Nov 10 2009
DeMint Introduces Constitutional Amendment for Congressional Term Limits
November 10, 2009 – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) introduced an amendment to the United States Constitution that would apply term limits to all members of Congress, limiting U.S. Representatives to three terms and U.S. Senators to two terms in office. The amendment is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Sam Brownback (R-Kansas). As an amendment to the Constitution, it would require a two-thirds majority vote approval in the House and Senate and must be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
DeMint Introduces “Term Limits for All” Constitutional Amendment
I give him credit for introducing this, but it’s got zero chance of ever seeing the light of day. I’m just being realistic. If you read the whole press release, DeMint goes on to describe how the current system is set up to allow career politicians to amass power. Unfortunately, it’s that same personal benefit that will keep term limits from even being implemented. These people aren’t going to give all that up. The Republicans spoke of enacting term limits when they campaigned on the Contract for America in 1994. It never happened and if it didn’t happen with them it most certainly won’t happen today. There aren’t enough decent, moral members of Congress in either party to get this through.
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Bane:
You hit the nail on the head: it’s got zero chance of ever seeing the light of day.
This is one of those disingenuous bills that come and go that allow politicians to appear to be ‘doing something’ (fighting ‘corruption’, reducing taxes/the deficit, supporting the troops) but, in the end, allows the corruption to continue, the spending to go on, business as usual. The politician gets to go home knowing full well it is, at best, posturing. He benefits himself, of course, in sponsoring or voting for this sort of legislation by the support given him (votes, money etc.) by those who believe these politicians actually intended to change things: the naive, the ignorant, the unthinking and the blind partisan.
Let’s see the sponsors of the bill step down after their ‘term limit’ is up, voluntarily. You don’t need to pass legislation to do that.
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The only infallible, unstoppable, guaranteed way to get a truly new Congress is :
NEVER REELECT ANY INCUMBENT! AND DO IT EVERY ELECTION!
Don’t let anyone serve more than one term. Some of the reasons to do this:
• It gives us a one-term-limited Congress without using amendments
• It encourages ordinary citizens to run for Congress
• It would be supported by 70% of the country who want term limits for Congress
• It is completely nonpartisan
• If repeated, it ends career politicians in Congress
• It opens the way to a “citizen Congress”
* It would open a torrent of fresh ideas to improve our government
• It ends the seniority system that keeps freshmen powerless
• It doesn’t cost money. But you MUST vote! Just don’t vote for an incumbent
• It is the only guaranteed, infallible, unstoppable way to “Throw the Bums Out”
• It takes effect immediately on Election Day
• If it doesn’t work, do it again and again! It will work eventually
NEVER REELECT ANYONE IN CONGRESS. AND DO IT EVERY ELECTION!
nelson lee walker of tenurecorrupts.com
send for your free NEVER REELECT bumper sticker
[Reply]
The Republicans’ actual promise in 1994 was to bring term limits to a vote (ie bring it out of committee, something the Democrats would never do). Then a lot of them voted against it once it came up, IIRC. Deceptive, probably, but wording it that way was perhaps the only way to get all of the GOP candidates on board with the Contract.
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cmitchz:
you say:
“The Republicans’ actual promise in 1994 was to bring term limits to a vote (ie bring it out of committee, something the Democrats would never do). Then a lot of them voted against it once it came up, IIRC. Deceptive, probably, but wording it that way was perhaps the only way to get all of the GOP candidates on board with the Contract.”
And nothing has changed. What the republicans did was nothing. Why give them any credit at all. They DID NOTHING.
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