TERM LIMITATIONS: INEXPERIENCE CARRIES DANGERS

We trust the irony of the goals of the newly-created Missourians For Limited Terms has not been lost on thoughtful citizens. M.F.L.T. has been formed to end forever elitist rule in the chambers of our state legislature and by the 11 men and women who, in varying degrees, represent the citizens of Missouri in the halls of Congress. The organization is predicated on the theory that those elected representatives of the people who have served the longest are the least capable of governing. To compound the irony, the rules by which voters will determine who will serve and represent them in legislative chambers have been written by a self-appointed committee, none of whom was selected for this assignment by a single voter.

So here we have a small, telephone-booth-size group, selected by unelected others, who have decided what is best for Missouri, particularly when it comes time to end elitism in Jefferson City and Washington, D.C. It's like having the neighbor down the street decide the hour you're to put your children to bed. Not that you asked your neighbor. He just arrives one day at your back door and announces that Johnny must not be up any later than 9 p.m., while Emily, now that she's 16, can stay up until 10 p.m., but certainly not one second later.

Naturally, M.F.L.T. says it made up all these alleged better-government rules because somebody had to do it, and because the voters of Missouri are too stupid to recognize a lousy state senator when they see one. "Since you're too dumb to know who should represent you in Congress, we'll make the rules for you, and there's no need to thank us" would make an appropriate slogan for these watchdogs against elitism in government.

Passage of term limitation legislation, expected to occur sometime next year, could lead to some interesting, new regulations in Missouri. Since experience in government is presumed to be so damaging to a lawmaker's moral fiber, ability and competence to serve his or her constituents, it could be only a matter of time until this restriction against tenure leads us to other important fields of service.

For starters, let's consider medicine. Adopting the premise that experience decreases competence, it is only a small leap to such endeavors as medicine and surgery, where experience was once considered important. If we're going to make our state legislature more efficient by restricting service to eight years, then it stands to reason we'll need to place early retirement rules on doctors and surgeons. Since the legislative limitation was arbitrarily set, there's nothing to prevent others from being arbitrary on when doctors must remove themselves from hospitals and surgical suites. Let's give Doc the benefit of the doubt and let him continue his practice twice as long as legislators will be permitted in Jefferson City. Let's give Doc 16 years to use his scalpel and stethoscope and then it's time to retire, turning his practice over to someone less experienced and less imbued with the elitist idea that lives can be saved through informed, knowledgeable medicine.

Practically every adult recognizes that young drivers, particularly those who have been licensed less than a year, provide a new challenge to staying alive while driving at high speeds and ignoring the experience of observing traffic signals. Limiting terms of older legislators should provide society with sufficient incentives to deal with drivers who observe the rules and maintain legal speed limits, thereby clogging our highways with far too many safe and careful motorists. Competent drivers keep slowing down traffic for all the young, eager drivers who can't wait to get on the road and provide new ideas on innovative transportation methods. Driving for a quarter of a century should certainly be long enough. Any more time spent behind the wheel of an automobile is going to lead to complacency, bad habits and probably moral turpitude.

This new wave of setting limits will, we predict, open up other vistas for public service improvement. For example, the folks who train to repair your watch. When your time piece stops, do you want someone with years of experience to repair it? Of course not. What you really want is someone who's just learning the business and can provide fresh insight into why the big hand is moving too slowly. Chances are the jeweler who's been around for years has grown indifferent to your plight and may even be taking free trips to Bermuda from a company that wants to sell you a new watch. Corruption like that can lead to unfathomable dire results. Clearly what consumers require is an inexperienced but eager to learn apprentice who is not hampered by technical knowledge.

Missourians For Limited Terms will certainly bring us a new era of incompetence and inexperience by telling voters how long they must suffer with competent and experienced state legislators and members of Congress. Passage of term limitation will give Missouri a perfect opportunity to change our slogan to the Snow-Me State.