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> You need some time to learn the ropes before you can get shit done.

I used to hold the same view. Just yesterday I decided that if it takes a significant portion of one term just to learn the ropes, things are broken. They should stop learning and start doing.

They seem to be learning the wrong lessons, anyway. They end up learning how to consolidate and maintain power-bases.

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What we're seeing now in Congress is the risk of having a considerable number of new members. We now see a substantial minority which cares more about ideology than maintaining the function of the institution.

If everyone in Congress is relatively new, power will end up concentrating in the people who are in Washington for the long term: lobbyists and staffers, all unelected. Beyond that, term-limited politicians have less of an incentive to please their current employers (the electorate) and more to please potential future employers (lobbyists).

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