S. Representatives (i.e. The "Great Compromise").
A b)
Is Congress truly representative of the American people from the perspective of demographics?
A member of the House of Representatives must be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least 7 years, and an inhabitant of the state they represent. Representatives serve for two years. Representatives are apportioned among the states according to population, so that each person in the United States will have equal representation in the House of Representatives. A Senator must be at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least 9 years, and an inhabitant of the state they represent. Senators serve six-year terms. There are two senators per state, so that each state has equal representation in the Senate.
This equal representation protects the concept of federalism, by giving small states the same voice in the Senate as large states. Congress is not truly representative of the American people from the perspective of demographics. Congressional districts have been drawn in a way that gives minorities less of a voice than whites. In addition, congressional districts are not redrawn with sufficient frequency to reflect population changes.
A a)
Explain why incumbents have an advantage over challengers in Congressional race. List and explain four (4) advantages of incumbency.
A b)
Provide and explain your views regarding whether there should be term limits for members of Congress.
Four advantages of incumbency include better campaign financing, the ability to gerrymander districts, name recognition, and pork spending. Incumbents are more likely to get party funding for their campaigns, as well as funding from PACs, so that their campaigns are much better funded than non-incumbents. Senate members can redraw...
Many people are not well educated about the candidates, and will pick a candidate based on name recognition, and the incumbent is generally going to be better-known than the challenger. Finally, incumbents have had the ability to get
money for their districts and to spread that money around in a manner that makes it seem that they can accomplish things for their district.
When one looks at the stagnation in the U.S. Congress and the way that party
politics has divided
America, it is difficult to imagine any
argument against term limits. Incumbents clearly have an advantage against challengers, and much of the American voting public is notoriously uneducated about political candidates. The fact is that many people who vote for the incumbent may be doing so without any real knowledge of an incumbent's political actions, and certainly without approval of those actions. However, the Constitution does not provide any limits to the number of terms that congresspeople may serve. To limit those terms may interfere with the carefully-constructed system of checks and balances. The reality is that if voters get sufficiently tired of the
status quo in a stagnate government; they will take steps to educate themselves and vote for non-incumbents when appropriate. Another reality is that some of the best and most effective congresspeople have been in office for years. Therefore, while it may be tempting to call for term limits to clean up Congress, that type of cleaning can be done in another manner.
