Philip Blumel: Counter Attack! Now that the Term Limits Convention Resolution has passed in six states, career politicians have declared war on their constituents. Hi, I’m Philip Blumel. Welcome to No Uncertain Terms, the official podcast of the Term Limits Movement for the week of May 29th, 2023.
Stacey Selleck: Your sanctuary from Partisan Politics.
Philip Blumel: Well, it’s frustrating, but it is a sign of progress. Like the saying goes, that first they ignored us, then they rolled their eyes and predicted we wouldn’t get anywhere. But now, as each year sees another state or two making an official application for an Article V Amendment proposing convention limited to the subject of congressional term limits, career politicians are looking to undo the will of the people that elected them. The attack that I’m talking about here has been launched in Alabama, one of the first states to pass the Term Limits Convention application back in 2018. If you recall, they passed it with a sunset clause, but then the legislature came back last year and passed it properly as the public demanded. Poll show 82% of voters in Alabama support Congressional Term Limits and the politicians know it.
Philip Blumel: But this has not stopped a group of Alabama legislators who have proposed, just one year later, House Joint Resolution 104 and Senate Joint Resolution 57, which, if passed, would reverse the previous resolution in favor of congressional term limits. It’s politics as usual, and US Term Limits condemns these resolutions and the political special interests behind them in the strongest possible terms. Term limits activists in Alabama worked so hard to get the resolution passed. For citizens to get engaged in an issue like this, to lobby their legislators and to testify in front of the legislature, and to write letters and inform their neighbors, et cetera, they have to do this without pay and outside of work hours.
Philip Blumel: It’s a sacrifice, and it’s a sacrifice in order to make the country a better place to live. Term limits are a cause that the vast majority of their neighbors approve of. In fact, most people recognize that Congress will never be functional without reestablishing rotation in office as our founders intended. We need to sever the ties that grew up between legislators and special interests on a regular basis, and we need competitive elections that allow people with new and different ideas a chance to participate in the legislative process. We need to foster transparency and discourage the corruption that is so highly correlated to tenure in office.
Philip Blumel: But these self-centered careers in Montgomery don’t care about doing the right thing. They don’t care about the hard work their constituents put into advocating the Term Limits Convention in Alabama. What they care about is themselves and clearing the road for their own endless careers in politics as unbeatable incumbents with automatic financial support. It’s pretty pathetic how important these jobs are to some politicians. It’s sad but true. But for some, in our state capitals, this is the best job that many of these politicians have ever had or ever could have. They just don’t have anything to give. They’re only there to take.
Philip Blumel: Now looking at the bright side, they’re only coming after us because we’re winning. This should inspire us. It should inspire us to work harder and keep our eyes on the prize. We need more states to apply for the Term Limits Convention, and there’s lots of politicians in these states that are willing to stand up for just this. Nothing else will provide the pressure on Congress needed to persuade them to act, nothing. So, you know what to do. If you live in Alabama, go to termlimits.com/takeaction, and scroll down to the Alabama action item. In just a few clicks, you can let your legislators know that you support congressional term limits and that you are watching them. And if you know anyone else who lives in Alabama, send them a link, send them a link to termlimits.com/take action. And please do this, right now. The politicians are fast tracking their counter attack and they got to be stopped.
Philip Blumel: We can win this. Clearly, after winning two votes for the Term Limits Convention in the last five years, there is a lot of support in Montgomery for congressional term limits and they know that there is a lot of support amongst the populace for this issue. Evil will triumph only if good men and women do nothing. So let’s take action.
Philip Blumel: Next, the unflappable Holly Robichaud continues to post her breaking news on term limits videos at youtube.com/USTermLimits. Here’s her roundup from last week.
Holly Robichaud: Term limits is on the move. Hello, I’m Holly Robichaud, and this is Breaking News On Term Limits.
