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How can we start a national referendum on TERM LIMITS?

Posted on 03/28/2016 6:34:00 PM PDT by simka

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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Well, as our Founders designed it, the involvement of the people with their use of the ballot box was considered to best way to keep elected officials in line.


41 posted on 03/28/2016 8:09:18 PM PDT by Slyfox (Donald Trump's First Principle is the Art of the Deal)
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To: dburt2
The States themselves can term limit or even recall their Congressmen...

You are mistaken. First, the SCOTUS has already shot down an attempt by a state (Colorado?) to impose term limits on its federal representatives -- because the Constitution imposes no such limits.

Secondly, the Constitution does not provide for recall of federal representatives, thus they can only be removed by resignation, death or the ballot box.

42 posted on 03/28/2016 8:10:41 PM PDT by okie01 (The Mainstream Media: IGNORANCE ON PARADE)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear
Although it's a long shot, it's possible that a case could be made that the way that the Congress and Senate organize themselves is unconstitutional. It should be easy to find a handful of corporations and individuals that have been financially harmed because their representatives were not on the right committees or not chairmen of a committee, and were thus denied equal representation.

It would be the longest of long shots. Each member of Congress has one vote, so it's hard to say they don't have equal representation. And as to Committee memberships and the like, I can't see the courts getting involved, because the Constitution explicitly says (Article I, section 5) that each house gets to make its own rules.

43 posted on 03/28/2016 8:11:14 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: simka

What problem would you be solving with term limits?

It surely will not solve the problem of the lobbyists. The politicians will be easier to buy - they don’t have to worry about reelection. And for the same reason the voters will have even less influence over them than they do now.


44 posted on 03/28/2016 8:15:16 PM PDT by aquila48
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To: Dilbert San Diego

If I recall correctly there was a state which placed term limits on their congressmen and senators. But the courts ruled that state law unconstitutional, so that it would take a federal law to out term limits in at the federal level.

Maine in the 1990s.


45 posted on 03/28/2016 8:15:38 PM PDT by Steven Scharf
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To: Slyfox
And as President George Washington showed by example the best thing a man can do is step down after two terms.

Since this custom is no longer in force we have to apply law.

The founders understood that or they would never have left the possibility of adding amendments to the Constitution open and accessible.

46 posted on 03/28/2016 8:18:55 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

Article V convention. And to all those that say it just cements power, bunk. Elections won’t do it either 85 to 90% of incumbents are re-elected. Historically it’s been shown that doesn’t work. At least term limits give us a shot. I can’t imagine the presidency anymore with out term limits. Term limits for all elected federal officials.


47 posted on 03/28/2016 8:19:55 PM PDT by VTenigma (The Democratic party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

The real problem is with bureaucrats who have no term limits.


48 posted on 03/28/2016 8:20:03 PM PDT by Slyfox (Donald Trump's First Principle is the Art of the Deal)
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To: Slyfox
No, the real problem is the elected officials who hand power over to bureaucrats.

There is a way of dealing with that too. You just remove the dumb idea that any regulation has the power of law and return to concept that only the power of law has the power of law.

49 posted on 03/28/2016 8:39:18 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: simka

The problem is not the 535 idiots who get elected. The bad actors are the 20,000 staffers and experts who serve the 535 idiots who make ALL the written policy. Those lifers shuttle from one office to another as elected officials are replaced or retire. Those staffers are the ones who have the ear of the representatives and who actually write out the policy and the laws. After that, of course, once the law is implemented, similar staffers who populate the regulating agencies set about to write regulations nobody ever intended to be produced by the law as passed.


50 posted on 03/28/2016 8:51:21 PM PDT by Sgt_Schultze (If a border fence isn't effective, why is there a border fence around the White House?)
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To: simka
No to answer your question but there's a fool proof way to do it with out giving them years to accumulate millions to stay in office - it's called an election!

VOTE THE BASTARDS OUT!

51 posted on 03/28/2016 9:34:39 PM PDT by zerosix (Native Sunflower)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

If a congressman’s legislation never goes up for a vote, or only after being bastardized by the party whores running the committees, then I don’t think his constituents are receiving equal representation.


52 posted on 03/28/2016 9:43:44 PM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Lakewood
a Convention for Proposing Amendments. Those who wish to scare people away from this idea call it a Constitutional Convention,
"a Convention for Proposing Amendments". Proposing amendments to what exactly? If it's not a constitutional convention, what are you proposing amendments to at said convention?
I read it.

You're the pretend constitutional scholar answer the question.

If it's not a constitutional convention, what exactly are you clowns going to propose to amend at this "convention (AKA wet dream) for proposing amendments"?

53 posted on 03/28/2016 9:55:43 PM PDT by lewislynn (Ted Cruz had 5 affairs and he's the biggest ho of them all.)
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To: simka
After the inevitable Second Civil War, make sure that it is put in the new Constitution.

N.B. Note that inevitable does not mean imminent.

54 posted on 03/28/2016 10:01:05 PM PDT by atomic_dog
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To: simka

We have term limits already, every two years, we keep the bad ones and throw out the good ones!!!!!!!


55 posted on 03/28/2016 10:26:35 PM PDT by ThomasPaine2000 (Peace without freedom is tyranny.)
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To: Slyfox

There is something to be said for experience in any job.


56 posted on 03/29/2016 6:39:20 AM PDT by Nero Germanicus
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To: simka

Congress writes the laws, so they will not do it themselves. The only other way is a Constitutional Amendment. And the only way to bypass Congress on those is a Constitutional Convention. And that can be very dangerous. Because if the wrong people get control of the process you can lose many Amendments we hold sacred like the 2nd.


57 posted on 03/29/2016 6:42:42 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
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To: PA-LU Student
Well, easiest vote the people out after a certain amount of time.

But that involves paying attention and thinking for oneself. No longer part of our curriculum.

58 posted on 03/29/2016 8:20:37 AM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Lakewood; lewislynn
LL: . . . .what exactly are you clowns going to propose?

For Lakewood, here are a few things the Uniparty has done to our once republic.

It calls the murder of innocents a right.
It robs Peter to buy off Paul.
It determined two homos can marry.
It created Common Core Idiocy.
It shuts down electricity generating power plants.
It determined you must buy government approved health insurance.
In the name of social justice the Uniparty will spread Section 8 voucher people among middle-class neighborhoods.
It opened our borders to Mexicans and muzzies.

All of the above top-down diktats from the Uniparty have been approved by Scotus.

Nothing like them have ever been proposed as constitutional amendments by the people/states.

You, I and others realize that elections alone cannot cure our national ills.

So who are the actual clowns? Are they those who grasp at the very Article of the Constitution designed for our situation? I say the clowns are those who expect different results from doing the same thing over and over.

59 posted on 03/29/2016 10:48:48 AM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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