Age limits, absolutely. I have very mixed feelings on term limits.

I live in Michigan, which has term limits in place for state government. The original limits were kind of silly. We recently approved a reform that changed the term limits for state legislators from three 2-year terms (6 years) in the state House and two 4-year terms (8 years) in the state Senate to 12 combined years in the Legislature, and requires a lot more disclosures.

The original limits resulted in many freshmen each election cycle. This seemed to open the door even wider to have special interests legislate by proxy since a lot of newcomers didn’t always come in with very well formed agendas or know how to get anything done.

That aside, it seems like term limits make it harder for Jane/Joe Public to assume public office. It’s true that being a politician isn’t a certain career path, but what motive would I have to run if it meant quitting my current job knowing I would have to find a new job in 12 years assuming I managed to constantly win relection? Yeah, sessions only happen three days a week / ~115 days a year for our state Senate but it’s not like I could easily work another job. Salarys are $72k a year, which will be attractive to some but will put off a lot lot of folks the private sector. The salary won’t put off those who already have a high net worth though. Looking at the federal level the salary does go up to $174k, but the cap on the time you’re allowed to serve would likely result in a lot of self-selection.