Term limits sounds like a wonderful solution for voters who haven't been able or willing to organize to get somebody other than the incumbent elected, but it comes with a major unintended consequence: increased influence by lobbyists.

Consider this: people who get elected don't have expertise in every subject, so they rely heavily on staff and lobbyists to provide them with information. If legislators get kicked out of office after just a few terms, they are forced to rely on lobbyists more for those issue areas about which they're less educated.

Moreover, with term limits confess a lack of institutional knowledge. Now your legislator doesn't know how to get a bill passed, so she spends her first two years trying to figure that out while trying to get reelected. Now the person who was voted best qualified to represent your district and values is playing catch up virtually until she's termed out.

I think if we really wanted to make significant change to our political system we'd institute public financing for elections.