Holly Robichaud: We’re getting closer to having 100 co-sponsors on House Joint Resolution 11 sponsored by Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina. But we need your help. Have you called your representative and asked them to join the effort? Please take action by visiting termlimits.com/takeaction. We need your help to get to 100 and maybe or even 150 co-sponsors on our piece of legislation. Let’s get it done.
Holly Robichaud: We’ve got a follow up to the Michael Madigan story that we’ve been covering. A jury found four former Commonwealth Edison executives and lobbyists guilty of bribery related charges as part of an eight year conspiracy scheme centered around former Democratic Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. In the highest profile corruption case in Illinois in more than a decade, the jury convicted the defendants on all accounts. Madigan’s trial is scheduled for next year. Yet according to Politico, some people expect that he may be acquitted and it won’t really matter what the result is. This is another reason for Term Limits. Too many people are losing their faith.
Holly Robichaud: We’re calling out two legislators. First, Alabama State Representative Ben Harrison, and second, Alabama State Senator Josh Carnley. What’s their offense? Alabama passed Congressional Term Limits Resolution in 2018. While Congressional Term Limits is overwhelmingly supported by the voters there, Harrison proposed House Joint Resolution 104, and Carnley, in the Senate, proposed Senate Joint Resolution 57, that would undo this work. They’d stymie the will of the voters. It’s typical politics as usual and US Term Limits condemns these resolutions. We are urging people to contact their legislators in Alabama and urge them to vote no on House Joint Resolution 104 and Senate Joint Resolution 57. Shame on Ben Harrison and Josh Carnley for putting career politicians first.
Holly Robichaud: We’ve mentioned a lot about the controversy regarding California Senator Dianne Feinstein in her absence from the Senate. Senator Feinstein, who was first elected in 1992, has raised an even greater issue of gerontocracy. Politico did an in-depth story on the issue. The Senate is full of people in their 70s and their 80s, and a smattering have served into their 90s. Some are remarkably sharp and spry, others not so much. And for those not so much lawmakers, there’s little that leaders can do about it other than cross their fingers, gently nudge them to resign or count the days down until the next election, which in the US Senate, can be up to six years.
Holly Robichaud: At the same time, Washington has become a gerontocracy. Match up the demographic reality with the political reality of a deeply polarized Senate, the majority is so slender that the absence of a single lawmaker can mean almost nothing gets done. Under the constitution, the sole tool Congress has to oust a member is expulsion, which requires a two-thirds majority vote. Expulsion has happened 15 times in the Senate history, and 14 of them were senators who sided with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Expulsion proceedings have started in other cases of alleged corruption or wrongdoing, but they fell short of the two thirds vote threshold or the Senator resigned before a vote could be taken. None were ousted because of their health or disability. Nothing speaks louder for the need of congressional term limits than this situation.
Holly Robichaud: Now it’s time for an update from the states as we work to bypass Congress to get congressional term limits. As I mentioned at the top of the show, our Northern Regional Director, Ken Quinn, held a town hall meeting in Maine with Congressman Jared Golden and State Senator Rick Bennett. Representative Golden and Senator Bennett showed why congressional term limits is a bipartisan issue. Check out their comments.
Jared Golden: I think sometimes institutional knowledge can actually be a bad thing. So we have a professional core of politicians right now, and just the institution itself, let’s look it like a debate, like what’s going on right now over the debt ceiling, raising the debt ceiling so we can continue to meet our obligations that we owe. It’s about the credit worthiness of the country, and also our budget. And there’s a whole institutional knowledge based upon years of learned experiences and battles past fought about how to go about winning. And what’s winning? The Dem’s beat the Republicans or the Republicans beat the Dems. There’s all kinds of institutional knowledge about how to posture and jockey in position in order to get the big win, crush the other side. Very little conversation about what’s in the best interest of the country.
Rick Bennett: There’s another element which is that, I’ve seen this in the legislature. There seems to be this feeling that the only experience that’s relevant is your legislative experience. And in a citizen’s legislature, which we have and we’re blessed with in Maine, you have people from all walks of life, all ages, different perspectives, different occupations, different life experiences, and we need to find a way of bringing that into the decision making rather than just recognizing legislative experience, political experience is the thing. Because I think our democracy functions best when we can highlight the expertise and experience that normal people have. And so, term limits really helps that.
