Hondurans celebrate ousting of Zelaya (AP/Javier Galeano)
A resolution, H.J. Res. 5, was introduced into committee on January 6, 2009 which seeks to repeal the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, thus removing term limits for U.S. presidents.
Yes, you read it right. Democrat Representative Jose Serrano of New York wishes to allow unlimited terms for President Obama.
The presidential term limit was ratified as an amendment to the Constitution in 1951. However, our founding fathers adhered to the principle of a two-term limit on their own accord. The only president that served more than two terms was Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt, who served four non-consecutive terms.
Shall we go the way of the Venezuelan dictatorship? Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez and President Obama both expressed opposition to the recent ousting of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, calling it a coup, rather than a legal overthrow of a president who was violating Honduran law and attempting to change their constitution to permit him to stay in office indefinitely. The action had gone through the proper legal process, was voted on by the Honduran Supreme Court and Congress, and had the support of the majority of the people.
According to an AP report, Obama stated, "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the democratically elected president there. It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections," he added. "The region has made enormous progress over the last 20 years in establishing democratic traditions. ... We don't want to go back to a dark past."
What’s he afraid of? Why would Obama side with a tyrant rather than the people of Honduras? Could this “precedent” be a threat to his future plans?
The AP article also reports that Obama said the United States will "stand on the side of democracy" and work with other nations and international groups to resolve the matter peacefully. What does this mean – "work with other nations and international groups"? Does this mean he intends to intervene in the results of the Honduran political process in ousting their tyrant?
I am outraged by our president’s support for a power-hungry tyrant over the will of the people.
Comments
No wonder Obama is with Chavez an the other dictators supporting the Honduran President.
Put this together with the fact Obama wants to LEGALIZE 30 million ILLEGAL ALIENS to secure their votes, has given GM and Chrysler to the UAW union to secure their votes, has ACORN counting in the 2010 census, and the very close previous elections. Just by the real numbers, the Democrats stand to never lose another election AND have a President for Life.
Ann, I'm infuriated about EVERYTHING Obama says and does, he lies constantly, says one thing and does another, and to be honest this joint resolution does surprise either of us does it?
I see a revolution brewing on the horizon. Go out and buy your guns and ammo now before it is too late. 60 vote majority guarantees they will ram every piece of crap bill down our throats. Before you know it out tax rate will be 60% on anyone who makes over 40k. And sofa surfers get free everything. And black sofa surfers get a big monthly check too!
I'm 60 years old and this is the first I've heard about FDR's NON-CONSECUTIVE terms. Please explain.
RED STORM RISING!
From tiny ACORNs mighty Marxists grow. Obama= communist.
So Rush Limbaugh links to articles written by people who don't realize Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt are two different people. That's credible.
Or, I don't know... She thinks FDR took a break?? Who was president during FDR's break again? Dick Cheney?
The Dude and Dave are so typical, ignore the obivious reality that Obama and his party are driving this country into the ground and laughing about it all the way. They would rather make snarky comments about about an obvious typo rather than accept the fact that our President Obama loves the spot light more than actually being a leader. I wonder if Mr. Obama will pursue a career in Hollywood after his Presidency. The Dude and Dave probably don't know the definition of facist either. They're probably just like the rest of the mindless socialists in this country who called Bush a facist. Dear Lord is there anybody who will stand up and confront these arrogant fools before they screw us all!!
I am 53 years old and I too would like an explanation for the Non-consecutive terms. If the author did in fact mistake FDR and TR, that is forgivable. Any of us can err and come back and say Mea Culpa.
The only president to serve NON-consecutive terms was Grover Cleveland. His first term was 1885-1889, and his second term was 1893-1897. (Benjamin Harrison served one term in between, 1889-1893).
Should the nice lady know that Mr. Serrano has tried to bring this resolution over 10 times in the last 10 years???? Or is nobody going to realize this? Or do the facists just need another recruiting tool to get the uninformed on the anti Obama bandwagon??
Im a conservative and even i think its a little early to get excited about this. We need to win in 2012. i doubt this bill will go far.
BlueInTexas, I'll respond to you because you are the first liberal today to make anything that came close to a valid point. Actually, this is the seventh time Serrano has introduced the bill so far as I can tell, in January of each odd-numbered year starting in 1997. We will see if it suddenly grows legs under an Obama presidency, which obviously is my fear. (BTW, definition of fascism from Websters: a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.) Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Tyranny and the like are all on the side of the spectrum that promotes strong governmental control of the people, rather than the other side of the spectrum which is Anarchy, or no government. Speaking in extremes, Liberals tend toward the Tyranny side while Conservatives tend toward Anarchy
Does this surprise anyone? The 22nd Amendment was set up to help control the power that one man had, thanks to one of our presidents trying to seize too much power. I read this on AmericanParchment.com but I already knew someone would try something like this. It won't happen the first term, and not until the second term because people are just to stand-offish. But by the next term, if he gets this economy back he will have a fair chance to pass this, he has all the power in the senate he needs now, so it is always a possibility.
I forgot to finish, either way, he has done so many things that, as soon as America wises up will see why he shouldn't even get a second term. I mean, look at the articles found on www.AmericanParchment.com to see what he is up to, it's much like Drudge but better.
