On February 17th, Sensenbrenner and a few of his pals introduced this legislation:
109th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. J. RES. 24
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 17, 2005
Mr. HOYER (for himself, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SABO, and Mr. PALLONE) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the 22nd amendment to the Constitution.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
`Article --
`The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is repealed.'.
Despite what I think about how the 2006 midterms will turn out, if the GOP gets anything CLOSE to a 2/3 majority in both houses, hello Glorious General George.
This is real – its made it through at least one committee. Its in the Library of Congress Congressional Record, and it hasn’t been killed yet.
I’m not usually one to run off to the Panic Barn and freak out about little things. Legislation like this gets proposed all the time – balanced budget amendments, to repeal the 22nd amendment, etc. Clinton got a party similar to this one started during his time in office.
I wouldn’t normally be worried about something like this, if not for the GOP making so many moves to consolidate power lately, chief among those being the nuclear option. I’m not saying the sky is falling, I’m just saying that this bears watching.
Dear liberals and Democrats – stop saying that what you want in a candidate is populism. Populism is what’s winning now, and it is not the answer.
What’s that you say? You say the Republicans don’t have the interest of the common man at heart? Well, let me break populism down for you, and you tell me if this sounds familiar to you. Firstly, Wikipeda has the best technical definition I could find and link to by exhaustively going to wikipedia and looking up populism:
Populism is a political philosophy or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the “elite” in society, and that the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and used for the benefit and advancement of the people as a whole. A populist reaches out to ordinary people, talking about their economic and social concerns, and appealing to their common sense. Most scholarship on populism since 1980 has disussed it as a rhetorical style that can be used to promote a variety of ideologies.
Individual populists have variously promised to “stand up to corporations” and “put people first.” Populism often incorporates nationalism, jingoisms, and occasionally racism. Many populists appeal to a specific region or a specific social class rather than the broader society.
Hmmmmm. Who uses jingoism and nationalism? Who stands up to corporations, guys? No, not who may actually someday attempt to stand up to corporations – who stands up to corporations according to a controlling majority of the electorate? Right. Republicans do. This is the whole “I’m gonna get back at big business by voting for Sam Brownback” thing. Forget the truth, it doesn’t matter.
What you are thinking of when you reach in the Wayback Bag to the turn of the 20th century is agrarian populism, practiced by no less than William Jennings Bryan and sought to stop industrialists and big industry from poisoning the well of government and destroying America’s farmers. What we have to-day is merely political populism which strikes back at the moneyed elite in favor of regular, everyday Americans. The kind that love Nascar and hate the elite for their lack of values and being out of touch with salt of the earth folks. The Hollywood elite. The academic elite. The hilariously-antiquated-but-still-effective ‘limosine liberals’. To Red State America, we are the elite. To them, obscenely rich Republicans have simply been good enough (or chosen enough, depending) to acquire means.
You guys aren’t populists because the populism you’re thinking of doesn’t even exist anymore. You sound dumb and embarass the rest of us. Trying to invoke a “class struggle against the elite” in which Republicans are the elite is like being a German, saying you’re going to attack those oppressive bastards in Germany, and then invading Spain. It isn’t going to make any sense to anyone other than us, and you certainly won’t convert any Republicans.
UPDATE: In case you think my assertions are bogus, behold common anti-liberal sentiment:
Liberalism occurs in two varieties, political and religious, but is in fact a single worldview with a common agenda. The ultimate goal of Liberalism is to create a totalitarian socialist government in which an elite controls society. Liberals consider themselves to be the elite.
I was out at my mother’s place last weekend to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and my uncles were there too. They are an excellent set of guys (and I mean set – when all are represented, the number is nine) but they like to rag on me hardcore for my politics. When they found out I was working for the Democratic Party, it was like party time.
They told me about how great it was to listen to Rush Limbaugh and how smart he is. They were just kidding. Later on, they were not just kidding when they asked me about John Kerry’s tax return.
“Hey Josh,” said Uncle Scott, “how come Kerry makes a bunch of money but he only paid like 7 million dollars in taxes over the last few years, and his wife paid not much more even though she’s like a billionaire?”
“Well,” I said, “why do you think the rich people pay less taxes proportionately than regular people do?”
Uncle Joe says “Because those liberals find ways around it!”
I said “No, rich people have a way around it and just pay less taxes to begin with because of Bush’s tax cuts, because of years of pro-business, pro-rich Republican economic policy.”
Quiet for a minute, and then “Pssshhh! Come on, really! Tell us the real reason!”
Me: ::Sighs::
I know, you may have to register to read the story, but it isn’t often you get to hear about the President of the United States supporting an adoption program that openly discriminates based on religion.
On their forms, they said the adopting family must be conservative Christians
Ah, snowflakes. My favorite part is how lawmakers and the President are parading on stage with babies that wear shirts saying “I am former embryo.” and “I was not discarded.” So what?
Those kids might grow up to be jerks.