A Republican House member introduced a resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow President Donald Trump — and any other future president — to be elected to serve a third term.
A Republican House member introduced a resolution to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow President Donald Trump — and any other future president — to be elected to serve a third term.
It wasn’t until FDR that we made term limits part of the constitution. He served 4 terms that eventually led to the New Deal. The new deal was devastating for the capitalist class at the time, and they have been working tirelessly to undo the effects since. However, I, personally, believe the implementation of this into the constitution was to prevent another series of presidencies as impactful as FDR. This isn’t the first time the legislature attempted to repeal it, either. They tried and failed in 1956. Truman described the law as “Stupid” and one of the worst amendments of the Constitution, next to the Prohibition amendment. Regan also spoke out against it, as well as Bill Clinton. Like many others have pointed out, many western democracies do not have term limits. I think it’s also worth pointing out that many western democracies also do not directly elect their president, but instead their president is elected by the party (much like China does, and how the USSR did, and many other AES states.)
Among socialists, I think we all agree FDR was a capitalist through and through who understood the situation America was in. He used the New Deal to save capitalism from being overthrown by the very real threat of socialist revolution. The New Deal acted as a release valve.
It’s something the generation of New Deal Democrats understood (such as LBJ’s Great Society program) current day democrats don’t. Today’s democrats are so high on their own supply of bullshit Austrian economics they don’t realize the consequences of austerity.
Yeah, that’s good additional context. I think the Republicans at the time, wrapped up in growing anti-communist sentiment, viewed the New Deal as an approach to socialism (by their shallow or non-existent understanding of socialism) that could have only been achieved through FDRs extended presidency. In collaboration with democrats, they passed the 22nd amendment, mostly out of fear that somehow the American people really would “Vote in socialism”, or to at least, not appear to be a dictatorship in the same way they viewed the political process of the USSR. The next 50 years would see the rise of the Think Tank, specifically the Federalist Society, and these institutions abilities to carry forward policy agendas despite a limited term. I’m not sure what would really change if they added a 3rd possible term to the presidency, considering so much policy is now constructed by these think tanks.