For the past 20 years, an idea frequently floated for reforming the political system has been to set term limits for elected officials. Term limits were part of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America” and for a time they became quite a fad in the states — 15 of them have some form of limitation on how long a legislator can serve. There has not been a serious move in recent years to impose term limits on the members of Congress, but it is still an idea that pops up from time to time in political races.