Ann, get some facts please. The Honduran President was elected legally, and proposed amending the constitution of his country to let him have an extra term. Turns out, even *proposing* this is illegal and any government official who suggests it is to be removed from office.
Thing is, Honduras had no *legal* procedure for removing a standing President from office. While their government was debating the matter, the military took matters into its own hands. That's the definition of a coup. You can't claim Zelaya was acting illegally on one hand and that's bad, but say the military acted illegally and that's good, without coming across as a hypocrite.
If you're going to support legal, democratic governments you cannot support a military ousting its president without legal authority to do so.
I'm the baltimore libertarian examiner, so the issue of term limits is obviously of particular interest to me. Those of you saying we don't need to worry about this need to wake up. Congress has no term limits, and congress has very few, if any, ethical leaders. This is a backwards step for America. We need to further limit the powers of government. Term limits and line-item veto are the issues that should be on the table right now.
Tired of Lies, I bet if you actually read the Constitution of Honduras, you would find that it is, in FACT, illegal to amend the term limit of the president. Voted into office legally? Yes. Removed legally? It appears to be so. But thanks for the fact check.
I'm libretarian, and I don't like the idea of removing presidential term limits...
...I'm also curious about FDR's "non-consecutive terms" -- I'm willing to call it a "typo" if you print a retraction.
BTW--Ulysses S Grant did seek a third term but did not win one.
Don't forget how difficult it would be to propose and ratify an amendment to the Constitution. Besides, the republicans will probably pick-up seats in the house and senate in 2010 and effectively defang Obama.
Obama and his backers have spent millions, if not BILLIONS getting him in office. Does anyone really think he'll just go if elected out of office? I'm beginning to think Obama and his wrecking crew will have a very convenient 'crisis' late next summer, probably economic. There will be riots, small ones, not much really, but enough to declare martial law and or a suspension of the election. He won't risk loosing control of Congress. The Leftists are drunk on power, feel entitled to do as they please, and don't really give a rat's about the great unwashed. The Leftists are doing us a favor bu letting us on Mother Earth, but we'd better be good......
Welcome to Hope and Change! Did any of you expect anything different? I didn't. Any reasonable review of Barry Soetoro and his beliefs makes it quite evident that the uninformed have elected the single most anti-American, anti-Semite radical to ever sit in a public office. Remember also, all he has to have is an emergency (natural or otherwise) to put all America under Dept of Homeland Security which reports solely to him and bypasses all Constitutional checks and balances. (not that he cares, he believes the Constitution is fundamentally flawed and should be discarded)
Get ready for mass rioting, folks. Get ready for martial law. Get ready for civil war two.
Repealing the 22nd will not fly with anyone wanting to get re-elected in congress. Obama will see this and instead defer and relinquish US power to the UN. He'll be calling the shots there soon after he leaves office.
Good. I hope this happens. I've never supported term limits for any office, president on down. Term limits is one of the most un-American ideas to ever come down the pike. I didn't support it when W was prez either, and that goober needed to be term-limited if anyone ever did. People should be allowed to elect anyone they choose for as long as they choose. If he (or she) is a loser and we're stupid enough to keep electing them, we deserve it. So bring on the three (or more)-term Obama if that's what the majority wants. Stop using the legislative process to accomplish what you can't accomplish at the ballot box.
Glenn, in theory in an ideal world you may be right in part. However, our founding fathers, who knew tyranny well, crafted a governmental system designed to ensure individual liberty. This included the idea of term limits, that public service was not supposed to be a career, and that limiting time in office is a safeguard against a tyrant who forces himself through force or corruption of the voting process upon the people (much like was attempted in Honduras). Term limits is an idea that is as American as America itself, as it was proposed and practiced by our founders. Moreover, the more we compromise our voting process as we have seen especially in recent years, the more necessary this safeguard. We can see the bad results of entrenched elected officials merely by looking at the congress.
Reagan also opposed the presidential term limit and frequently spoke out against it.
Isn't it convenient how that gets forgotten today?
"In theory" and "ideal world" are phrases used by those who can't justify their position on face value, Ann. Don't try to make it more complicated than it is. You're using a legal maneuver to circumvent the ballot box. If enough people want someone out of office, they'll get rid of them. If they don't, they'll keep electing them and get what they deserve. It really is that simple. There was no term limit on the presidency until very recent times, and there shouldn't be one now.
The "legal maneuver" is called the Constitution, Glenn. We'll just have to agree to disagree that there are good reasons for the 22nd Amendment, which I already spelled out.
Amendments to the Constitution can and should be reconsidered from time to time, Ann, such as 18th Amemdment instituting Prohibition that was repealed by the 21st Amendment. Term limits deserve the same special treatment that Prohibition received by being repealed. This isn't about the Founding Fathers; it's about a poorly thought-out, knee-jerk reaction to FDR. No office in this country should be term limited. Not dog catcher, not mayor and certainly not the presidency. People get what they deserve and deserve what they get.
