Klamath Falls, OR— Trump hints U.S. should nix term limits as China's leader aims to be 'president for life'.
U.S. presidents by tradition served a maximum of two four-year terms until President Franklin Roosevelt was elected a record four times starting in 1932. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution approved in 1951 limits presidents to two terms in office.
In order to change the current prohibition, it would require the initial support of two-thirds of both houses of Congress or support of two-thirds of state legislatures - and then would need to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.
In the several decades since the passage of the 22nd Amendment, various members of Congress have offered proposals for repealing it (all, obviously, without success), twenty-three of them in the last two decades alone. The most recent such proposal is H.J. 15, introduced by Rep. Jose E. Serrano of New York: Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
If passed by both houses of Congress and ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures (an exceedingly unlikely possibility), such an amendment would allow any president to serve an unlimited number of terms in office. It would not, however, establish anyone as “President for life,” because it would not remove the requirement that the president be elected to office every four years.
Other members of Congress who have offered similar proposals in the last twenty years include the following:
*Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts (Democrat): 1995, 1997, and 1999 (all during the presidency of Bill Clinton).
*Rep. David Dreier of California (Republican): 1997 (during the presidency of Bill Clinton).
*Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York (Democrat): 1995 (during the presidency of Bill Clinton).
*Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (Republican): 1995 (during the presidency of Bill Clinton).
*Rep. Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan (Republican): 1991 (during the presidency of George H.W. Bush).
*Rep. Martin Sabo of Minnesota (Democratic-Farmer-Labor): 1991 (during the presidency of George H.W. Bush).
The framers of the Constitution of the United States of America created the executive office of President of the United States and designated that the holders of this office should be officials elected to serve four-year terms. They did not, however, prescribe any limits on how many terms any one person could serve in the office of president.
Nonetheless, when the first U.S. president, George Washington, voluntarily stepped down after having served two terms, he established a pattern that held for the next 140 years: not until Franklin D. Roosevelt won four consecutive elections between 1932 and 1944 did any
U.S. president serve more than two terms.
Roosevelt died shortly after beginning his fourth term in 1945, and two years later Congress passed a bill to amend the Constitution to establish a two-term limit on the presidency. Four years later, this amendment was ratified by the requisite number of states and was enacted as the 22nd Amendment in 1951.
This is when a dictator tries to make sure they are in power permanently by taking the title "President For Life", making them a de facto monarch who happens to have a republican title.
This does not include leaders who simply happened to expire before their predefined terms did. Nor does it include leaders who served multiple terms via show (or, in some cases, legitimate) elections where there was no other candidate. This is about doing away with elections altogether. Definitely a sign of a People's Republic of Tyranny, and very often a President Evil.
Whether they actually serve for the rest of their lives is quite another question—as is how long they live after attaining such a position.
This makes distinguishing between "republic" and "monarchy" (especially if the dictator is President For Life of a Hereditary Republic) a Royal Mess, and there have been cases of a President For Life crossing that line and declaring himself King or Emperor, becoming a Monarch in name as well (Jean-Claude Bokassa of the Central African Republic/Empire is the most recent example).
Dream on Trump and all your supporters. It will never happen in my lifetime or yours. Anything like it, if even attempted would start the second civil war in the U.S.A. and a "President for life" would never succeed or ever transpire.
By James Garland of Tulelake News
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