Holly Robichaud: Also in Maine, the US Term Limits resolution is alive. Originally, it was going to be tabled, but a revote has kept it alive and it’s now been referred to a state senate committee. Let’s go, Maine.
Philip Blumel: So, even as a handful of grasping fiends in Alabama conspire against the voters, the term limits movement marches on. Now, I reported in an earlier podcast that the Term Limits Convention Resolution was dead in Maine for 2023. Well, clearly, as Holly pointed out, I spoke too soon. The Term Limits Convention Resolution has been revived via revote and has great momentum behind it. The good part of the reason is the bipartisan duo of US Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat, and State Senator Rick Bennett, a Republican. These two high profile politicians in Maine represent two political parties and two legislative bodies, and have been promoting the project under the banner of United for Term Limits.
Philip Blumel: Now, isn’t that beautiful? Term limits really is the only issue out there that is bringing a divided polity together. But of course, and as usual, their success requires citizen action. If you live in Maine, or know anyone in Maine, you know the website to go to, right? What’s the web address? Termlimits.com/takeaction. Let’s make Maine State number seven to call for congressional term limits.
Philip Blumel: What a PSA we have for you this week. This one is from journalist John Fund, the National Affairs Reporter for the National Review Online, and he’s a Senior Editor at The American Spectator. Fund is co-author of the 1992 book, Cleaning House: America’s Campaign for Term Limits. On May 7th, Fund published a tremendous article for National Review titled Congress Opposes Term Limits: Convention Could Prompt Action. This is a long read, but I tell you what, it’s worth listening to and full, so let’s do it. This article was originally published under the title, Politicians Shrink from Term Limits like Dracula from Across, but by the time it got to my desk, it was titled Congress Opposes Term Limits: Convention Could Prompt Action, by John Fund.
Philip Blumel: “But there’s still a way to make them a reality,” Fund says. “Almost every day we get a new reminder that we are increasingly governed by elderly, out-of-touch professional politicians who have constructed an incumbent-protection moat around themselves and therefore cannot be dislodged by voters.
Philip Blumel: Maryland’s Senator Ben Cardin just announced he will leave office next year at the age of 81. He began his political career in the Maryland state legislature back in 1966, a full 56 years ago and before the first Moon landing. Both his father and uncle served in the state legislature. His uncle retired in 1966 to make way for the younger Cardin as his replacement beginning in 1967. The New York Times has called on Dianne Feinstein, California’s 89-year-old senator, to resign, noting that her being sidelined from Senate business since February because of shingles is holding up key votes in a closely divided body. Feinstein also began her political career in the 1960s, in San Francisco, and has increasingly been viewed as confused and forgetful by colleagues.
Philip Blumel: These examples and others demonstrate why polls consistently show that the public supports term limits for Congress similar to the ones already in place for the presidency and 37 state governors. In March, five out of six Americans in a poll conducted by the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy supported a constitutional amendment to impose term limits. The amendment was popular for every demographic group, with support from 86% of Republicans, 80% of Democrats, and 84% of independents. While there has not been a vote on term limits in Congress since 1995, the issue was given new life during this year’s speakership negotiations when Speaker McCarthy indicated that the house may vote on the issue, but no one expects it to pass. So how do we accomplish it?
Philip Blumel: Term limits cannot be accomplished by statute. The Supreme Court has said it must come via a constitutional amendment, which requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress. But asking professional politicians and Congress to vote for term Limits is like asking chickens to deliver themselves to Colonel Sanders. It’s an issue that cuts naturally against their own self-interest. So the answer can be summed up in just one word: Pressure. There’s ample historical precedent that this has worked in the past to make popular ideas a reality despite entrenched opposition.
