I don't think you can cut the salary and reduce the terms. I think you probably have to raise salaries (at the state and federal level), lengthen each individual term, but limit total terms. I agree that the service model should be the ideal, but you still need to incentivize it properly in this day and age. I don't, however, understand most of the arguments against term limits listed in this thread so far. Almost all of them fall directly into the trap that years of legislation have built up: It appears as though it's a bad thing to impose term limits precisely because career politicians have stacked the deck in their favor. Take lobbying as just one small example: what politician (from either party) in their right mind is going to do anything about restructuring campaign finance (in a real and meaningful way) when the current system lines their pockets and fuels their campaigns? So much of what is wrong in Washington is because of entrenched ideas, beliefs, and processes that are designed to give the appearance that this is the only way it could be. There needs to be far less incentive to pass laws that make it good to be a long-term member of Congress and much more incentive to be an effective member for the short term.