Maryland not part of historic record number of women in Congress

It has been reported that a record number of women have won seats in the House of Representatives this election year. (“Election 2018: Who won, who lost, and how’d the power shift in Maryland and nationwide?” Nov. 7). Maryland has come up short again on this measure.

It is high time that term limits for Congress be instituted, especially when certain career politicians tout their 50 years in elected office. One proposal would be to make any open seat a term-limited one. Obviously, it would take time for a full implementation of term limits as death, forced removal and unlikely early retirement would be the only ways to affect a term limit. The length of elected office has already been suggested by interested parties, so I offer no recommendations.

This approach might be the only palatable option, since career politicians are unlikely to voluntarily give up positions of power. When one thinks that there are only 535 total seats in Congress out of hundreds of millions of citizens, the power of incumbency and self interest puts a severe limitation on multitudes of capable men and women seeking high office. It is high time to give such men and women a fighting chance to serve the public without it evolving into a career occupation.