Whenever a presidential candidate backs term limits on Congress – as Donald Trump did this week – a parade of pundits arrives to declare it a waste of time.
After all, they note, the Supreme Court ruled in the 1995 case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton that Congress can only be term-limited by constitutional amendment. Presidents have no role in that process.
{mosads}Those of us who eat, sleep and breathe term limits have a different view. It is not only helpful to have the president of the United States on board; it could be essential to achieving the goal.
Congressional term limits remain the most popular and the most bipartisan issue in America. Supermajorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents say they are tired of the status quo and ready to bring the career politicians home.
Despite that level of support, term limits on Congress are still not the law of the land. Congressional leaders who control the vote on any amendment have refused to abide the people’s will. That has forced the term limits movement to use the state-driven amendment convention as our only tool for getting the job done.
Electing a president who supports term limits would have a game-changing impact on this movement. Wielding a pulpit like no other, the president can exert pressure on Congress and the states to do the right thing. Gridlock in Congress on a term limits amendment – which requires a two-thirds vote – is more likely to subside if the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is on board.
If this year has taught us anything, it’s that America’s political system is more dysfunctional than previously thought. According to a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, 72 percent of Americans believe the nation is divided. One cannot even log into facebook these days without seeing some election-related vitriol.
Term limits is the only idea that can bring both sides to the table and begin to heal these divisions. While other issues have drifted left or right over the years, term limits have remained bipartisan. It’s probably the one thing George Will and Ralph Nader agree on.
The momentum behind term limits is organic and not fueled by special interests. In fact, big PACs and lobbyists all oppose the reform out of fear they’d lose ties with incumbents. Members of Congress have unwittingly become the strongest lobbyists for the idea by putting their inaction and incompetence on full display before the American people.
Since Congress rebuffed term limits in the 1990s and told voters to trust them, the national debt has quadrupled. Lawmakers have kicked down the road any discussion of reform on entitlement or environmental issues. The amount of money in politics has exploded and bought no results to speak of.
Worst of all, the tenure and clout of incumbents have made it nearly impossible to unseat the ones who aren’t doing a good job. Even in “wave” elections, nearly 90 percent of D.C. incumbents are returned to office with no problem. Dynamic thinkers with new ideas can’t get into Congress because they’re blocked by people who often have 30, 40 or 50 years of tenure.
Our country can’t afford to wait that long for change. Whether Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton is the next president, the people deserve a champion in the White House who stands up for term limits.
Trump has weighed in, but that shouldn’t preclude Clinton from releasing a strong term limits platform. Libertarians Gary Johnson and Bill Weld were the first ticket to embrace the idea, with both men having advocated term limits for more than a decade.
No matter who wins on Nov 8, citizens will benefit more if the congressional term limits discussion is returned to the forefront. While no president can push a button to make it happen, he or she can provide the leverage needed to get the amendment done.
Nick Tomboulides is Executive Director of U.S. Term Limits, a non-profit organization advocating for a congressional term limits amendment.
The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.