Long term-limits?

[Mayabird]

I figure this goes under politics, but it can be moved if it's not relevant enough.

Also, I know "term limits" doesn't have a hyphen but I didn't want people reading it as long term limits instead.

Anywho, in this thread I started pondering term limits. It's been said many times here that in states that set term limits for its legislators, lobbyists became inordinately powerful because they knew the system, unlike all the rookies constantly coming in, and because they had staying power.

And really, when people gripe about "career politicians" and the like, what they mostly have in mind are people like Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, who's been in politics since before my parents were born, and before that Strom Thurmond. They may also think of certain more local politicians who get into power and then stay there, ruling over the state legislature like its their personal fiefdom until they fall over dead. And they never freaking die.

Now this may be golden mean bullshit, but to prevent lobbyists from getting too much power and ensuring that people can stay in the works long enough to make sure their projects or whatever get completed (whether good or ill is their problem and the problem of the people who elected them), why couldn't term limits be set at some high level, like maybe thirty years, instead of something short like two or three terms, which could translate to a whole six years in some places? It won't effect most politicians, but it makes sure that fresh blood definitely gets circulated in on a regular basis while still giving them plenty of time to do stuff.

Also, has this been done in any countries? If it has, what are the practical effects? It'd be nice to already have some information because this would be a long experiment to run.

[Ekiqa]

Also, has this been done in any countries? If it has, what are the practical effects? It'd be nice to already have some information because this would be a long experiment to run.

There's no term limits in Canada.

The Mayor of Missasauga has won 11 consecutive elections, and been in power for over 31 years.

[Lusankya]

I'm not sure if any Westminster government has term limits. The problem is that the Westminster system and the US system are different enough that comparing directly might be difficult.

In the case of PMs, what usually happens is that eventually they get unpopular and get voted out, or they get replaced by someone else within their party, either because they retire or because they lose the support of their country. Despite the lack of term limits, only two Australian PMs have been Prime Minister for over 10 years, and only three for longer than 8.

I doubt that the idea of a 30-year term would be that useful for Australia. Most people enter politics after they're 30, which means that by the time you've been there for 30 years, you'll be over 55, which means you get access to the politicians superannuation plan, which makes retirement look pretty awesome.

[Teleros]

I wouldn't recommend terms of longer than 10 years because of the possibility of implementing screwed up policies (I'm sure we can all think of something we don't want to be around 30 years later), but unlike the USA I would allow people to stand for re-election as many times as they want: they or their party must be fairly popular if they can seriously consider running for PM / President / whatever for the 3rd or 4th time. The UK & Australia certainly follow the "unlimited re-election" idea - look at Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and John Howard.