Earlier this week, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) announced that he will be introducing a Constitutional Amendment to enforce Term Limits on members of the House and Senate. This is a good idea to begin “limiting” government.
From an excerpt from Mr. DeMint’s podcast at NetRightNation.com:
Fifteen years ago, Republicans — who had been out of power in Congress for forty years – made term limits a centerpiece of their “Contract with America” agenda.
The term limits constitutional amendment ultimately failed, in part because so many new reform-minded congressmen imposed term limits on themselves. After six or eight years, these members voluntarily went home, leaving behind those Republicans and Democrats who fully intended to make a career inside the beltway.
The fact is, party doesn’t matter when it comes to reform. If you want to change the policies, you have to change the process.
That’s why in the next few weeks I will introduce a new constitutional amendment to limit members of the House of Representatives to three terms (which is six years), and members of the Senate to two terms (which is twelve years).
Mr. DeMint is right, when it comes to reform, party should not matter. While I enjoy the idea of Term Limits, I wonder if this approach will work. I honestly cannot see Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid allowing this to pass.
I have discussed this Constitutional Amendment with several people since I broke the story at NetRightNation.com on Thursday evening. The consensus has been that in order for this type of amendment to pass, a Constitutional Convention will have to be called. I can’t think of many people who think that a convention will be any good. The risk is extremely high that the convention process would end in disaster.
On the other hand, State Legislators probably love the idea of this Term Limits amendment. It definitely would create more opportunities for Legislators to move up into congress, an opportunity that I’m sure most of them would love to have.
As James Taranto wrote Friday:
Will the amendment include a provision stipulating that any senator who reaches the limit automatically becomes president? Because that’s the only way that two-thirds of them would ever vote for it.
(H/T NetRightNation.com and WSJ)
