The case for the clean slate.

• Author: Rowe, Jonathan
• Position: Way to reform Congress

Congress has now limped out of Washington. Democrats are seething and scared; Republiscans are gleeful at the hash they've made and are licking their chops for more. "Glorious Gridlock," The Wall Street Journal proclaimed. But for most people, a bickering, partisan capital is wearing pretty thin.

Which brings us to the subject of term limits, which are supposedly going to whack Congress back into shape. But think about it: Term limits won't make Congress work one with better. They'd simply grease the door going in and out.

That's the question missing in the term limits debate. Is there a way to change the vicious partisan undertwo, as opposed to simply tossing new recruits into it? Instead, the issue has gotten stuck in the usual partisan sludge, a symptom of what's wrong rather than an answer to it. Democrats like Tom Foley don't want to change anything. Republicans like Newt Gingrich want to change things so Republicans get elected and he gets to be Speaker. That's why the Republicans have quietly, and conveniently, grandfathered themselves into their term limits proposal. Their prior incumbency is exempt, which means Republican leaders like Gingrich and Bob Dole would get a deferment from the medicine they want everyone else to take.

The fact is, term limits would keep the worst of what's wrong with Congress, and, in many ways, would make the situation still worse. They wouldn't cut the role of money in politics, and they wouldn't cut partisan rancor, either. Instead of dispersing political power in America, they'd merely shift it around within the Beltway. Instead of increasing the accountability of Congress, they'd automatically turn more members into lame ducks who aren't accountable to anyone.

That doesn't mean we don't have to rattle the cage in Washington. We do. But there's a much better way than term limits--a way that would truly make the whole Congress shiver. What the nation needs is a referendum on the whole Congress--a Clean Slate Amendment. Instead of less choice, voters should have more. They should have the choice of giving the whole Congress the boot. If we want to end the petty wrangling and partisan games, then let's make them sink or swim together.

After all, for a Congress that's not producing, even six House terms (the most popular proposal) are too many.

Our friends the Washington commentators have been perplexed by a stubborn fact. Americans think Congress is the pits. But they tend to think their own member of...