Dodd in Office Too Long

It is one of the great truths of holding public office that eventually, if you are in long enough, you will develop a sense of entitlement. It happens to the best of them--and the worst of them. It happens in big ways and small ways. It happens sooner to some and later to others, but it always happens. John Rowland decided to run for his third term and was ensnared by his feelings of entitlement. My own father was in Congress for 14 years and found it almost impossible to give up the little license plate that allowed him preferential treatment at National Airport in Washington. And now Chris Dodd has been in the Senate for so long, and is so immersed in its culture, that he doesn't even realize when he's been given a special deal by a lender. Or if he did realize it, he thought he deserved it. All of this points to the need for term limitations. Senators should be limited to three terms (18 years) and U.S. Representatives to 10 terms (20 years). These are generous lengths of time and will not cure the "entitlement" virus entirely. But they would save many good public servants from themselves.