest Who’s Who would take volumes. U.S. inventors have split the atom, invented jazz and pioneered flight.

The shear number of inventions is staggering. They include recombinant DNA, the laser, hearing aids, global positioning (GPS) and drones. And that thing called the Internet.

We are awash in inventions.

And one of the best is term limits.

That’s right. Restricting our politicians (call them lawmakers or statesmen if you wish) to a limited amount of time in office. Restricting the damage they can do.

President Trump, love him or hate him, will be around for only a couple more years. I have dear friends on both sides of his politics. Some see him as the devil incarnate while others think he walks on water. But for better or for worse, he’ll be gone soon.

On the other end of the political spectrum is Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s socialist candidate for mayor. He evokes terror on the right. But don’t cut your wrists. If elected, he too will eventually term out and the country will probably survive.

At the state level we have Governor DeSantis. He won’t be around for much longer either. By all measures, he’s a “lame duck.” Is that good? Maybe, maybe not. His successor could be much worse. My political friends say be careful what you wish for.

Like DeSantis, governors in 38 of the 50 states have some sort of term restrictions. So do many state legislatures. In Florida, the lawmakers are limited to eight consecutive years.

Locally there’s the Board of Collier County Commissioners, rubber-stamped by the GOP. They won’t be around forever. Commissioners Burt Saunders and Bill McDaniel are in their final terms ending in 2028.

The benefits of term limits aren’t limited to government apparatchiks. Many companies in the private sector embrace them as well, thankful for the chance to get rid of dead wood and troublemakers.

Like many out there, I sat on a few low-level boards and rejoiced when colleagues who disagreed with me termed out. (To my dismay, I also heard that more than a few fellow directors were glad to see me go, although I can’t imagine why.)

It’s been said that organizations that have term-limited boards are glad they do, and those that don’t wish they did. That’s too simplistic, of course.

A recent study of board-driven management gets into the weeds. The type of organization in question, the study concludes, dictates the type of board required and, in turn, the terms that should be imposed. Highly-qualified specialists may be needed – financial gurus or decorated scientists – to oversee high-level organizations of national importance, while celebrities, even local ones, are better suited in organizations where populist policy or fund-raising is the primary concern.

Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? And not very helpful.

History shows that, while terms date back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, term limits first took hold and were broadly applied in the 1990s. Poll after poll showed unwavering public support for them – an important check on government power.

So-called experts have applied some general guidelines. In government and elsewhere, two four-year terms are said to be enough. You get stale after eight years. Most organizations need a regular infusion of new blood and fresh thinking.

For us oldsters, there’s another factor. Mortality. My wife is always reminding me to keep things in order, bills paid, funeral arrangements made. It won’t be long, she says, before we term out.