Emotion vs. Empirical Evidence: Which is the Reason for Term Limits?
Emotion vs. Empirical Evidence: Which is the Reason for Term Limits? Friday October 13, 2006 Should we make decisions on the basis of our emotional reactions or on the basis of a careful study of empirical evidence? Although emotion shouldn’t be removed and ignored completely, the importance of empirical evidence should be obvious. What happens when emotion is preferred over evidence is made clear by the fallout from voters deciding on term limits for politicians. The Spring 2006 Wilson Quarterly discusses The Truth About Term Limits by Alan Greenblatt in the Jan. 2006 Governing and The Effects of Term Limits on State Legislatures: A New Survey of the 50 States by John M. Carey et al., in the Feb. 2006 Legislative Studies Quarterly. Although the consequences were not as bad as many feared, there have been serious problems: Its been a decade since term limits began taking effect in state legislatures, and in the capitals of the dozen states where they are in force, its apparent who the
#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}if(zs>0){zSB(3,3)}else{gEI(“spacer”).style.display=’none’;gEI(“sidebar”).style.display=’none’}Should we make decisions on the basis of our emotional reactions or on the basis of a careful study of empirical evidence? Although emotion shouldn’t be removed and ignored completely, the importance of empirical evidence should be obvious. What happens when emotion is preferred over evidence is made clear by the fallout from voters deciding on term limits for politicians. The Spring 2006 Wilson Quarterly discusses The Truth About Term Limits by Alan Greenblatt in the Jan. 2006 Governing and The Effects of Term Limits on State Legislatures: A New Survey of the 50 States by John M. Carey et al., in the Feb. 2006 Legislative Studies Quarterly. Although the consequences were not as bad as many feared, there have been serious problems: Its been a decade since term limits began taking effect in state legislatures, and in the capitals of the dozen st
