Practice what you preach.

NO PUBLICATION HAS EDITORIALIZED -- some might say crusaded -- for a lid on terms for politicians more relentlessly than The Wall Street Journal. Consider, though, how much more could be accomplished if editorial page pundits who back the campaign were to wed action to advocacy and practice what they preach.

Recall, after all, columnist William Buckley's comment that he and then-president Ronald Reagan were "engaged in the same business." The "same business," obviously, is influencing public policy. The analogy between opinion writing and public service, coupled with the press's role as the fourth branch of government, makes it logical to expect editorial page editors who argue the merits of term limits for others to embrace it for themselves.

If they did, they might be surprised by the dividends. I know I was when I left as editorial page editor of The Des Moines Register a decade ago after seven years in the post. I figured that if presidents are allowed eight years to accomplish their mission, seven years ought to be about right for an oracle. Besides, with the farm crisis brewing and the Cold War and arms race in full swing, the time seemed right for fresh thinking.

My judgment was confirmed when my successors brought agriculture out of the doldrums, reduced the Berlin Wall to rubble, and ensconced Arabs and Israelis at the conference table.

Fortunately, the benefits of fresh blood in public office are obtainable every time voters use the ballot box. Getting rid of other functionaries "engaged in the same business" isn't that simple, particularly when they keep low profiles and work anonymously. An editor is probably tougher to dislodge than the most entrenched lawmaker.

The editor who speaks in the name of The Wall Street Journal, for instance, has been shaping public policy through the Journal since 1972. That's the equivalent of more than nine terms in the U.S. House, more than three in the Senate, and nearly eight years longer than FDR spent in the White House.

The editor's service has produced sensational foreign policy successes, but during his watch the deficit soared, the economy soured, and homelessness became a scandal. A foreign-policy editor, you might say.

So let's hear it for voluntary limits on the tenure of editorial page editors, especially for those enamored of enforced turnover. It would do wonders for their credibility. And it just might be a blessing for the country.

NCEW member Gilbert Cranberg teaches journalism at the University of Iowa in Des Moines.