I think EVERY politician should be term limited. Look what allowing a "professional" representative has given us in both parties. These guys and gals are nothing but MONEY PIMPS. Seriously, how many laws are really needed? These guys/gals know that they really don't do a who lot on a day to day basis and need to justify their existence.
Many of these people (Obama included) never really get a "real" job, they are groomed right through college to work as politicians. Aren't they supposed to REPRESENT the people? How can they represent us when they have never lived like us? Never made a payroll, never had to pay any real taxes?
Obama is the best reason for term limits. He's taking over and destroying the American economy, and is set to decouple the courts from the constitution. He's also a very good candidate for impeachment. Yes, elections do have consequences; for the electorate as well as the elected.
And you think manipulating the electoral process through term limits will solve the problem of "professional" politicians, Showbizz? You honestly believe it would pave the way for average Joe citizen to serve? One set of politicans would advance to a different office while an incoming set of politicians would replace them and spend their limited, inexperienced time in office dealing with things their predecessors didn't have time to properly deal with. Don't be so naive; you'd be trading one imperfect system for another imperfect system that violates the spirit of the free electoral process. Whatever the problems are, term limits aren't the answer. There's no way to justify term limits, only ways to rationalize them. The concept would have been embedded in the Constitution from the outset rather than added as an amendment some 180 years later if the Founding Fathers had thought it necessary. They knew the electoral process can and should stand or fall on its own merits.
"Term limits is one of the most un-American ideas to ever come down the pike." Glenn, the biggest supporter of term limits in history was George Washington. Your comment holds no validity.
"The biggest supporter of term limits in history was George Washington. Your comment holds no validity."
Yet no one saw fit to make term limits mandatory for the presidency until 1951. I rest my case.
Any of you who believe it's ok to have a leader rule with unlimited terms...I suggest you move to Cuba, North Korea, or Venezuela and get the F out of our country! Ever heard of checks and balances? It's amazing how ignorant people have become due to brain washing from this obsession over a president. There was a reason people rebelled against monarchies.
One factual error in the article: Franklin "Dictator for Life" Roosevelt served consecutive terms until removed by the Grim Reaper.
If the communist wanna-be dictator Obama ruins the country like I think he will, I'll pledge my allegiance to Israel and follow a true world leader like Netanyahu. I'm ready to move now and I don't care what happens to my house or the stuff in it. BYE!!!
FDR served 4 NON-consecutive terms? I'll be damned. I'm missing a President somewhere.
FDR served four NON-consecutive terms? I'll be damned. I'm missing a President somewhere.
The voters usually get what they deserve...until they demand better, this is what we will get....
I am amazed at the people who would turn this country over to a politician in perpetuity. Any Politician. And to denounce a country that sought to retain their laws and constitution(Honduras) is shameful. If Mr. Obama, or any sitting President, sees fit to bypass the Constitution, we, as the American people have a right and a duty to see that President removed. I hope that people will wise up to the fact that We are in charge of this country, not the elected folk. We elect these people to safeguard our libertys, not to remove them. I am awaiting the time when the American people wake up to this fact.
People, Brothers from US. Please don't turn against each other and debate about your political situation, as this debate started some time ago in our country. Fortunately we are smaller than your great Nation and stopped this as it pretended to mature. Ills shall be destroyed little as if they get bigger they would be harder to remove. Just as CANCER. We ask for your support and of course knowing that it represents an opinion favorable to our cause, it feeds our need to liberty (which you already have and we face to lose it) and strength to fight for it. Please let your leaders know how you feel about your greate Nation and how this crisis in Honduras and their position could affect matters in your land. We need you as friends today, as you have been there for us in many other situations. We collaborate with you in order of our capabilities, what might seem very little to you from our hand could be all we have and we are willing to sacrifice many many things in order to support you.
"The tree of Liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."- Thomas Jefferson
-----So let the Democrats try to end run the Constitution. They won't get away with it and they are smoking crack if they think they can amend the Constitution and turn the USA into a banana republic.
I suggest Glenn Maxwell move to Venezuela where he can enjoy the comforts he seeks in having a president unencumbered by those nasty term limits he finds so offensive.
As for me. I love the Constitution and like it or not Glenn the 22nd Amendment is part of the Constitution and is thus the law of the land.
G. Washington was reluctant to become President, but it was better than the title of "King" that some would promote him at the time. Washington established the custom of only running for two (2) terms; which was followed by following Presidents until FDR. I also agree that term limits stifle free debate in limiting choices. The founders did not establish a limit on terms due to the fact that most of them were true public servants; they did not profit off the system. In other words, these great men served, did what they could to improve the country, then went back to their own lives and livelyhoods. Also, at the time of the founding, to be able to vote a citizen must have owned property thus giving them a reason to educate themselves on who was running and on what platform. Current problems arise only from an uninformed population and a lazy, disengenuous press.
Please also note that this is not the first time that Rep. Jose Serrano has introduced this resolution. It has nothing to do with Obama as this goes back to the late 1990's.
America still has a Constitution? Most laws passed in the past 100 years are unconstitutional. Unfortunately, America is dead and tyranny rules. Obama is just the last nail in the nation's coffin.
Pages
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!