Term Limits Convention Supporters Go Back to the Future

“As in 1913, the goal of the Term Limits Convention campaign today is to impose on Congress members an amendment they refuse to enact themselves.”

Once upon a time in America, there was an election reform that was monstrously popular with both parties and every nearly demographic. While politicians grandstanded on the issue from time to time, Congress would never enact the reform because it would affect their own personal power and position directly. As popular as the reform was, it could never get out of committee.

Frustrated, citizens utilized a provision of the U.S. Constitution – Article V – that says that if two-thirds of the states call for a convention for the purpose of proposing a constitutional amendment, Congress ‘shall’ call such a convention. And the amendment it proposes is to be sent back for ratification by three-quarters of the states.

State after state passed official calls or ‘applications’ for the convention. When the number of calls approached the requisite number for the convention, Congress saw the writing on the wall and finally passed an amendment itself and sent it to the states for ratification. A year later, the popular election reform was the law of the land.

The year was 1913 and the reform was the direct election of Senators, the campaign for the 17th Amendment.  But in light of a new national campaign, this story may be retold in the future as how citizens finally imposed term limits on the U.S. Congress.

Earlier this month, U.S. Term Limits sent a message to supporters offering its assistance and direction in shepherding term limits convention applications through 34 state legislatures.  The goal of the Term Limits Convention campaign is to impose on Congress members the term limits they refuse to enact themselves. While the full list of 2016 target states has not yet been released, Florida is on the list.

The parallels between the two campaigns are uncanny, and there is a good reason for it. The Founders knew there would be times when the self-interest of Congress would clash directly with that of citizens and wisely gave the people and the states an end run around Congress in such situations.  If Congress had refused to act in 1913, the states would have had their convention and the people’s will imposed on Congress.  It was the convention that gave people the leverage.

It is precisely for cases such as term limits that the Article V convention route was added to the U.S. Constitution.

While there is a plausible case to be made on the merits against the direct election of senators, there is no question the process by which it was approved was a success of the U.S. constitutional machinery and the wisdom of its authors.

Can this method be used successfully to add Congressional term limits to the U.S. Constitution? Time will tell, but there are compelling reasons to believe the answer is ‘yes.’

  • Only issues of overwhelming bipartisan popularity can make it through the Article V gauntlet. Because of the high number of states needed for calling the convention (34) and ratification (38), radical or sectarian amendments cannot survive this process.  On the other hand, term limits fit the bill perfectly:  Recently polling show that 75% of Americans support term limits, including large majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents. These majorities have been consistent since polling on the issue started in the 1950s.
  • The call for a convention is simply a bill passed by legislatures. The term limits in question will not apply to the politicians voting on the bill, which is the self-interest problem faced in the U.S. Congress. In fact, Congressional term limits will actually create open seats and opportunities for state legislators – many of which are already term limited!
  • State legislators have other reasons to support the term limits convention bills: they are enormously popular with voters and they don’t cost any money.

If any issue can succeed via the convention route, it is term limits. Citizens have recently gathered together to launch the campaign and legislative sponsors are currently being sought for sponsors in several first-year target states.

The unanswered question is, will a sufficient number of citizens get engaged – contacting their legislators, sharing the term limits info with other activists, writing the checks – to sustain the effort until state number 34 makes the call?

If they do, Congressional term limits will be the law of the land in the United States.

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