Philip Blumel: The vehicle that can be used is found in Article V of the Constitution, which allows for a state convention for proposing amendments to the Constitution. If two-thirds of the states vote to term-limit Congress or to adopt other needed reforms, they don’t need congressional approval. This process, driven not by DC but by the states, was designed specifically to rein in abuses of power by members of the House and Senate. State legislatures must pass the term-limits convention resolution not to get an actual convention but to prompt Congress into action.
Philip Blumel: But the idea of holding an amendment-proposing convention of the states remains a controversial one, even in conservative circles. Supporters say it’s a useful tool to rein in abuses of power. But skeptics call it a risky enterprise, which might just run away, expand its scope, and rewrite the Constitution. This thinking has produced some strange bedfellows. Both the Eagle Forum of Phyllis Schlafly fame and the George Soros-funded Common Cause oppose the convention for the same reason: They don’t trust it to stick to its subject matter.
Philip Blumel: Well, both sides have debated the question for decades. But there is one issue where the question does not need to be answered. That issue is congressional term limits. That’s because Congress will never allow a term-limits convention to take place. Congress would know that delegates to a term-limits convention would consist mainly of state legislators, who would have every incentive to propose term limits without grandfathering current members of Congress. Such a change would create job openings for the state legislators. Rather than allow states to decide its fate, Congress would step in front of the convention effort by proposing its own term-limits amendment that protected current incumbents.
Philip Blumel: State legislators would therefore vote for a term-limits convention regardless of whether they believe a convention will run away. Even though the bill has convention in its title, the convention will never happen. But, functionally, it’s a tool that can be applied to pressure Congress into proposing term limits.
Philip Blumel: It wouldn’t be the first time this has happened in our history. The 22nd Amendment, which limits the President to two terms, was a congressional response to an effort by several states to hold an Article V convention. That amendment, like any future term limits amendment, included grandfathering for the current office holder who at the time was Harry Truman. Likewise, the 17th Amendment, which enshrine the direct election of senators, was proposed by Congress in response to states that wanted to pass the amendment via convention. 31 states called for a convention to discuss direct election of senators, but that convention was never held because Congress preempted action by the states.
Philip Blumel: Michael McKenna, who is Deputy Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs for the Trump White House, has come to believe that term limits are essential. ‘We need to do something to alter the electoral physics that provides too much advantage to those who are comfortable staying in one place and doing one thing until they drop dead.’ He wrote in the Washington Times last week. ‘At a minimum, we need to start the conversation on how best to avoid the inevitable systemic sclerosis that results from having representatives of the people who have not worked or lived amongst the people for decades.’
Philip Blumel: Term limits will never be popular with the politicians generally, but there are ways to get around that obstacle and make them a reality. The irony is that those elected officials who buck the system and support limits would probably find themselves rewarded by voters for their courage and independence.” The end.
Philip Blumel: Well, rarely do journalists understand and capture the term limits seat geist. As the term limits movement racks up victories, it is clear, it is recapturing Fund’s close attention. Thanks, John.
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Philip Blumel: Thanks for joining us for another episode of No Uncertain Terms. The Term Limits Convention bills are moving through the state legislatures. This could be a breakthrough year for the Term Limits movement. To check on the status of the Term Limits Convention resolution in your state, go to termlimits.com/takeaction. There, you will see if it has been introduced and where it stands in the committee process on its way to the floor vote. If there’s action to take, you’ll see a take action button by your state. Click it. This will give you the opportunity to send a message to the most relevant legislators, urging them to support the legislation. They have to know you are watching. That’s termlimits.com/takeaction. If your state has already passed the Term Limits Convention Resolution, or the bill’s not been introduced in your state, you can still help. Please consider making a contribution to US Term Limits. It’s our aim to hit the reset button on the US Congress and you can help. Go to termlimits.com/donate, termlimits.com/donate. Thanks. We’ll be back next week.
Stacey Selleck: Find us on most social media @USTermLimits. Like us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and now, LinkedIn.