Paul Jacob writes of term limits:
While the power of incumbency is so great that voters have little leverage to hold congressmen to pledges on term limits, it is worth noting that those who have kept their word on term limits have gone on to become governors and senators, while not a single pledge-breaker has won higher office.
This demonstrates how important a role process has to play in limiting the power of goverment. The libertarian philosophy is not an optimistic one, but a profoundly pessimistic one based on the weakness and corruptible nature of the average individual. The success of term limits demonstrates the importance of codifying libertarian concept into the law wherever possible.
Not that politicians, bureaucrats and government agents won’t disobey the law at every opportunity. But we can at least make it difficult for them to wreak their poisoned will upon us.