Dear Readers,

In Augusta, as usual, the legislature and governor are at odds.

Members of the majority party (Democrats) claim they are in the right, and the (Republican) governor is wrong. As you might guess, when you visit the governor's office, the tune is reversed.

While we enjoy political squabbles as theater, recently, I heard Gov. Paul LePage say something that makes a lot of sense. Both sides ought to consider it.

LePage said term limits should be “thrown out the window.” Term limits are imposed by state laws limiting representatives and senators to four 2-year consecutive terms.

He claims term limits bar veteran legislators on both sides from serving. They have been replaced by young, inexperienced legislators. He says the younger legislators are hurting the state.

I think he means they were not going along with his pet programs, but that is another story.

In the 1990s, term limits were all the rage.

They were pushed by people and interest groups looking for a way to defeat state and federal elected officials who they were unable to defeat at the ballot box. In Maine, the main target of the term limit proponents was John Martin, (D-Eagle Lake) who had served as speaker of the house for nearly 20 years.

This year, term limits mean our longtime local State Rep. Bruce MacDonald, a Democrat, will not be on the ballot. He has been termed out. We will have to choose another person. Some will like it, others not so much.

Some interest groups want to take term limits a step further.

They are so mad at the Democrat controlled U.S. Senate, that they want to change the rules and take away the right of the people to elect senators. They want to repeal the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, adopted in 1913, and go back to letting the state legislators elect senators.

My guess is if the Republicans take back the Senate in November, these proposals will disappear.

As Americans, our right to vote is sacred. We should be able to cast our vote for the man or woman or proposal we favor. Term limits restrict our right to choose.

Anyone who has spent time around a legislature knows rookie legislators quickly find they have dozens of new friends called lobbyists. These are the folks who represent all kinds of causes like business, labor, women, sportsmen, animals, fishermen and all sorts of special interest groups.

They have a big advantage over rookie legislators. They know state government inside and out. They know what works and what doesn't. They are always happy to “help” rookie legislators. This “help” always has a price.

It takes time for legislators to get enough experience to stand up to lobbyists. However, under term limits, by the time legislators know their way around the back halls of the state house, they are termed out, replaced by a new class of rookies — and the lobbyists go back to work again. Term limits just give lobbyists more clout, and they have more than enough clout already.

We don't need term limit laws. We can fire our legislators every election year when we go to the polls and cast our ballots for the candidates we think will do the best job. Our vote gives us all the right to choose. Sometimes we pick the candidate by his/her party, sometimes by issue, sometimes it is for another reason.

The bottom line is the voters get to decide who will represent us, not some one who gets on the ballot because the incumbent is barred from serving again.

We can term limit any elected official. All we have to do is vote no.