I have grown tired hearing of term limits for political office holders. The phrase "term limits" in common usage refers to fixing the number of times a person may be re-elected to a particular office.

The idea of term limits has a lot in common with many other snake-oil cures for our governmental problems. The support of term limits is illogical. A fixed tenure simply restricts the exercise of political power to a certain period of time, be it short or long.

How does a fixed tenure affect the mind of the politician? Will a vampire at dusk refrain from seeking a victim because he must retire before the sun rises? Will a Good Samaritan decide to rob a weary traveler because he will never see him again? Does anyone really believe that term limits will turn serpents into saints? Or that term limits will prevent a saint from turning into a serpent?

When a serpent is discovered in the garden, the voters must simply chop his head off with a sharp ballot. If voters could find people whose reason for seeking office was to uphold the Constitution we would not hear any calls for term limits or fair taxes or flat taxes or con-cons etc.

The serpents care not about re-election because they will be well received in their benefactors corporations or be appointed to some other office. The few saints need our help to stay in office and many others need our help to get there.