US Senators Average Tenure Increasing

http://en. .org/wiki/List_of_former_United_States_Senators

Over the last 2030 years since the creation of the United States Senate the the average number of years spent in office has seen a fairly steady increase. The first decade of senators remained in office on average only 3.5 years. The were a few who remained in office from 1889 until 1899 but this was by far the exeption. Only two remained in office the full 11 years.
The following decades saw moderate increases in the time US Senators remained in office, so after 41 years the average had incresed to 5.1 years. The the longest any single senator had reamined in office was 22 years. It is notable that less than 10% of all senators at this point had served more than 10 years; 24 out of 291. The record for the longest time spent in office in 1829 was held by John Gaillard of Mississippi who remained in off 22 years which at the time was astounding.

In stark contrast to this short tenure of senators in the early years of the US, the latter decades of the 20th centery up until today have seen lenthy terms in office for many senators. Senators who finaly left office in the 1970s had remained in office an average of nearly 14 years, four time the average of the first decade of the senates existance. Some might argue that the senate had not existed long enough for the averages to be comparable, but as noted above even after 41 years in existance the average was a minisule 5.1 years. A closer look at the data shows that not only had the average increased by 300 percent, but long term office holders in recent years have been frequently spending more than 25 years in office. Seven Senators had remained in office more than 30 years. The record for the length of time in office was set at an astonishing 38 years by Senator Richard Brevard Russell of Georgia, when he finally left office in January of 1971.

The average years in office continuted to climb to 15 years in the 1980s. And the record for time in office set higher again by John Cornelius Stennis of Mississippi, who left office in 1989 after 42 contiguous years in the Senate.

Through the 1990s up to the current class of senators, the average time in office has been steadily declining, but NOT because Senators are leaving office, rather because many senators are still in office, and have been, since originally elected in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or in this first decade of the 21st century.

The record for time in office since the 1980s has continued to be pushed into the statusphere first by James Strom Thurmond, who was elected in 1956 and left office in 2003 after a total of 47 years in the US Senate.

Prior to 1992 many states attempted to limit the terms of their congressional delegations but the US Supreme court invalitated these laws in their ruling in the case of U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton in 1995, with declared term limitations in 23 states unconstitutional.

As of October 2008 there are four Senators; Robert Carlyle Byrd,
Edward Moore Kennedy, Daniel Ken Inouye, Theodore Fulton Stevens, who have been in office over 40 years. With an impressive term of 49 years in office held by Robert Carlyle Byrd of West Virginia.
The average is still hovering at nearly 14 years in office.

One might ask if the founding fathers envisioned service in the senate to be a life long calling. Lincoln might also have been suprised by the amount of time spent in office in light of his words "government of the people, by the people, for the people"
It appears we have shifted to a culture of professional politicians rather than a culture of regular people serving for a term or two, then returning to their private professions.

One might further ask, what effect this has on the laws that are created by people who expect to retire in office, somewhat immune from the effects of the laws they make.

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