Easier Said Than Done
I have never been one to believe in conspiracy theories. I
never believed that President Bush ordered an attack on the World Trade Center
to push an agenda of war. I was never a believer of President Obama’s
birth certificate conspiracy and I truly believe that rapper Tupac Shakur died
on the streets of Vegas, although he has released more songs dead than alive.
So when during the final weeks of the election and the
weeks following people were telling me that President Obama was positioning
himself to repeal the 22nd Amendment eliminating Presidential term limits and
becoming “President for Life”. I truly believe that is not the case.
Now do I think the
President is narcissistic enough to believe he can pull this off, I do.
Do I think he is dumb enough to try, I don’t. The reason this has caught
my attention is that last week Rep. Jose’ Serrano (D-NY) proposed a House Joint
Resolution to committee for the repealing of the 22nd Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution. Such a repeal would eliminate the two term limit for
President of the United States. However, the repeal still would not
institute a “President of Life” because the law would still require
elections every four years.
President is narcissistic enough to believe he can pull this off, I do.
Do I think he is dumb enough to try, I don’t. The reason this has caught
my attention is that last week Rep. Jose’ Serrano (D-NY) proposed a House Joint
Resolution to committee for the repealing of the 22nd Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution. Such a repeal would eliminate the two term limit for
President of the United States. However, the repeal still would not
institute a “President of Life” because the law would still require
elections every four years.
Needless to say,
this report got my wife in an uproar first thing on a Monday morning. As
I said from the beginning of me hearing this, not only would it not get done,
it’s just not that easy. So President Obama is smart enough to know that
he would not benefit from such a proposal because, even if by chance the
Amendment was repealed, he would be long gone from office and would have to run
a campaign again to be elected. That’s if it gets repealed, which I will
repeat, it won’t.
this report got my wife in an uproar first thing on a Monday morning. As
I said from the beginning of me hearing this, not only would it not get done,
it’s just not that easy. So President Obama is smart enough to know that
he would not benefit from such a proposal because, even if by chance the
Amendment was repealed, he would be long gone from office and would have to run
a campaign again to be elected. That’s if it gets repealed, which I will
repeat, it won’t.
Given the current
status of affairs in Washington no Amendment will ever get repealed because the
numbers just aren’t there, and that’s just to get it out of Washington.
Neither the House nor the Senate have the majority in which to repeal or
amend the constitution which is two thirds. As we have seen over the past
few weeks the only way a two thirds majority can be achieved is if votes are
bought on the proposed bill. Since there should be no appropriations
attached to such a bill, votes should not be able to be bought. However, crazier things have happened.
status of affairs in Washington no Amendment will ever get repealed because the
numbers just aren’t there, and that’s just to get it out of Washington.
Neither the House nor the Senate have the majority in which to repeal or
amend the constitution which is two thirds. As we have seen over the past
few weeks the only way a two thirds majority can be achieved is if votes are
bought on the proposed bill. Since there should be no appropriations
attached to such a bill, votes should not be able to be bought. However, crazier things have happened.
So for argument
sake, let’s say by some miracle this gets through the House and the Senate it
would need just as big of a miracle to get through the states.
Three-fourths of the states would need to approve/ratify the bill for it
to become into law and they have seven years to do so. So not only is
math not on the President’s side, but time isn’t either. Let’s take this
past election as an example as why the states don’t approve. If you
crunch the numbers where they matter, which is the popular count, the race was
closer than it looked. The President won the Electoral Map in a landslide
but constitutional amendments are not decided by the Electoral College, just
the presidency. In picking up the 332 electoral votes the President only
carried 27 states, that’s just more than half, or if you ask the President,
it’s exactly half. A far cry from the 38 (37.5) needed for ratification.
The states can completely ignore the ratification making it null in void,
as was the case during the 1970’s with the Equal Rights Amendment.
sake, let’s say by some miracle this gets through the House and the Senate it
would need just as big of a miracle to get through the states.
Three-fourths of the states would need to approve/ratify the bill for it
to become into law and they have seven years to do so. So not only is
math not on the President’s side, but time isn’t either. Let’s take this
past election as an example as why the states don’t approve. If you
crunch the numbers where they matter, which is the popular count, the race was
closer than it looked. The President won the Electoral Map in a landslide
but constitutional amendments are not decided by the Electoral College, just
the presidency. In picking up the 332 electoral votes the President only
carried 27 states, that’s just more than half, or if you ask the President,
it’s exactly half. A far cry from the 38 (37.5) needed for ratification.
The states can completely ignore the ratification making it null in void,
as was the case during the 1970’s with the Equal Rights Amendment.
It is very
unlikely that this is on the President’s agenda, however, if there is a
President that could sell it, it’s President Obama. I don’t take much
stock in the proposal from Rep. Serrano since this is the 9th time he has
proposed this exact bill and it has never made it out of committee. There
have been more proposal’s to abolish Presidential term limits than to repeal
the Second Amendment, which seems to be the hot topic these days. In the
end Presidential term limits will continue without issue as I believe that
every President wouldn’t want the job more than eight years anyway. Now
if there was a bill proposal to put term limits on Congress and Senate, I would
definitely support that.
unlikely that this is on the President’s agenda, however, if there is a
President that could sell it, it’s President Obama. I don’t take much
stock in the proposal from Rep. Serrano since this is the 9th time he has
proposed this exact bill and it has never made it out of committee. There
have been more proposal’s to abolish Presidential term limits than to repeal
the Second Amendment, which seems to be the hot topic these days. In the
end Presidential term limits will continue without issue as I believe that
every President wouldn’t want the job more than eight years anyway. Now
if there was a bill proposal to put term limits on Congress and Senate, I would
definitely support that.
3D
If you don’t take it from me, ask my wife.