ABSTRACT
Terms of office for members of the House of Representatives and Senate and for the president and vice-president are fixed in the Constitution. Each senator serves for six years; he or she is a member of one of three “classes,” whose terms end either two years, four years or six years following each national election. Some observers believe that the complexity of modern problems requires more “practical knowledge” than during the founding period and justifies longer terms. Others maintain that the speed of modern transportation and communications makes short terms even less of a burden than in the past. In a democracy, the power of elective office depends on being able to win the election. Presidents and members of Congress are not free to ignore that fact of life. Midterm elections almost always check the progress of the administration, but they cannot remove it from office.
